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

AECOM•Arlington, VA

7d•Remote

About The Position

AECOM is seeking a hands-on, client-facing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Engineer for its Data Center team in the Buildings and Places group. The role is an individual-contributor position focused on executing internal and external airflow, thermal, and equipment-discharge studies with minimal oversight. It may be performed fully remotely from a variety of U.S. locations where AECOM has an office, with occasional, advance-scheduled travel for client meetings, project milestones, onsite collaboration, or other business-critical activities. Employees must attend in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office. The engineer owns CFD studies from defining the design question and scope through modeling, analysis, reporting, and communicating practical design recommendations. Work includes internal data-hall analyses, external equipment and exhaust analyses, and steady-state and transient operating scenarios. The role also supports consistent, high-quality workflows, technical knowledge sharing, and mentoring. The posting describes opportunities to work with global teams on high-profile data-center projects and upward career mobility. AECOM states that relocation and sponsorship for U.S. employment authorization are not available for this position. The company intends to fill this current vacancy by January 9, 2027.

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 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 ability to independently deliver 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, including communicating complex results to engineering teams, project managers, and clients.

Responsibilities

Own the full CFD study lifecycle, including scoping, acceptance criteria, methodology, geometry, meshing, boundary conditions, solving, convergence verification, post-processing, and technical reporting.
Perform internal data-hall studies of rack inlet temperatures, airflow distribution, aisle containment, bypass and recirculation, floor configurations, cooling-unit placement, rack density, failure modes, and capacity-expansion scenarios.
Perform external studies of cooling equipment, mechanical yards, generator and boiler exhaust, relief air, outdoor-air intakes, heat rejection, plume behavior, short-circuiting, and thermal re-entrainment.
Conduct steady-state and transient analyses of outages, equipment failures, load changes, control sequences, thermal ride-through, and other project-defined operating scenarios.
Develop and document modeling assumptions using design documents, equipment data, controls narratives, weather data, commissioning information, and field measurements; identify data gaps and explain their effect on conclusions.
Apply verification and validation practices, including mesh-sensitivity checks, mass and energy balance reviews, convergence assessment, hand-calculation comparisons, and correlation with measured or monitored data when available.
Evaluate results against project-specific criteria and relevant ASHRAE TC 9.9 guidance, client requirements, codes, and industry requirements.
Translate results into prioritized 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 methods, assumptions, scenarios, results, risks, limitations, and next steps.
Present findings and coordinate directly with multidisciplinary teams to resolve issues and confirm implementation of recommendations.
Contribute to templates, modeling procedures, quality-control checklists, libraries, and lessons learned; share technical knowledge and mentor less-experienced staff.