Senior Thermal Engineer

Sr. Thermal Engineer | Pixxel

Role: Sr. Thermal Engineer

Employment Type: Full Time

Educational Qualification: B.E/B.Tech/M.S/M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering or Thermal Engineering.

Work Experience: 8+ years working experience with Aerospace/Avionics thermal management.

Role Description:
Design, analyze, and optimize thermal systems for cutting-edge satellites, ensuring peak performance in space environments.

Responsibilities & Duties:

• Thermal design of a LEO microsatellite with frequent imaging and high-speed data downlink operations.
• Thermal design validation via thermal balance tests and other unit-level thermal properties determination.
• Develop thermal implementation plans and work closely with the assembly, integration, and testing teams to ensure workmanship.
• Develop thermal operations plans and collaborate with the flight software team to derive software requirements for active thermal control elements, and with the ground software team to derive operations plans.

Desirable Skills & Certifications:

• NX - Simcenter / Femap: TMG solver (Space systems thermal).
• Experience in test plan, procedure, and report preparation; design documentation.
• Familiarity with space thermal materials such as MLI, thermal pads, and thermal grease.

Candidate Acumen:
A Thermal Engineer specializes in analyzing and managing heat transfer within satellite systems, ensuring optimal thermal performance in challenging space environments. They are adept at using advanced simulation tools and addressing complex thermal challenges effectively.

Benefits:

• Health insurance coverage
• Unlimited leaves & flexible working hours
• Role-based remote work and work-from-home benefit
• Relocation assistance
• Professional Mental Wellness services
• Creche facility for primary caregivers (limited to India)
• Employee Stock Options for all hires

About Pixxel:
Pixxel is a space data company and spacecraft manufacturer redefining Earth observation with hyperspectral imaging. The company’s first three commercial hyperspectral satellites—Fireflies—deliver imagery at 5-meter resolution and 135+ spectral bands, providing 50x richer detail than traditional Earth observation systems and unlocking insights across agriculture, climate, energy, environment, and more.

Once fully deployed, Pixxel’s constellation of 18–24 satellites will capture imagery across up to 250 bands in VNIR and SWIR ranges, with a 40 km swath and daily global revisit capability. Pixxel’s most unique strength is its full-stack approach, integrating every layer of the value chain from satellite hardware and manufacturing to AI-powered analytics.

Pixxel’s satellite constellation is complemented by Aurora, its in-house Earth Observation Studio that simplifies satellite imagery analysis and democratises remote sensing for all. Designed to make hyperspectral data more accessible, Aurora by Pixxel combines high-frequency imagery with AI-powered tools to generate actionable insights, even for users without technical backgrounds. The third pillar of Pixxel’s ecosystem is its in-house satellite manufacturing capability. Beyond building its own spacecraft, Pixxel also provides satellite systems and subsystems to other organisations. This dual capacity sets it apart in a sector where most companies focus on either payload design or data operations, but not both.

Pixxel’s team is young but deeply mission-aligned, with a culture rooted in curiosity, speed, and long-term thinking. As the company grows its constellation and expands Aurora, the focus remains on making space-based insights practical, scalable, and genuinely helpful so that the health of the planet becomes measurable and action becomes possible.

Pixxel was the only Indian startup selected for the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator in Los Angeles and has been recognised in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2023, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and Via Satellite’s Top Innovators list.

For more information, see our Careers page or follow Pixxel on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.

Culture:
Pixxel is an organization where we enable our employees to work on world-changing problems that they are passionate about, and a place where they can be their best selves day in and day out while ensuring they have fun every day.

Central to our employee-first ethos is a commitment to ensuring that every team member feels valued and heard. We nurture a healthy and supportive work environment where we prioritise well-being and growth in all aspects of life.

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