Senior Mechanical Thermal (MT) Design Engineer Ref. MT_SAT_2025

The Mechanical/Thermo Engineer’s primary responsibility will be contributing to the development of OHB ITALIA satellite mechanical systems with a focus on thermal design and analysis. This engineer will be involved in the full lifecycle of development, from requirements definition through operations. Being at the cutting edge of space technology, we need someone who is eager to learn, grow, and take on new and potentially unfamiliar challenges.

The Senior Mechanical Thermal Engineer will operate under the leadership of the MTS Architect.

Your Tasks

• Spacecraft subsystem mechanical and thermal design.
• Design and model primary and secondary structural parts, space mechanical thermal systems and equipment, in compliance with rules and best practices.
• Incorporate all Avionics components, harnessing and Payload/RF interconnect sub-systems into spacecraft bus design.
• Support trade off investigations.
• Interface with other subsystem owners for the design of interface requirements, identify and implement design solutions.
• Detail mechanical and thermal design for spacecraft composite panels, brackets, hardware, machined parts, Thermal Control system and various mechanical components.
• Create detailed design documentation for component manufacturing, assembly and test.
• Excellent CAD skills (preferably with Nx/CATIA) with the ability to review 2D manufacturing drawings.
• Produce detail drawings, assembly drawings and bills of materials in accordance with the company’s methodological rules.
• Conduct detailed tolerance analyses, clearance/interference checks.
• Provide ongoing support during S/C assembly, integration, and test.
• Support detailed tracking spreadsheet for system mass properties (mass, CG, MOIs).
• Research options for appropriate materials and surface treatments for mechanical component design to comply with mission performance requirements.
• Support qualification plans (acoustic, vibration, shock, static load tests, thermal tests) to verify structural and thermal margins of safety, and correlation to analysis models.
• Develop thermal systems for new and heritage satellite systems. Including thermal radiators (fixed and deployable), heat pipe systems, electrical heaters, temperature sensors, etc
• Implement thermal design changes required to support new payloads and payload interface units compatible with heritage satellite systems.
• Prepare Mathematical models (CAD, GMM/TMM).
• Perform thermal analysis of for on-ground test and on-orbit temperature predictions.
• Develop thermal test plans, support thermal vacuum / thermal balance testing, and correlate thermal models with test data.
• Hands-on experience and proficiency in thermal testing (i.e., thermal sensors, using automated data acquisition, system assembly, and data analysis techniques).
• Validate thermal models through prototype/PFM/QM/FM testing.
• Support the development of subsystem level requirements and requirement flow-down to the various components and parts as necessary – in all phases of the development lifecycle with particular emphasis on Design for Cost/Design for Manufacturability/Design for Test approaches.
• Ensure the maximum reuse of the existing OHB ITALIA heritage products and if necessary identify need for modification.

Your Qualifications

•  5 years ++ proven experience in mechanical / thermal design in the aeronautical / space sector
• Bachelor’s degree in STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering, Math) or related scientific areas.
• Preferred: Master’s in STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering, Math) or related scientific areas.
• 5+ years of experience with 3D CAD modelling and 2D drawing specifications
• 5+ years of experience with Thermal modelling and analysis.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Proficient with NX / CATIA.
• Proficient with Thermal Engineering tools such as Systema Thermica, ESATAN, or Thermal Desktop.
• Demonstrated basic FEA skills for structural analysis (FEMAP/Nastran, Ansys, or others), and excellent knowledge of mechanical / Thermal design principles.
• Experienced with carbon fiber/ aluminum composite honeycomb design / manufacturing techniques.
• Innovative, driven, out of the box thinker, self-motivated to investigate and implement new ideas, and proactive in overcoming obstacles.
• Demonstrated ability to participate in cross-functional planning, coordination, and task execution situations involving the full spectrum of engineering and integration activities
• Be team-minded and ready to work in a multi-functional and multi-cultural, fast-moving and complex/technical environment.
• Flexible attitude and strong initiative.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver results.