Senior Thermal Engineer for Lunar Systems & Extreme Environment Design
Posted
Summary
CosmoChute is hiring a Senior Thermal Engineer in Ahmadabad, India to lead thermal architecture, modeling, and survivability engineering for lunar robotic systems that endure extreme temperature swings, vacuum, and long lunar nights. Work spans passive/active thermal control, battery and electronics thermal management, and thermal-vacuum testing, using tools like Thermal Desktop, ANSYS, COMSOL, an
About Us
At CosmoChute, we are building modular, reusable lunar robotics infrastructure for long-duration planetary operations. Our systems combine mobility, modular payload deployment, survivability through lunar nights, and repair ability to make sustained presence on the Moon economically viable. We’re a deeply technical, fast-moving team that believes in real ownership, real trust and in creating an environment where your best work matters.
If you want to work on hardware that will one day operate on the moon, this is the role.
Your Role
We're looking for a hands-on Senior Thermal Engineer to join our core engineering team. You will lead and support thermal analysis, thermal architecture development, and survivability engineering for lunar robotic systems. This role involves designing systems capable of operating through extreme temperature swings, vacuum conditions, low-angle solar illumination, and prolonged lunar night survival.
You will work closely with mechanical, power, mobility, and electronics teams to develop integrated thermal solutions for rovers, payload carriers, batteries, electronics enclosures, and deployable systems.
This role is ideal for someone excited by first-principles engineering, interdisciplinary problem solving, and designing hardware for extreme environments where thermal failure can end a mission.
Your Responsibilities
- Develop thermal architectures for lunar robotic systems and payloads
- Build and maintain thermal models (steady-state and transient, for launch, vacuum and low-conduction environments).
- Design passive and active thermal control systems
- Support battery thermal management and electronics survivability
- Work on insulation systems, heaters, radiators, thermal interfaces, and heat pathways
- Develop qualification strategies and support thermal-vacuum testing and environmental validation campaigns
- Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering teams
- Contribute to thermal risk assessment and mission operations planning
- Prepare thermal documentation, reports, and design reviews
Requirements
Must have
- Experience of 5+ years in the same domain.
- Strong fundamentals in heat transfer, thermodynamics, and thermal system design
- Proficiency in thermal modelling tools (Thermal Desktop, ANSYS, COMSOL, Siemens NX Thermal, or similar tools)
- Experience across the full thermal lifecycle
- Ability to make independent engineering judgements and own outcomes end-to-end
- Comfortable working in fast-paced prototyping and development environments
Good to have
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Mechanical engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related fields
- Knowledge of spacecraft thermal control techniques
- Familiarity with battery thermal management systems
- Understanding of lunar or planetary environmental constraints
- Experience with thermal-vacuum testing or environmental testing
- Exposure to space systems, robotics, automotive EV thermal systems, Formula race car systems or aerospace hardware
- Experience in working with either of, ECSS, ISO, NASA, GEVS or similar standards for design, development and/or verification
What we deeply value
- Curiosity and ownership
- Ability to learn quickly across disciplines
- Practical engineering judgment and first principles thinking
- Profound mutual respect among co-workers
- Willingness to iterate rapidly and test hardware in real conditions
Benefits
What we offer
- Competitive compensation
- Equity participation
- Meaningful long-term growth potential