Thermal Engineer

Thermofluid Engineer | Aerospace & Defence | Contract Location: Midlands | On-site Rate: Competitive hourly rates | PAYE or Umbrella payroll Duration: Contract opportunity Piper Maddox is supporting a major aerospace engineering business with the appointment of a number of Thermal & CFD Engineers to support advanced engineering programmes. These positions offer the opportunity to work on complex thermal and fluid engineering challenges, from component-level modelling and analysis through to system-level design and integration. We're interested in engineers with expertise across thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, CFD and thermo-mechanical analysis. Individual responsibilities will depend on your specialism. The role You will use modelling, simulation and test evidence to understand thermal and fluid behaviour, assess engineering concepts and support technical design decisions. Responsibilities will include:

• Defining thermofluidic, temperature and thermo-mechanical requirements at system, subsystem and component level.
• Developing and evaluating engineering concepts using analytical methods to support design trade-offs and system architecture selection.
• Performing thermal and fluid modelling, simulation and analysis, selecting appropriate methods throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Supporting verification and validation activities, including test specification, model calibration against measured data and uncertainty assessment.
• Working with multidisciplinary engineering teams to optimise component and system performance. Your background We're looking for engineers with a strong understanding of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer, alongside practical experience in engineering analysis and simulation. You should be comfortable interpreting technical results, understanding modelling assumptions and using engineering evidence to support design decisions. Relevant experience may include:
• Thermal and fluid systems engineering within aerospace, defence, propulsion, energy or related industries.
• CFD, heat transfer, thermal management or thermo-mechanical analysis.
• Experience with simulation tools such as Ansys Fluent, STAR-CCM+ or equivalent.
• Component-level and system-level modelling, simulation and design optimisation.
• Test-data interpretation, model verification and validation.
• Working across mechanical, thermal and wider engineering disciplines. A degree in Engineering or a related discipline is required. Working towards Chartered Engineer status would be advantageous. You do not need expertise across every area listed; we are looking to build a team with complementary technical capabilities. Contract arrangements The positions are offered through PAYE or Umbrella arrangements only. Limited company contracting is not available. Security clearance may be required depending on the programme, and some positions may be subject to UK nationality requirements.