Mechanical Engineer – Customer Focused Team

Ecolab•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Mechanical Engineer on the Customer Focused Team works closely with key customers to design innovative Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs). The role partners with a key customer and a small, advanced team to understand customer needs, use cases, and product requirements; establish agreement on project scope and requirements; and set initial design direction. The engineer remains a core team member throughout the CDU design and new product introduction (NPI) lifecycle, contributing to mechanical design and collaborating with internal and external teams to keep customer interests central to product development. The position requires strong interpersonal and communication skills, along with mechanical engineering, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics expertise. It is based in the San Francisco Bay area and may involve frequent travel to customer facilities, Cool IT’s Calgary headquarters, and industry events. Up to 30% domestic and international travel may be required. The salary range is $94,400 to $141,600, depending on experience and skills.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Physics, or a directly related discipline.
Minimum of 7 years of relevant engineering and/or design experience.
Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
Excellent time-management and organizational skills.
Strong analysis, problem-solving, and risk-mitigation skills.
Thermo-mechanical design calculation skills, including heat transfer, fluid mechanics, piping design, and HVAC.
Proficiency with CAD software, such as SolidWorks, for detailed mechanical designs and drawings.
Knowledge of thermodynamics and heat transfer in liquid-to-liquid and liquid-to-air systems.
Proven understanding of hydraulic and gas-fluid behavior, particularly in liquid-cooling systems.
Ability to build first-order fluid network models from component performance curves and generate predicted system-level pressure-flow curves.
Knowledge of datacenter design fundamentals, relevant standards, and facility design and/or operation best practices.
Knowledge of process piping, P&IDs, and building mechanical design, particularly HVAC and fluid transfer.
Understanding of pump, motor, heat exchanger, and sensor selection, testing, and validation.
Knowledge of technical product and design review, including competitive benchmarking, performance, estimated cost, Design for Manufacturability, Design for Assembly, and Design for Service.
Knowledge of engineering change management for NPI and sustaining products.
Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, customers, and external partners.
Ability to understand customer needs and requirements and translate them into functional engineering requirements to guide product design.
Ability to provide technical leadership in complex projects involving cross-functional teams.
Ability to perform engineering design calculations and FEA simulation for fluid mechanical, thermal, and/or seismic analyses.
Strong sense of urgency and responsiveness, with the ability to drive projects to closure.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally; up to 30% travel may be required.

Nice To Haves

Professional engineering designation, or eligibility to obtain one in California within 12 months.
Experience in the datacenter, high-performance computing, or liquid-cooling industries.
Experience in customer-facing roles such as technical sales, key account management, consulting, or engineering roles with frequent customer interaction.
Experience in product design, technical sales, or engineering of thermal-management and heat-transfer solutions, fluid dynamics, datacenter, or HVAC products.
Experience with rapid-prototyping manufacturing techniques and testing thermal/mechanical components or assemblies, and familiarity with lab equipment for data collection.
Familiarity with NPI product design, PLM, and PDM processes and their contribution to engineering change management.
Proficiency with finite element computer simulations for CFD, heat transfer, and stress/strain analysis.
Experience with seismic analysis.
Knowledge of Design for Lean Six Sigma or related statistical product-design methodologies.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with the key customer.
Lead early-stage NPI design of CDUs as part of a customer-focused team, supporting agreement on product specifications, requirements, and design approach.
Contribute substantially to initial product design using thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and mechanical engineering, and develop performance models to support product architecture and design decisions.
Support rapid iteration of design concepts through technology assessment, feasibility analysis, and proofs of concept.
Oversee the building and testing of thermal, hydraulic, and integrated assembly prototypes for validation.
Create engineering drawings, reports, design reviews, and other documentation explaining design ideas, test results, and recommendations to internal teams and external stakeholders.
Work with core teams, customers, and industry partners to deliver CDU designs on time and meet market needs.
Review and approve designs, drawings, and other engineering documentation.
Advance CDU component and system design and maintain the company's competitive advantage.
Collaborate with industry groups to define and influence emerging standards and best practices.
Improve CDU performance, reliability, cost, and efficiency.
Mentor and guide junior team members.
Travel domestically and internationally to company headquarters, customer sites, and industry conferences and trade shows, as required.