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Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company developing autonomous systems, unmanned aircraft, and simulation technologies to protect service members and civilians. The company operates globally with offices across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
As Principal Thermal Engineer, you will lead the design, analysis, and integration of aircraft avionics thermal management systems, with opportunities to expand into aircraft-level thermal and fluid systems. This is a technical leadership role for an engineer who excels at first-principles problem-solving, thrives in ambiguous environments, and can bridge technical disciplines through strong communication.
Key responsibilities:
- Own thermal architecture, analysis, and design strategy for unmanned aerial vehicle avionics and aircraft-level thermal/fluid systems across programs
- Lead cross-functional trade studies and technical decisions, balancing thermal performance with power, weight, volume, reliability, manufacturability, and aircraft integration constraints
- Develop and validate analytical, numerical, and computational models for heat transfer and fluid flow using hand calculations and CFD tools (FloEFD, ANSYS Icepak, STAR-CCM+)
- Define verification and validation strategies, guide test planning, instrumentation, and data analysis to correlate models with experimental results
- Serve as technical authority in executive briefings, design reviews, and customer discussions
- Proactively identify and retire system-level risks, influence electrical and PCBA design direction, and drive resolution of complex interfaces
- Establish reusable thermal design methods and solutions, mentor engineers, and strengthen thermal engineering capabilities across the organization
Requirements:
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related discipline
- Minimum 12 years of professional experience in avionics or electronics thermal engineering, including technical leadership of complex, multidisciplinary systems
- Strong expertise in heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation) and fluid mechanics, with demonstrated ability to apply to system architecture and critical design decisions
- Deep understanding of active and passive cooling solutions and their integration at component, subsystem, and aircraft level
- Deep understanding of thermal management design elements including TIMs, spreaders, heat sinks, vapor chambers, heat pipes, and fans
- Proficiency with thermal analysis and CFD tools (ANSYS Icepak, FloEFD, STAR-CCM+), including experience establishing modeling approaches and evaluating analysis quality
- Proficiency with CAD design tools such as NX, SolidWorks, or similar
- Demonstrated experience applying first-principles reasoning to complex engineering problems and resolving ambiguous technical challenges with significant system-level impact
- Proven track record of owning thermal architecture and delivering thermal management solutions from concept through integration, verification, and validation
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of influencing cross-functional technical decisions and presenting to executive stakeholders
- Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, establish engineering best practices, and lead technical efforts across teams or programs
- Proven ability to learn and adapt quickly to new tools, processes, and technical challenges in a fast-paced, startup environment
- Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired
Preferred qualifications:
- M.S. or Ph.D. in a relevant engineering discipline
- Experience leading high altitude aircraft avionics cooling and thermal design
- Experience defining thermal architectures within aircraft integration constraints (power, weight, volume, maintainability, safety)
- Hands-on experience developing thermal and fluid system test strategies and guiding instrumentation, validation, and root-cause investigations
- Knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods relevant to thermal management (pumps, heat exchangers, composites, etc.)
- Experience leading trade studies, shaping proposals, and serving as a technical representative in customer interactions on aerospace or defense programs
