Thermal Systems Engineer

Mechanical Engineer Mid-level (L4 equivalent) 2-5 years

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The job description

Tech stack. CFD (ANSYS Fluent or similar), thermal FEA, heat sink and cold plate design, liquid cooling loops, thermal interface material selection, thermal test and measurement, electronics cooling, IR thermography

About the role

You will own thermal design at a company building high-density power electronics for data center backup systems where every watt of loss becomes heat that must be moved reliably for a decade. Your thermal architecture determines how much power fits in the box, how loud the system runs, and whether semiconductors survive their warranty period. You will simulate, design, and validate cooling solutions from component-level heat spreading to full system airflow, proving performance with measurements that match your models within degrees. You will model and validate thermal performance using CFD and hand calculations, designing heat sinks, heat pipes, and liquid cooling systems that keep components in their safe operating range. Your thermal solutions will be verified by test, because models are only as good as their assumptions.

What you will achieve

Deliver thermal designs that keep all semiconductor junction temperatures at least 15 degrees below rated maximums at worst-case ambient temperature and full load, verified by instrumented testing.
Build CFD and thermal models that predict measured component temperatures within 5 degrees, enabling confident design decisions without endless prototype iterations.
Cut cooling system cost and acoustic noise simultaneously by optimizing heat sink geometry, fan selection and control, and airflow paths against competing targets.
Validate designs with thorough thermal testing: IR imaging, thermocouple instrumentation, and power cycling that proves long-term reliability, not just steady-state survival.
Resolve thermal issues in production quickly with root-cause analysis that correctly distinguishes design margin problems from manufacturing variation.

What you will bring

Must-haves

2 to 5 years of thermal engineering experience on electronics, power systems, or similarly heat-constrained products.
Proficiency with CFD and thermal FEA tools for electronics cooling analysis, including model validation against test.
Strong heat transfer fundamentals: conduction, convection, radiation, and two-phase cooling basics.
Experience designing heat sinks, cold plates, heat pipes, or liquid cooling loops with real constraints.
Hands-on thermal test skills: thermocouple instrumentation, IR cameras, data acquisition, and interpretation.
BS in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.

Nice-to-haves

Experience with data center or telecom thermal environments and their standards.
Familiarity with immersion cooling or direct-to-chip liquid cooling technologies.
Background in thermal interface material characterization and selection.
Knowledge of fan acoustics and noise mitigation in product design.