Mechanical Engineer - Active Cooling at Cowboy Space Corp. in Washington, DC

Job description

About Cowboy Space Corp. Mission Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth. Background Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport. Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases. Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others. This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you. The Role As a Mechanical Engineer – Active Cooling, you will be the responsible engineer for the liquid cooling loop that keeps our on-orbit GPU compute hardware temperature controlled. This is a hands-on role that sits at the intersection of fluid systems and mechanical design. You will architect the pumped coolant loop, select and size its component (pumps, valves, accumulators, cold plates, instrumentation, etc) and own the mechanical packaging, structures, and interfaces that integrate it into the spacecraft. You will own this hardware end to end, from concept and analysis through the ground testbeds used to prove it out, qualification, and on-orbit operation. You will work closely with thermal, power, structures, avionics, propulsion, and software teams to deliver an integrated cooling solution. We’re looking for a strong fluids background paired with strong mechanical design skills. Someone who can move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of hardware that directly determines whether our compute payload survives and performs in orbit. Responsibilities • Own the design of the spacecraft liquid cooling loop for GPU compute hardware from concept through flight, including cold plates, pumps, valves, accumulators, heat exchangers, tubing, fittings, and instrumentation. • Perform pressure-drop, flow, and thermal-fluid analyses to size the loop and predict system behavior across the full mission profile, balancing heat rejection, pump power, mass, and reliability. • Design the mechanical packaging, structures, mounts, and mechanisms that house and integrate the cooling loop, and couple it to radiators and the broader thermal control system. • Design, build, and operate ground testbeds and dev rigs to characterize components, validate the loop, and de-risk the flight design ahead of qualification. • Dev