Mechanical Engineer

Leidos currently has an opening for a Thermal/Mechanical Design Engineer to work in our Arlington, Virginia office. This is a highly dynamic and integrative environment in which talented and creative engineers can thrive working on a diverse array of multidisciplinary projects in its Electronic Warfare Division. We are seeking a broadly trained and highly motivated engineer with a strong thermal engineering background to support advanced technology programs from research and development through productization, with emphasis on electronics packaging, PCB/card-level thermal analysis, mechanical design, and reliable operation in constrained small-volume assemblies.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead and perform thermal engineering analyses for electronics packaging, PCB and circuit-card assemblies, modules, and small-volume enclosures used in land-based, airborne, and/or space applications.

• Provide mechanical engineering leadership on new R&D efforts, current designs, and existing products, including trade studies, requirements generation, design development, design reviews, and root-cause investigations.

• Partner with electrical, mechanical, systems, and science teams to influence PCB layout, component placement, materials selection, interface design, and packaging trades for thermal performance.

• Support applied research and engineering development of thermal-mechanical solutions and products across multidisciplinary programs.

• Work within a lab environment and be hands-on with hardware, including thermal instrumentation, prototype evaluation, and design iteration.

Basic Qualifications:

• Experience performing thermal analysis and heat dissipation analysis for electronics, PCBs, circuit cards, card cages, enclosures, or similarly constrained packaging volumes.

• Experience with design, modeling, and analysis of mechanical components and assemblies.

• Experience in electronics packaging design, including 3D modeling, thermal management, mechanical integration, and manufacturable mechanical design.

• Experience using SolidWorks, SolidWorks Simulation, and SolidWorks Flow or comparable CAD, mechanical and thermal analysis.

• Experience with FEA and CFD concepts, including conduction, convection, radiation, contact resistance, airflow restrictions, and component junction-to-ambient thermal paths.

• Experience working with cross-functional development teams; motivated self-starter able to work under minimal supervision.

• Demonstrated strong writing, presentation, and interpersonal skills.

• B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field from an accredited college/university with at least 4 years of relevant mechanical or thermal engineering experience.

• Secret Security Clearance with the ability to obtain a Top-Secret Security Clearance.

• Occasional travel is required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Develop or validate thermal models using finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), hand calculations, and empirical test data to ensure hardware meets operational requirements across expected environments.

• Experience in advanced electronics packaging, chip-to-ambient thermal resistance, board-to-chassis conduction, thermal interface materials, heat spreaders, heat sinks, cold plates, or other passive/active cooling approaches.

• Experience with thermal management of next-generation heterogeneous integrated circuits, chip-centric cooling techniques in harsh environments, and/or radiation shielding.

• Experience with requirements flow-down, thermal margin reporting, design verification, and documentation supporting transition from prototype to production.

• Experience with rapid prototyping techniques including 3D printing and prototype fixture development.

• Knowledge of mechanical and thermal engineering concepts associated with airborne and satellite payload systems.

• Demonstrated leadership of small technical teams and projects.

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field from an accredited college/university with at least 6 years of relevant mechanical or thermal engineering experience.

NKE

ElectronicWarfare

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.