Thermal Engineer (AI)

Location: Hybrid, Santa Clara, United States

Salary: $175K–$265K annually, plus equity and bonus opportunities

Company

hirify.global develops software and hardware innovations for generative AI and AI computing platforms.

What you will do

• Lead thermal-fluid design and development for liquid-cooled AI hardware, including high-TDP XPU cold plates, rack manifolds, UQDs, tubing networks, and CDUs.
• Define liquid-cooling infrastructure and perform flow-network analysis to balance flow, minimize pressure drop, and prevent flow starvation across multi-chassis racks.
• Evaluate fluid compatibility, materials, corrosion inhibitors, and long-term reliability of closed-loop cooling circuits.
• Design and optimize air-cooled solutions including heat sinks, fans, ducting, chassis airflow, and VRM/memory cooling.
• Build 3D CFD models and 1D hydraulic simulations to predict temperatures, thermal resistance, fluid temperatures, and rack-level pressure drop.
• Set up instrumentation and execute performance and stress testing of cold plates, manifolds, CDUs, servers, and racks while partnering with Mechanical, Electrical, Packaging, and Reliability teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of hands-on experience in thermal design, CFD modeling, and physical testing of air-cooled and liquid-cooled electronic systems.
• Expertise designing, selecting, and qualifying cold plates, rack manifolds, fluid tubing, UQDs, and CDUs.
• Deep understanding of flow networks, pressure-drop calculations, hydraulic balancing, and fluid distribution across multi-socket, multi-tray server racks.
• Knowledge of air-cooled thermal management, including fan selection, heat-sink design, and system impedance testing.
• Experience with CFD tools such as Simcenter Flotherm, Flotherm XT, Ansys Icepak, or Ansys Fluent.
• Knowledge of lab instrumentation including multi-channel DAQs, thermal test vehicles, flow benches, pressure calibration, and helium/pressure leak testing.
• Hands-on experience with performance characterization and stress testing of liquid-cooled hardware.

Nice to have

• Experience with 1D hydraulic network simulation tools such as Flownex or Flowmaster.
• Proficiency with 3D mechanical CAD tools such as PTC Creo, SolidWorks, or Siemens NX.
• Familiarity with Open Compute Project liquid-cooling standards and industry reliability metrics.
• Knowledge of thermal interface materials, including TIM1, TIM1.5, and phase-change materials, plus advanced packaging thermal constraints involving HBM, interposers, and multi-die modules.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work arrangement in Santa Clara, United States.
• Collaborative and inclusive culture emphasizing respect, humility, direct communication, execution, and learning.
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) benefits.
• Equity and performance-based bonus opportunities.
• Rewards and benefits support the wellbeing of employees and their loved ones.