Thermal Engineer

Karman+

We are inventors, designers, engineers, scientists, tinkerers, entrepreneurs, adventurers, artists, activists, global citizens, architects, musicians, builders, writers, athletes and space nerds. We partner with the best minds and most experienced teams across industry and academia, bringing together the knowledge, experience, and skills required to navigate our critical path.

Mission

We want to mine space resources from near-Earth asteroids to provide abundant, sustainable energy and resources in space and for Earth.

Vision 

Asteroid mining has lived at the intersection of scientific research and popular culture for decades, with as many academic papers published as there are books, TV shows and movies about it.

Access to resources, with its finite nature and disparate distribution, plays an essential part in the geopolitical web of power and wealth. It has defined economic growth to such an extent that we have been using them as primary demarcation lines and identifiers in our history, from the stone to bronze and iron age to our current silicon age.

But our resources-driven growth faces a massive existential challenge, with climate change, ecosystem degradation and resource depletion demanding a complete reset. Humanity needs to shift global transportation, manufacturing, construction and energy onto a sustainable path.

Expanding beyond the Kármán line is where we believe transformative future growth and innovation will be found. Recent missions by NASA (OSIRIS-REx & DART) and JAXA (Hayabusa2) have firmly pushed the idea of using space resources from academic research into commercial opportunity.

We believe the Regolith Age, powered by abundant space resources, is an inevitability that we can accelerate.

 

We value these principles:

• Diversity of thought. We believe that different perspectives drive better results. We aim to build diverse teams and a diverse company.
• Ownership, feedback and accountability. Ideas improve through collaboration, discussion and iteration. Decisions don’t follow the same pattern and revert to the mean when made in a group. We aim to have clear ownership, accountability for results and autonomy to deliver. 
• No silos. We build cross-functional teams to be able to deliver on our goals. There are no predefined lanes for people to operate in, information is pushed out across all teams to make sure we benefit from cross-pollination.
• High talent bar, no a**holes. We optimize for potential and a growth mindset. We value experience, but only when balanced with self-awareness and first principles thinking.
• Small is beautiful. The best results as well as the best work experience come from a small team of talented people working towards a common goal.

 

Position: Thermal Engineer

Mission: High Frontier - Lead Design, Development, and Integration of Thermal Control Spacecraft Subsystem

Location: Denver, CO

Position Type: Full-time

About us

We’re Karman+, a fast-moving space startup on a mission to redefine what small, dedicated teams can achieve in space. Our High Frontier mission requires seamless integration of thermal control with other subsystems—propulsion, avionics, structures, power, and communication—into a single, mission-ready spacecraft. If you are a thermal engineer with experience in end-to-end spacecraft thermal management spanning design, analysis, integration, test, and in-space operations, we want to hear from you.

The Role

As a Thermal Engineer (Responsible Engineer - RE) at Karman+, you will hold end-to-end accountability for the design, development, integration, and operation of the thermal control spacecraft subsystem. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure that the thermal subsystem integrates seamlessly with the overall spacecraft and meets all mission, regulatory, and operational requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the spacecraft thermal management system, from initial concept through detailed design, integration, testing, deployment, and in-service support for the entire spacecraft platform and subsystems such as propulsion, avionics and structures.
• Independently drive technical, financial, and operational decisions related to the thermal control system, understanding its impact on the broader mission objectives and timelines.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams—including software, structures, procurement, manufacturing, and testing—resolving challenges and ensuring smooth subsystem integration and collaborating with test engineers to align on requirements and testing proto