Mechanical Engineer – Customer Focused Team

Ecolab•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

The Mechanical Engineer – Customer Focused Team works closely with key customers to design new and innovative Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs). As part of a small, highly capable advance team, the engineer helps understand customer needs, use cases, and product requirements; establishes agreement on project scope and requirements; and sets initial design direction. The engineer remains a core team member throughout the full CDU design and new product introduction (NPI) lifecycle, contributing to mechanical design and coordinating with internal and external teams to keep customer interests central to the product. The role calls for strong interpersonal and communication skills, along with excellent mechanical engineering, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics capabilities. The position is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and may involve frequent visits to key customer facilities. Up to 30% domestic and international travel may be required, including travel to Cool IT headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, customer sites, and industry conferences and trade shows.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Physics, or a directly related discipline.
At least 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.
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.
Technical leadership experience or ability in the design and development of complex projects with cross-functional teams.
Ability to perform thermo-mechanical design calculations involving 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 basics, 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.
Strong responsiveness and sense of urgency, with the ability to drive projects to closure.
Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally; up to 30% travel may be required.

Nice To Haves

Professional engineering designation or eligibility to obtain it 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 involving 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; familiarity with lab equipment for data collection.
Familiarity with NPI product design, PLM, and PDM processes and their role in engineering change management.
Proficiency with finite element computer simulations, including 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 shared understanding of product specifications, requirements, and design approach.
Contribute substantially to initial product design using thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and mechanical engineering principles; develop accurate performance models to support product architecture and design decisions.
Support rapid iteration of design concepts through technology assessment, feasibility analysis, and proof-of-concept work.
Oversee the building and testing of thermal, hydraulic, and integrated assembly prototypes for validation.
Create engineering drawings, reports, design reviews, and other documentation that communicate 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 or exceed market needs.
Review and approve designs, drawings, and other engineering documentation.
Advance CDU component and system design and help maintain Cool IT’s competitive advantage.
Collaborate with industry groups to define and influence emerging standards and best practices.
Identify opportunities to improve CDU performance, reliability, cost, and efficiency.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams, customers, and external partners; translate customer needs into functional engineering requirements.
Provide technical leadership for complex projects and mentor and guide junior team members.
Perform engineering design calculations and FEA simulations for fluid mechanical, thermal, and/or seismic analyses.
Travel domestically and internationally as required, including to customer sites, Cool IT headquarters, and industry events.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Life insurance
Accident insurance
Critical illness insurance
Hospital indemnity insurance
Auto insurance
Home insurance
Pet insurance
Identity theft protection
Short-term and long-term disability
401(k)
Pension plans
Retirement health care benefits
Short-term incentives
Vacation (12 days)
Holidays
Parental leave
Employee stock purchase plans for full-time associates
Discount on day care and caregiver services
Adoption assistance
Group legal services
Employee assistance program
Employee discount program
Education assistance program
On-site childcare and fitness facilities may be available at select Ecolab locations