Principal Thermal R&D Engineer

Johnson Controls•Burlington, MA

2d•$130,000 - $165,000•Onsite

About The Position

Johnson Controls is hiring a senior technical contributor to drive research and development of next-generation thermal management devices built on its patented Stack Forging process. The role owns the technical direction of research programs, from identifying promising cooling technologies and device architectures through building and testing prototypes and maturing them for commercialization. The resulting devices will serve systems with demanding thermal limits. The engineer will work with the Customer Solutions team and the wider Johnson Controls organization to understand evolving customer thermal challenges and shape the technology roadmap. The role translates customer needs into a research portfolio, defines and executes projects, and serves as the company’s technical authority on thermal-fluid performance. The position is based onsite at the Alloy location in Burlington, Massachusetts. Candidates must be within commuting distance or able to relocate. Various relocation packages are available. Only U.S. citizens and/or permanent residents will be considered. The position may require access to items subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations, and an offer may depend on the ability to obtain and maintain required export authorization or eligibility.

Requirements

PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal-Fluid Sciences, or a related field with at least 8 years of experience, or an MS/BS with at least 12 years of experience in thermal management R&D.
Deep expertise in heat transfer and fluid mechanics, including single-phase liquid cooling and two-phase or refrigerant-based systems.
Proficiency with CFD and thermal-fluid simulation tools, such as Siemens SimCenter, ANSYS Fluent, or COMSOL, and a track record of validating models against experimental data.
Hands-on experience designing, building, and operating thermal test rigs and instrumentation, including flow loops, temperature and pressure sensing, and data acquisition.
Demonstrated success taking thermal technologies from concept through prototype to production-ready status or commercial launch.
Experience defining and leading research projects, including scoping, budgeting, and presenting results and recommendations to senior leadership.
Must be a U.S. citizen and/or permanent resident.
Must be within commuting distance of the Burlington, MA facility or able to relocate.

Nice To Haves

Experience with liquid cooling for AI/HPC data center hardware, semiconductor equipment, power electronics, or defense systems.
Familiarity with metal additive manufacturing, brazing, diffusion bonding, or other processes producing complex internal geometries, including understanding manufacturability constraints.
Publications or patents in thermal management, two-phase cooling, or heat exchanger design.
Experience with electronics packaging, thermal interface materials, and chip-level heat flux considerations.
Proficiency with Python or MATLAB for data analysis and reduced-order modeling; familiarity with CAD, with Onshape preferred.
Experience with technology readiness or stage-gate frameworks and research collaboration within a larger parent organization.

Responsibilities

Partner with the Solutions team and Johnson Controls stakeholders to identify emerging customer thermal requirements and cooling technologies, and shape the thermal technology roadmap.
Scope and propose research projects with hypotheses, success criteria, timelines, and resource needs; secure leadership alignment and report progress.
Conceive thermal device architectures that use Stack Forging’s internal microgeometry capabilities to achieve performance beyond conventional manufacturing.
Work with the simulation team on CFD and thermal-fluid analysis to screen concepts, predict performance, and guide design iteration before hardware builds.
Advance capabilities in two-phase and refrigerant-based cooling, including boiling and condensation behavior, flow stability, and working fluid selection.
Design and build test rigs, define test protocols, execute experiments, and analyze data to validate device performance and quantify uncertainty.
Serve as the technical authority on thermal performance; review designs, mentor engineers, and establish standards for analytical and experimental rigor.