Principal Powertrain Thermal Engineer

Principal Powertrain Thermal Engineer

Location: UAE

About the Role

As the Principal Powertrain Thermal Engineer, you will take technical ownership of the thermal management of the complete electric powertrain, including battery, electric drives and charging systems.

You will develop an integrated thermal architecture that balances cooling requirements, heat rejection capacity, aircraft weight and available airflow. A key focus will be ensuring reliable operation during sustained high-power flight, hot-climate conditions, rapid turnaround and fast charging.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the powertrain thermal architecture, including coolant loops, pumps, heat exchangers, ducting, inlets and thermal capacity allocation.
• Define the thermal design point for sustained high-power operation, including hot ambient conditions, one-drive-inoperative scenarios and transient thermal soak.
• Assess battery thermal conditions following fast charging and rapid turnaround.
• Define and consolidate thermal loads from battery and electric drive systems, challenging inputs where required.
• Lead thermal analysis and model validation using network, computational thermal and fluid models.
• Correlate thermal models against component, rig and ground-test data.
• Define coolant interface specifications for battery and electric drive systems.
• Define thermal installation requirements for propulsion integration and aircraft structures.
• Work with cabin and environmental control teams on shared heat-rejection and airflow requirements.
• Contribute to the aircraft-level thermal management and heat-rejection budget.
• Support safety assessments covering cooling-system failures, thermal derating and available flight time following cooling loss.
• Define and support thermal testing, including hot-climate testing, and use results to drive design improvements.

Required Experience

• 10+ years’ experience in thermal management or fluid systems engineering, including at least 4 years in airborne or equivalent safety-critical applications.
• Proven ownership of a liquid or air-cooling architecture for a high-heat-flux system through to hardware and testing.
• Strong thermal analysis experience, including network modelling and computational thermal or fluid analysis.
• Experience with battery or power electronics cooling, including the relationship between thermal management and component life.
• Experience defining coolant interfaces and thermal installation requirements across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Proven thermal test experience, with test results used to drive design improvements.

Desirable Experience

• eVTOL or electric aircraft thermal management, particularly sustained high-power operation.
• Experience designing for hot-climate environments, including thermal sizing, derating and dispatch availability.
• Fast-charge thermal management and rapid-turnaround thermal conditions.
• Experience integrating powertrain cooling with environmental control and shared heat-rejection systems.
• Advanced degree in thermal engineering, fluid systems or a related discipline.