Senior Thermal Design Engineer (AI Hardware)

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, Boulder, CO, Virginia, or remote across Eastern and Central Time Zones in the US; onsite work is available in the Bay Area.

Salary: $230,000–$275,000 annually; other compensation ranges and equity may apply.

Company

AI and networking hardware startup developing customized networking hardware, software, and optics solutions for large-scale AI workloads and hyperscalers through a Joint Development Model.

What you will do

• Design and develop heatsinks, cold plates, and liquid cooling systems.
• Build thermal models and run simulations using industry-standard tools.
• Lead thermal testing and validation for system performance and reliability.
• Collaborate with hardware and system teams to integrate thermal designs.
• Work with suppliers to deliver high-quality thermal components.
• Troubleshoot thermal issues and track emerging cooling technologies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on heat transfer; a master’s degree is preferred.
• 5–10 years of experience in thermal design, preferably with datacenter networking systems.
• Proficiency with Flotherm, Flotherm-XT, or IcePak.
• Strong knowledge of air-cooling techniques, including vapor chambers, heat pipes, heatsinks, fans, TIMs, and rack-level constraints.
• Deep knowledge of heat transfer and practical thermal system design.

Nice to have

• Experience with liquid cooling systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on next-generation infrastructure for large-scale AI workloads.
• Collaborate across hardware, systems, and supplier teams.
• Join a well-funded, VC-backed startup with more than $600 million in funding.
• Remote work is available within specified US time zones.