Summer 2027 Internship - Thermal & Manufacturing Engineering

Loft Orbital is hiring a Summer 2027 Internship - Thermal & Manufacturing Engineering. Level rates it ; you can apply on Loft Orbital.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Solidworks, Python and Excel.
Level classifies it as an internship.
Level lists 75 other open roles at Loft Orbital.
The role was posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

Develop and validate thermal interface material workflows for spacecraft manufacturing as an engineering intern.

solidworkspythonexcel

thermal-engineeringmanufacturingspacecraft-assemblycadmaterials-science

Wanna Join the Adventure?

Loft Orbital is looking for a Thermal & Manufacturing Engineering Intern to join our team in Golden, Colorado for Summer 2027. You’ll work alongside our Mission Engineering & Analysis and Assembly, Integration & Test (AIT) teams to improve how thermal interface materials are selected, prepared, and used in spacecraft assembly.

This internship offers hands-on experience at the intersection of materials, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing. You’ll work directly with AIT technicians and engineers, taking your work from CAD drawings to physical parts used on satellites. You’ll take a process improvement from initial experiments through validation and documentation, then see it used in spacecraft assembly.

About This Role

As a Thermal & Manufacturing Engineering Intern, you’ll help develop and validate a workflow for preparing thermal interface materials, including gap pads, thermal tapes, and graphite sheets. These materials help transfer heat between spacecraft components, and their preparation requires attention to accuracy, cleanliness, and handling.

Depending on team priorities, you may:

Plan and conduct trials to compare materials and cutting methods, including laser cutting, digital knife cutting, and die-cutting
Evaluate cut quality, dimensional accuracy, material handling, and contamination risks
Develop a repeatable workflow from CAD drawings to cut parts and assembly-ready kits
Help establish drawing and DXF file conventions, document cutting settings, and define inspection steps
Develop approaches for labeling, protective liners, packaging, and handling to simplify assembly
Create work instructions and inspection checklists in collaboration with engineering and AIT teams
Present findings and recommend materials and processes that balance thermal requirements with practical manufacturing needs

What We’re Looking For

Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical field; undergraduate students must be rising juniors or rising seniors
Proficiency with SolidWorks or equivalent CAD software and ability to create clear engineering drawings
Hands-on fabrication or test experience through projects, research, internships, or shop/lab work
Ability to plan structured experiments, record data, and analyze results using Python, Excel, or similar tools
Strong written communication skills, including documenting procedures and findings
Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and a passion for space

Nice to Haves

Familiarity with Python scripting
Foundational knowledge of heat transfer and thermal principles
Awareness of cleanroom practices, electrostatic discharge (ESD), and contamination control
Exposure to spaceflight hardware through coursework, research, projects, or internships

During Your Internship, You Can Expect To

Gain hands-on, real-world experience supporting spacecraft engineering and manufacturing
Receive mentorship and feedback from your mentor, manager, and teammates
Collaborate across engineering and AIT teams and see how your work supports satellite assembly
Participate in events to learn about other parts of Loft
Share your work, findings, and recommendations at the end of the internship

Compensation & Logistics

Hourly compensation: $30.00/hour
Timing: Full-time, 10–12 week Summer 2027 internship. Start and end dates will be coordinated based on school schedule and team availability.
Location: On-site in Golden, Colorado
Relocation: Loft offers housing/relocation support for interns traveling from outside the local area.
In-office perks: Daily catered lunches and snacks

Who We Are: Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit. We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives. With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

How we rate this

Summer 2027 Internship - Thermal & Manufacturing Engineering at Loft Orbital rates 0 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Summer 2027 Internship - Thermal & Manufacturing Engineering is an open job at Loft Orbital.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The role is based in Golden, CO.
The job was posted on October 30, 2026.
Seniority: intern.
Applications are handled by Loft Orbital. Apply on Loft Orbital

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Thermal EngineeringManufacturingSpacecraft AssemblyCADMaterials ScienceSolidworksPythonExcel

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where thermal engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where manufacturing was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where spacecraft assembly was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where cad was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where materials science was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Thermal Engineering, Manufacturing, Spacecraft Assembly, CAD, and Materials Science. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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