Senior Thermal Engineer

Number of employees

30

Denver, CO, United States

Posted on: 2023-03-14

Category: renewables

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Expired

Employment type:

Full time

Experience required:

Senior

Salary

Salary not provided

About the company:

Albedo is developing low-flying satellites that will capture visible and thermal imagery at the highest resolution commercially available. By making aerial quality imagery globally available, easy to purchase, and transparent to task, we aim to catalyze market growth and spur new applications.  

The world is rapidly changing and a new level of visibility and transparency is required to solve some of our largest problems. Albedo’s 10cm visible and 2m thermal imagery will fuel insights for industries such as mapping, insurance, utilities, solar, agriculture, carbon offsets, infrastructure sustainability, national security, and much more.

Satellite imagery is a historically-scarce resource, whose adoption has been slowed by an unbalanced relationship between price and resolution. In theory, frequent, ultra high-resolution imagery of Earth has near infinite applications; in reality, only a sliver of that potential has been realized.

Albedo aims to be the catalyst in unlocking satellite imagery’s latent potential, hoping to expand current applications and propel the discovery of new use cases. Whether our imagery is being used to reduce wildfire risk, assess the environmental impact of global forestry, contribute to timely 3D reconstructions of urban areas, or monitor carbon emissions from industrial power plants, our mission is to get better data into the hands of decision makers fast. We’re modernizing how satellite imagery is used by providing near real-time access to our ultra-high resolution data.

What We’re Up To: Albedo is developing a novel approach to the earth observation industry, both in space and with our business model. We are intentionally doing things differently by taking (calculated) risks, trying new things, and moving with speed. Our team believes satellite imagery is a valuable resource that should be made accessible, in every sense of the word. We are committed to our customers, ensuring that what we’re building is what they want. We are playing at the edges of how traditional New Space technologies have been approached, and we want to shake up the industry as it stands today.

Who We’re Looking For: Albedo is launching next-generation, ultra high-resolution imaging satellites to service a global audience through a modern, cloud-based product interface. In order to achieve this goal, we are looking for a team of people who are both passionate about our mission and are willing to put in the work to design, develop, and test an innovative earth observation concept in the commercial industry. The times ahead will be set in a fast-paced, often uncertain environment, but if you are hard-working, kind, and team-oriented, you can expect a rewarding and purposeful experience.

We are seeking an experienced thermal control engineer to lead the thermal control design and analysis of our spacecraft, which includes integrating our high-performance optical payload into an integrated vehicle. You will work with our mission design team’s high-fidelity mission operation simulations to model and analyze vehicle- and component-level thermal control performance. You will ensure that the vehicle design closes from a thermal control perspective, including maintaining component temperatures. You will select and oversee integration of thermal control hardware (thermistors, heaters, radiators, thermal surface treatments, heat transport components). For our first satellite, this effort culminates in vehicle-level thermal vacuum testing and leading on-orbit operations as the thermal control engineer.

Location: In-office a few days per week,
with additional emphasis during testbed checkout of thermal control hardware functionality and during vehicle hardware integration and test

Part-Time On-Site Work Environment: This position requires regular in-person engagement by working on-site a few days a week. Travel to other possible non-Albedo locations may be required.

Relocation: Relocation for this position is available

Working Conditions:
Work is performed in an office environment, laboratory, cleanroom, or production floor.

US CITIZENSHIP IS REQUIRED

#LI-Onsite

Additional Requirements: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. All persons hired will be required to be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Albedo is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.


Questions? Feedback? Feel free to email us at careers @ albedo.com

What You'll Do

  • Define, develop, analyze, provide technical oversight of procurement, lead the integration, and test the overall thermal control solution
  • Work with mechanical designers and analysts to ensure the spacecraft component mounting, packaging, and mechanical design can achieve thermal control needs, and collaborate with them to find solutions that work for all disciplines
  • Integrate our mature optical payload design into the overall vehicle thermal control solution
  • Build and analyze vehicle thermal analysis (Thermal Desktop preferred), including integrating the optical payload thermal model
  • Incorporate mission attitude profiles and operating state information from mission planning team, and collaborate on changes to mission operation approach to balance thermal control needs with system performance
  • Define, procure, and integrate thermal control components: thermistors, heaters, radiators, thermal surface treatments, and heat transport components. This includes working with technicians to ensure assembly and application is done via qualified methods.
  • Define, lead, and execute vehicle-level thermal vacuum testing (including defining and guiding development of thermal ground support equipment), and oversee and review all lower-level thermal testing
  • Lead the resolution of test or operational issues with your hardware, including determining root cause and corrective action
  • Bring and evaluate new and emerging technology options to advance our approach for better cost, SWAP, or performance
  • Be on console for launch and early orbit operations as the lead thermal engineer
  • Ideal Skills and Experience

  • BS degree or higher in Engineering or a related technical field is required plus at least 5 years of related experience
  • Industry-proven expertise, and ideally “hands-on” experience with, thermal control hardware including thermistors, heaters, radiators, thermal surface treatments (paints, OSRs), and heat transport technologies (LHP, CCHP, and graphene/carbon nanotube approaches)
  • Experience working on agile satellites that experience a broad range of angular exposures to the sun, earth, and space in a given rev, day, and mission
  • Proficiency in modeling high-node-count models in Thermal Desktop while analyzing potentially many cases and in some cases short time steps
  • Familiarity with the unique thermal control challenges of optical imaging satellites is ideal but not required
  • Familiarity with atomic oxygen considerations on thermal surfaces is a plus
  • What We Believe Are Important Traits For This Role

  • Strong communication skills and the ability to effectively pass on and share your knowledge with others
  • Flexibility: We are a small-team doing a lot of things - a flexible and positive mindset is instrumental for success!
  • A humble and open mind: willingness to accept feedback and consistently improve upon yourself and the product you will be responsible for
  • A high-degree of emotional intelligence: ability to collaborate closely with coworkers in a respectful and empathetic manner
  • Belief in the value of diversity: active appreciation of each person’s unique perspective and realization that diversity produces better outcomes
  • Alignment and willingness to champion Albedo's Core Values
  • Compensation and Benefits

  • Employee friendly equity compensation
  • Remote-first, asynchronous culture with flexible working hours
  • 4% direct matching 401k
  • Insurance: Medical, Vision, Dental, Mental Health
  • Parental leave and childcare coverage
  • Relocation bonus for moving to our Denver, CO HQ
  • 20 paid vacation days, yours from day one
  • 10 company holidays and unlimited sick days
  • $100 monthly wellness benefit
  • Team retreats to build relationships in-person
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