Product Engineer II - Rack Integration

Ahead•Libertyville, IL

About The Position

As a Product Engineer in Rack Integration Services, you will design and implement integrated rack solutions for enterprise-grade data center hardware. You will own rack-level design from concept through installation, including rack elevations, rack-level bills of materials (BOMs), power and cooling analysis, and cabling design. The role includes defining installation and integration steps, creating cable maps and routing plans, developing labeling standards, and producing rack documentation that supports accurate builds, labor estimates, and pre-sales assessments. You will collaborate with internal teams and clients and may travel to customer sites to support rack delivery and installation. The role also contributes to product quoting, solution launches, revision control, production support, and resolution of hardware, firmware, and software compatibility issues. You will work with engineering, sales, project management, manufacturing, verification, production, customers, and vendors, and may mentor other Product Engineers.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience building and designing computer components into custom-built systems.
At least 5 years of experience building and designing enterprise-level systems, including networking, compute, and storage hardware.
At least 5 years of experience with Linux and Windows operating systems.
At least 5 years of experience creating and maintaining bills of materials (BOMs).
At least 5 years of experience configuring Dell, Supermicro, HPE, Lenovo, and white-box systems.
Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, computer science, or a related field.
Excellent communication and listening skills, with the ability to collaborate with customers, technical resources, and team members.
Ability to understand, gather, and document customer requirements.
Expertise in engineering disciplines and revision control, including engineering change management, product lifecycle management (PLM), and end-of-life (EOL) processes.
Expertise with enterprise compute, storage, networking, PDU and rack hardware; power and air or liquid cooling; build methodologies; cabling; connectivity; and build standards.
Expertise with x86 and ARM computer architectures, server hardware components, and computer standards.
Expertise with enterprise generative AI use cases and hardware for inference and training.
Knowledge of quality control and computer assembly methods.
Ability to collaborate effectively with external vendors.
Critical thinking, problem-solving, planning, and organizational skills, including the ability to make decisions under pressure.
Adaptability and resilience in dynamic environments.
Expertise with risk management and new product introduction (NPI).
Excellent attention to detail and documentation skills.

Nice To Haves

Network+ certification.
Server+ certification.

Responsibilities

Collaborate on quoting requests with Product Engineers, Sales Engineers, Project Managers, client-facing teams, and clients to develop complete and accurate quotes.
Participate in cross-training with the Product Engineering Team.
Collaborate with Sales Engineering to scope and design Foundry services as needed.
Coordinate with Manufacturing Engineering and System Verification Engineering to ensure project documentation and automation are in place.
Support production throughout projects.
Create and assemble hardware quotes when Foundry drives the design of enterprise products or racks.
Manage product and BOM revision control throughout product lifecycles when necessary.
Participate in launching new solutions and help ensure successful customer delivery.
Diagnose and resolve hardware, firmware, and software compatibility issues with customers and vendors.
Respond to and resolve advanced customer technical inquiries in a timely manner.
Mentor and guide other Product Engineers.
Develop and maintain rack elevations and rack-level BOMs for integrated solutions, ensuring mechanical and electrical constraints are met.
Analyze power and cooling for integrated racks, including PDU selection, power strip layout, input load balancing, and airflow considerations for air and liquid cooling where applicable.
Design cabling matrices, cable routing paths, and labeling schemes for power, networking, storage, and management fabrics.
Gather and document rack integration requirements from customers and internal stakeholders, including space, power, cooling, access, cable entry and exit, labeling, and documentation expectations.
Create installation runbooks and work instructions for rack assembly, device installation, cabling, labeling, and quality checks.
Support production builds of integrated racks by clarifying design intent, resolving mechanical or routing issues, and driving continuous improvement.
Support on-site rack delivery and installation, including site readiness checks, layout verification, and hand-off documentation.
Develop rack design standards, including cabling colors, labeling, documentation templates, and photos, and contribute to Foundry rack integration best practices.