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

AECOM•Arlington, VA

2d•Remote

About The Position

AECOM is seeking a hands-on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Engineer to join its Data Center team in the Buildings and Places group. The role is an individual-contributor position responsible for executing internal and external airflow, thermal, and equipment-discharge studies with minimal oversight. The engineer will turn complex simulation results into practical design actions, communicate assumptions and limitations clearly, and help establish repeatable, high-quality CFD workflows across concurrent projects. The position is primarily remote and may be based in a variety of U.S. locations where AECOM has an office. Occasional, advance-scheduled travel may be required for client meetings, project milestones, onsite collaboration, or other business-critical activities. The role involves working with AECOM teams around the world on high-profile data center projects and is hands-on and client-facing, with an opportunity for upward career mobility.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
At least 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 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 degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Professional Engineer (PE) license.
Experience with U.S. 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 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, from clarifying the design question and defining scope and acceptance criteria through methodology development, geometry preparation, meshing, boundary conditions, solving, convergence verification, post-processing, and technical reporting.
Perform internal data hall studies addressing rack inlet temperatures, airflow distribution, containment, bypass and recirculation, floor configurations, cooling-unit placement, rack density, failure modes, and capacity-expansion scenarios.
Perform external studies involving 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 project-defined operating scenarios.
Develop and document defensible modeling assumptions using design documents, equipment data, controls narratives, weather data, commissioning information, and field measurements; identify data gaps and explain their impact.
Apply verification and validation practices, including mesh-sensitivity checks, mass and energy balance reviews, convergence assessment, comparison with hand calculations, and correlation with measured or monitored 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 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 mentor less-experienced staff.