Staff Thermal Engineer

About this role

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are:

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space.

Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. We see space not as a destination, but as a platform — one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach.

Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds.

Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S. Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space-based defense and logistics.

What You'll Do

As a Staff Thermal Engineer at Inversion, you will report directly to the Senior Manager of Arc Vehicle Reentry. In this role, you will be the primary technical authority on spacecraft thermal design, modeling, and thermal protection system (TPS) sizing. You will define the thermal architecture for our hypersonic reentry vehicles to ensure structures, avionics, payloads, and mechanical flight controls survive extreme reentry environments. You will lead complex multi-physics analysis efforts, establish company-wide thermal standards, mentor senior engineers, and translate high-level program requirements into validated, flight-ready thermal control systems.

Key Responsibilities