Thermal & Structural Materials Engineer

Standard Job Description

You will be the Materials Engineer Stf - E4 for the Advanced Materials & Technology Insertion (AMTI) team which is responsible for advancing hypersonic and unmanned air‑vehicle materials and structural engineering.

What You Will Be Doing

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics pioneers the next generation of hypersonic and unmanned air vehicles for national defense. The Thermal & Structural Materials Engineer will work in a growing team in modelling and simulation for the AMTI (Advanced Materials & Technology Insertion) team supporting the development cycle – from conceptual thermal‑structural design through detailed finite element modeling, ground test verification, and flight test analysis – ensuring high‑performing systems that survive the most extreme aerothermal environments. The candidate will serve as a technical leader, driving thermal and structural architecture decisions and verification strategies across programs.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Support thermal and thermo‑structural design and analysis of hypersonic and unmanned air vehicles at conceptual, preliminary and detailed design maturities.

• Define thermal‑structural system architectures and material selection strategies for vehicles operating in sustained high‑speed, high‑temperature flight environments.

• Perform coupled fluid‑thermal‑structural analysis of flight vehicles using high‑fidelity physics CFD and FEA methods, including conjugate heat transfer and thermal‑structural coupling for metallics, composites and coatings.

• Lead test and evaluation (T&E) planning and execution, including test requirement development, ground‑test article design, instrumentation planning and data acquisition strategy for thermal and thermal‑structural test campaigns.

• Collaborate across aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, electrical and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated vehicle solutions.

What’s In It For You

We are committed to supporting your work‑life balance and overall well‑being, offering flexible scheduling options. Learn more about Lockheed Martin’s comprehensive benefits package here. (https://lmt.co/OneLM-JobDescription-Benefits) Do you want to be part of a company culture that empowers employees to think big, lead with a growth mindset, and make the impossible a reality? We provide the resources and give you the flexibility to enable inspiration and focus – if you have the passion and courage to pursue bold challenges, work hard, and have fun doing what you love then we want to build a better tomorrow with you.

Who You Are

You are a technical leader with deep expertise in thermal‑structural analysis, material modeling, and high‑fidelity simulation. You thrive in collaborative environments, communicate complex results clearly, and drive decisions that shape high‑performance vehicle designs. Your experience with CFD, FEA, and scripting tools enables you to create robust models and guide multidisciplinary teams toward mission success.

Further Information About This Opportunity

MUST BE A U.S. CITIZEN – This position is located at a facility that requires special access. The selected candidate must be able to obtain a secret clearance.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Materials, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics or related field.

• Professional experience in aerospace thermal or thermal-structural engineering, propulsion or high temperature/high-speed flight environments.

Desired Skills

• Independent thinker and self-reliant to maintain skills, knowledge, and expertise.

• Master's or Ph.D. with emphasis preferred on thermal - fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, advanced power and propulsion, structures, aircraft, missile or hypersonic vehicle programs.

• Prior formal role or certification in test and evaluation (DT&E/OT&E), including experience defining test matrices, pass/fail criteria, and qualification test plans.

• Direct test and evaluation experience, including ground test planning, thermal/environmental instrumentation, data acquisition, and test-to-analysis correlation.

• Strong programming skills in software such as MATLAB, Python or similar for tool development and automated data reduction.

• Demonstrated expertise building and running finite element models for coupled thermal-structural loading and fluid-thermal analysis in ANSYS (Fluent/Mechanical), COMSOL Multiphysics, CREO, NASTRAN, Abaqus, Thermal Desktop, SINDA or equivalent FEA/CFD tools.

• Experience with chemical kinetics, finite-rate chemistry, or ablation/erosion modeling.

• Flight, power or propulsion test experience, including instrumentation design, telemetry, and post-flight thermal-structural reconstruction.

• Experience with specialized thermal ground test facilities (arc-jet, radiant heating, thermal-vacuum).

• Material characterization experience at elevated temperatures for ceramics, coatings, or high-temperature composites.

• Experience leading integrated product teams (IPTs) or mentoring junior engineers as a technical lead.

• Experience preparing formal technical documentation, including test procedures and verification reports.

• CAD experience with SolidWorks, Siemens NX or CATIA.

• Active U.S. Secret or Top Secret security clearance.

Pay Information

Full-Time Salary Range: $104900.00 - $194700.00

At Lockheed Martin, we know mission success starts with taking care of our people. Our Total Rewards program is designed to attract top talent, support your well-being, and help you grow—both professionally and personally.

The salary range for this position is as listed on the requisition. Please note that the salary information listed is a general guideline only. Lockheed Martin considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/ training, key skills as well as market(work location) and business considerations when extending an offer.

Benefits offered: Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible work arrangements and schedules (e.g., 4x10), 401(k) match, Paid time off, Holidays, Parental Leave, EAP, Flexible Spending Accounts, Education Assistance, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability.

• Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs may be offered depending on the position. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and can vary from year to year and are tied to a range of performance metrics.

• For (Washington state applicants only) Non-represented full-time employees: accrue at least 10 hours per month of Paid Time Off (PTO) to be used for incidental absences and other reasons; receive at least 90 hours for holidays. Represented full time employees accrue 6.67 hours of Vacation per month; accrue up to 52 hours of sick leave annually; receive at least 96 hours for holidays. PTO, Vacation, sick leave, and holiday hours are prorated based on start date during the calendar year.

Lockheed Martin is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified candidates will be considered without regard to legally protected characteristics.