CFD Engineer, Data Centers - Remote (U.S.)

AECOM•Arlington, VA

10h•$120,000 - $200,000•Remote

About The Position

AECOM is seeking a hands-on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Engineer to join its Data Center team in its Buildings and Places (B+P) group. This individual-contributor role is responsible for executing internal and external airflow, thermal, and equipment-discharge studies with minimal oversight. The successful candidate will convert complex simulation results into practical design actions, clearly communicate assumptions and limitations, and help establish repeatable, high-quality CFD workflows across multiple concurrent projects. This position offers the flexibility of a remote work schedule and can be based from a variety of locations in the US where AECOM has an office. Although the position is primarily remote, periodic travel may be required for client meetings, key project milestones, onsite collaboration sessions, or other business-critical activities. AECOM is a leader in the global data center consulting industry with robust teams in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. In this role, you will have the opportunity to work with our teams around the world on high-profile, fast-paced data center projects for global clients. This is a hands-on, client-facing role with an opportunity for upward career mobility.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
6+ years of hands-on CFD experience, including direct application to data centers, mission-critical facilities, or similarly complex thermal-management environments.
Proficiency with at least one data-center or general-purpose CFD platform, such as Cadence 6SigmaDCX, Ansys Fluent, Ansys CFX, or OpenFOAM, and the ability to learn and apply project-required tools.
Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, turbulence modeling, and HVAC system operation.
Experience modeling both internal environments, such as IT spaces and containment systems, and external environments, such as mechanical yards, cooling equipment, intakes, and exhaust discharges.
Working knowledge of data center cooling architectures, HVAC systems, redundancy concepts, controls and failure scenarios, and common thermal performance metrics.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering
Professional Engineer (PE)
Experience with US codes and standards.
Demonstrated success independently delivering CFD studies from scoping through final report, including geometry preparation, meshing, solver setup, convergence assessment, post-processing, and engineering interpretation.
Ability to develop appropriate boundary conditions from design information and equipment performance data, and to explain the sensitivity of results to key assumptions.
Strong technical writing, visualization, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex results to engineering teams, project managers, and clients.

Responsibilities

Own the full CFD study lifecycle: clarify the design question, define scope and acceptance criteria, develop the methodology, build geometry, generate the mesh, establish boundary conditions, solve, verify convergence, post-process results, and issue technical reports.
Perform internal data hall studies addressing rack inlet temperatures, airflow distribution, hot- and cold-aisle containment, bypass and recirculation, raised-floor or slab configurations, cooling-unit placement, rack density, failure modes, and capacity-expansion scenarios.
Perform external studies for cooling towers, chillers, dry coolers, generator and boiler exhaust, mechanical yards, relief air, outdoor-air intakes, heat rejection, plume behavior, short-circuiting, and thermal re-entrainment.
Conduct steady-state and transient analyses for cooling-system outages, equipment failures, load changes, control sequences, thermal ride-through, and other operating scenarios defined by the project team.
Develop defensible modeling assumptions using design documents, equipment data, controls narratives, weather data, commissioning information, and field measurements; identify data gaps and document their impact on conclusions.
Apply sound verification and validation practices, including mesh-sensitivity checks, mass and energy balance reviews, convergence assessment, comparison with hand calculations, and correlation to measured or monitoring data when available.
Evaluate results against project-specific criteria and relevant guidance, including ASHRAE TC 9.9 thermal guidance and applicable client, code, and industry requirements.
Translate findings into prioritized, actionable recommendations for equipment selection, airflow management, containment, intake/exhaust separation, controls, phasing, redundancy, and operational resilience.
Prepare concise, client-ready reports and visualizations that clearly communicate methodology, assumptions, scenarios, results, risks, limitations, and recommended next steps.
Present findings and coordinate directly with multidisciplinary project teams to resolve issues and confirm implementation of recommendations.
Contribute to standardized templates, modeling procedures, quality-control checklists, libraries, and lessons learned; support technical knowledge sharing and mentoring of less-experienced staff.