Specialist, Thermal Mechanical Engineer (Space Systems) (ROCHESTER)

L3Harris is dedicated to recruiting and developing high-performing talent who are passionate about what they do. Our employees are unified in a shared dedication to our customers’ mission and quest for professional growth. L3Harris provides an inclusive, engaging environment designed to empower employees and promote work-life success. Fundamental to our culture is an unwavering focus on values, dedication to our communities, and commitment to excellence in everything we do.

L3Harris is the Trusted Disruptor in defense tech. With customers’ mission-critical needs always in mind, our employees deliver end-to-end technology solutions connecting the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains in the interest of national security.

Job Title: Specialist, Thermal Mechanical Engineer (Space Systems) 

Job Code: 41177

Job Location: Rochester NY or Wilmington, MA

Job Schedule: 9/80 (Every other Friday Off)

Relocation: Relocation assistance is available to qualified applicants

Job Description:

Specialist engineers are technical contributors on a multidisciplinary engineering team helping create the best overall system design. Primary responsibilities include thermal design, analysis, and test of complex optical systems for operating in harsh space and ground environments. Specialist engineers possess understanding of aerospace thermal engineering technology and payload architectures, spanning spacecraft sub-systems down to card and component levels. They create thermal models of complex components and assemblies to support design and development of the thermal control systems. In this role Specialist engineers proficiently use custom software in conjunction with Thermal Desktop and other Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools to perform detailed thermal analyses and support system development.

Essential Functions:

• Knowledge of system level thermal design & development, payload level integration and test, and risk mitigation for space-based environments
• Perform thermal design and analysis tasks on complex mechanical hardware including precision mechanisms, electro-mechanical devices, aerospace mechanism design, complex electronics packaging, supporting space-based deployable mechanisms, avionics, innovative thermal and ground-based systems
• Create and analyze design concepts using FEA & thermal analysis software.
• Experience with programing in MATLAB and engineering task automation.
• Program support also includes requirements derivation and verification, system architecture development, loads derivation, trade studies, design sensitivity/optimization studies, preliminary and final design analysis, generation of analysis documentation (including presentation materials, and deliverable data packages), and leading system test activities
• Organization of thermal design and analysis as an IPT lead; frequently interfacing directly with customer technical leads and management.
• Documenting and presenting design & analysis results to customers at formal gate and design reviews.
• Development of thermal test plans to manufacture and test payload sensor systems
• Support new business opportunities and mentor junior level staff
• Work multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment and adapt quickly to changing situations

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering or other related engineering or science degree and minimum 4 years of prior relevant experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 2 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 8 years of prior related experience.
• Ability to obtain a TS/SCI security clearance
• Professional experience in thermal analysis tools such as Thermal Desktop (preferred), Sinda, Thermal Fluent, Flowtherm, Icepak, etc.
• Experience in writing and reading code in either MATLAB, Python, or Fortran
• Experience in applying thermal analysis results to thermal hardware design.

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Active TS/SCI security clearance is preferred
• Experience with thermal analysis of mechanical and electronic systems, in space, air or ground environments
• Strong analytical skills with emphasis on using and/or directing finite element analysis (FEA)
• Experience with structural finite element analysis software such as NASTRAN or ANSYS.
• Able to support design decisions with well documented engineering analyses and calculations
• Able to analyze problems and to focus and drive down to the root cause of problems quickly
• Experience in automation and tool generation for use by other engineers within the organization.
• Experience as a lead engineer, project engineer, or IPT lead is a plus.
• Experience with Microsoft office tools, Word, Excel, PowerPoint