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 76 Thermal Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2859 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 $120,360.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $117,147.
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 $98,165.
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 | 70.72% |
| Master's Degree | 51.14% |
| Doctoral Degree | 29.14% |
| Other | 3.22% |
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 | 18.04% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.53% |
| 6 to 8 years | 18.15% |
| 9+ years | 24.29% |
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 (37.92%)
- Operations (23.92%)
- Innovation (23.68%)
- Problem Solving (20.39%)
- Leadership (19.69%)
- Research (18.54%)
- Management (17.7%)
- Writing (12.77%)
- Planning (12.03%)
- Detail Oriented (11.54%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Thermal Management (54.63%)
- Mechanical Engineering (49.43%)
- Heat Transfer (33.71%)
- Thermal Analysis (23.8%)
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (25.92%)
- Thermal Engineering (27.93%)
- Ansys Simulation Software (20%)
- Thermal Systems (18.1%)
- Thermal Desktop (Thermal Modeling Software) (15.94%)
- Thermal Design (18.87%)
- Thermal Modeling (14.48%)
- Thermal Testing (15.14%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Aerospace Engineering (22.19%)
- MATLAB (20.99%)
- Python (Programming Language) (22.01%)
- Physics (20.44%)
- Thermodynamics (18.03%)
- Project Management (15.58%)
- Simulations (15.36%)
- Systems Engineering (17.7%)
- Fluid Dynamics (16.23%)
- Finite Element Methods (12.36%)
- Heat Exchanger (7.79%)
- Spacecraft (13.09%)
- Engineering Design Process (8.48%)
- Chemical Engineering (6.91%)
- Systems Design (12.91%)
- Export Control (12.98%)
- Electrical Engineering (12.43%)
- Data Analysis (14.55%)
- Mechanical Systems (5.92%)
- New Product Development (11.7%)
- HVAC (7.13%)
- Research And Development (8.12%)
- Test Planning (12.21%)
- Control Systems (10.9%)
- Fluid Mechanics (12.14%)
- Computer-Aided Design (4.06%)
- Cooling Systems (4.39%)
- Test Data (8.92%)
- Chemistry (8.85%)
- SolidWorks (CAD) (10.75%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (8.96%)
- Materials Science (10.53%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- ANSYS IcePak (Simulation Software) (7.9%)
- Thermal Simulation (8.12%)
- Geothermal Heating (0.18%)
- FloTHERM (Thermal Analysis Software) (7.97%)
- Electronics Cooling (3.4%)
- Thermal Hydraulics (6.87%)
- Heat Pipe (4.72%)
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.
- Electronics Cooling (10.92%)
- FloTHERM (Thermal Analysis Software) (25.59%)
- Simcenter Amesim (8.33%)
- Thermal Analysis (76.41%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Thermal Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Hydraulics Engineer
- Thermal Systems Engineer
- Thermal Analyst
- Fluids Engineer
- Thermal Mechanical Engineer
- Fluid Systems Engineer
- Undergraduate Intern
- Engineer
- Principal 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.
- Mechanical Systems Engineer
- Aerospace Engineer
- Mechanical Engineer (General)
- Research & Development Engineer
- Automotive Engineer
- Mechanical Product Design Engineer
- Nuclear Engineer
- Manufacturing Process Engineer
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 (195)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (128)
- Northrop Grumman (61)
- Raytheon Technologies (52)
- SpaceX (51)
- Volt (46)
- Framatome USA (43)
- Tesla (41)
- Vertiv (36)
- Exponent (36)
North Carolina
- GE Vernova (13)
- Lenovo (10)
- Actalent (7)
- Dewberry Engineers (7)
- Carrier Corporation (4)
- Siemens Energy (3)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (3)
- Dewberry (3)
- Hitachi (3)
- Dewberry & Davis (3)
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!
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.