Booster Thermal Lead

Job Description:
Innovien is seeking an experienced Booster Thermal Lead to join our Flight Sciences team supporting the missile program. As the program splits ownership across its three vehicles heading into Critical Design Review (CDR), this role leads the thermal analysis effort for the booster vehicle. Day to day, this individual provides technical direction to the analysts on the team, reviewing their work, solving the team’s most complex thermal problems, and represents the thermal discipline directly with the government customer. It is a blend of hands-on technical work and technical leadership: guiding design and testing decisions, mentoring the team, and proposing test approaches for hardware that is difficult to qualify against the customer’s requirements. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys owning the booster vehicle’s thermal analysis effort and serving as the technical authority for the engineers on the team.

Requirements:
10+ years of thermal analysis experience, including leading vehicle-level thermal analysis efforts on launch vehicle or missile programs
Hands-on ability to build and run thermal analysis in Siemens NX Space Systems Thermal, stepping in personally on critical-path problems rather than delegating those tasks to other team members
Working knowledge across several booster or missile subsystems, such as thermal protective systems (TPS), flight termination system, telemetry system, or solid rocket motor propellant systems (roll control and main propulsion)
Proven ability to communicate and defend technical analysis to a demanding government customer, holding up under pushback on design decisions and requirement interpretations
Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or related Engineering field; advanced degree a plus

Nice to have:
Experience mentoring junior analysts and reviewing their component-level work
Experience proposing alternative test approaches for hardware that is difficult to qualify (e.g. high-power boxes that are hard to replicate under thermal test conditions)
Experience on programs with MDA or a similarly demanding government customer

Responsibilities:
Lead the booster vehicle’s thermal analysis effort and own its requirements across the full lifecycle.
Personally perform and review the team’s most critical and complex thermal analyses.
Communicate directly with the government customer, defending design decisions, conservatisms, and requirement interpretations.
Translate system-level trajectory and design reference mission inputs into scoped guidance for component-level analysts.
Serve as the critical-path escalation point when booster thermal issues threaten CDR or other program milestones.