Thermal Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Thermal Engineer specializes in in thermodynamics used in the fields of heat transfers and energy conversion.

Job Outlook

There were 50 Thermal Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 1975 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Mechanical Engineer industry, which includes the Thermal Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Thermal Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $123,856.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $111,314.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Thermal Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $108,858.

Education and Experience

Posted Thermal Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	76.3%
Master's Degree	51.39%
Doctoral Degree	25.27%
Other	1.42%

Posted Thermal Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	19.27%
3 to 5 years	31.38%
6 to 8 years	15.28%
9+ years	34.07%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Thermal Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Communication (33.32%)
Innovation (25.57%)
Leadership (24.76%)
Planning (24.2%)
Management (20.86%)
Writing (17.16%)
Operations (16.56%)
Problem Solving (16.1%)
Mentorship (14.18%)
Detail Oriented (13.92%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Thermal Design (18.98%)
Thermal Modeling (18.56%)
FloTHERM (Thermal Analysis Software) (8.48%)
Aerospace Engineering (26.84%)
Thermal Desktop (Thermal Modeling Software) (18.98%)
Thermal Simulation (7.6%)
Thermal Engineering (39.19%)
Thermal Testing (19.18%)
Geothermal Heating (7.91%)
Mechanical Engineering (48.19%)
Heat Transfer (31.44%)
Heat Exchanger (21.35%)
Thermal Analysis (28.7%)
Thermal Management (56.1%)
Thermal Systems (27.15%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Design Software (7.45%)
Ansys Simulation Software (18.67%)
Site Assessment (7.86%)
Energy Modeling (6.57%)
Space Flight (7.7%)
Systems Engineering (15.31%)
Computer-Aided Design (18.72%)
HVAC (16.08%)
C++ (Programming Language) (7.45%)
Thermodynamics (14.74%)
Building Management System (7.76%)
Electrical Engineering (8.38%)
Continuous Improvement Process (3.62%)
SolidWorks (CAD) (8.48%)
Business Software (6.93%)
Chemical Engineering (10.65%)
Computational Fluid Dynamics (24.92%)
Control Systems (11.94%)
Functional Requirement (3%)
Conceptual Design (3.46%)
Oil and Gas (1.14%)
Engineering Design Process (15.46%)
Finite Element Methods (11.48%)
Fluid Dynamics (10.91%)
MATLAB (17.58%)
Fluid Mechanics (11.94%)
Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (4.34%)
Green Building (7.55%)
Project Management (15.87%)
New Product Development (11.43%)
Python (Programming Language) (19.75%)
Mechanical Systems (10.96%)
Physics (8.69%)
Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (6.51%)
Verification And Validation (6.41%)
Request For Proposal (7.08%)
Research And Development (7.81%)
Simulations (11.63%)
Manufacturing Processes (4.65%)
Simulink (5.58%)
Spacecraft (18.56%)
Component Design (4.29%)
Cooling Systems (14.58%)
Test Planning (11.12%)
Root Cause Analysis (3.83%)
Vehicle Design And Development (2.79%)
Export Control (16.6%)
Systems Design (8.48%)
Test Data (9.15%)
Sensors (8.74%)
Industry Standards (11.53%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

ANSYS IcePak (Simulation Software) (6.88%)
GT-SUITE (Simulation Software) (1.55%)
Aerodynamic Heating (3.21%)
Heat Pipe (4.96%)
Electronics Cooling (4.24%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Thermal Design (25%)
Thermal Modeling (24.46%)
Thermal Desktop (Thermal Modeling Software) (25%)
Thermal Vacuum Testing (5.79%)
Thermal Engineering (51.63%)
ANSYS IcePak (Simulation Software) (9.06%)
Thermal Testing (25.27%)
Heat Pipe (6.54%)
Thermal Management (73.91%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Thermal Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Thermal Mechanical Engineer
Thermal Systems Engineer
Fluids Engineer
Thermal Analyst
Principal Engineer
Hydraulics Engineer
Spacecraft Engineer
Hardware Engineer
Aero-Thermal Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Thermal Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Blue Origin (235)
CDM Smith (142)
Ford (108)
Raytheon Technologies (68)
GE Aerospace (52)
Chemours (46)
SpaceX (46)
Tesla (37)
Sierra Nevada Corporation (32)
Jacobs Solutions (32)

North Carolina

CDM Smith (7)
GE Vernova (5)
Lenovo (5)
Dewberry Engineers (5)
Actalent (4)
Carrier Corporation (4)
Siemens Energy (3)
Vertiv (2)
Trane Technologies (1)
Rakhere Technologies (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

Textiles Master's Degrees

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

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