Sr Principal Thermal Engineer

Hewlett Packard Enterprise•Sunnyvale, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

HPE is seeking a Senior Principal Thermal Engineer who is a recognized authority in advanced liquid cooling for high-performance networking, compute, and data-center hardware. This role will define organization-wide thermal architectures, methodologies, and technology roadmaps for direct-to-chip cold-plate, manifold, coolant-distribution, immersion, hybrid air-liquid, and emerging two-phase cooling solutions. The engineer will lead complex thermal programs from concept through production, solve critical business and customer challenges, and deliver substantial, long-lasting impact through improved performance, reliability, time to market, cost, quality, and product differentiation. The successful candidate will influence executive and cross-functional decisions, guide development partners and suppliers, contribute to industry standards, mentor engineers, and strengthen HPE’s technical community.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or a closely related engineering discipline; an advanced degree is preferred.
Typically 15+ years of relevant engineering experience for the Senior Principal level, with extensive hands-on experience leading electronics thermal design and liquid-cooling development for complex products.
Demonstrated technical impact on significant products, programs, or strategic architecture, including successful delivery across multiple NPI cycles.
Deep expertise in single-phase liquid cooling and strong knowledge of immersion, dielectric fluids, refrigerant-based or two-phase technologies, and air-liquid hybrid architectures.
Expert understanding of heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermal resistance, boiling and dry-out limits, flow distribution, pressure drop, pump and heat-exchanger performance, and system controls.
Strong knowledge of cold-plate and manifold design, materials, joining and sealing methods, leak and proof-pressure testing, cleanliness, corrosion, coolant chemistry, reliability, and field service considerations.
Advanced capability with CFD and thermal-network tools and proficiency with CAD tools such as SolidWorks or equivalent; able to define modeling, calibration, correlation, and validation methods used across an organization.
Experience designing for cost, manufacturability, reliability, safety, serviceability, energy efficiency, and sustainability.
Strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills, sound engineering judgment, and the ability to make decisions with incomplete or conflicting data.
Demonstrated business acumen and program leadership, including prioritization, risk management, resource planning, supplier engagement, and negotiation.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to explain nuanced concepts and influence audiences from working teams to business-unit and executive leadership.

Nice To Haves

Evidence of innovation through patents, publications, standards contributions, or deployment of differentiated cooling technologies is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Establish and define organization-wide thermal architectures, design methodologies, specifications, and validation practices for liquid-cooled hardware across multiple platforms and organizations; contribute to long-range technology roadmaps.
Serve as the go-to technical leader for direct liquid cooling, including cold plates, manifolds, quick disconnects, hoses and piping, pumps, heat exchangers, coolant distribution units, facility-water interfaces, immersion systems, hybrid cooling, and emerging two-phase solutions.
Lead system-level thermal architecture, analysis, and design from concept and feasibility through qualification, NPI, manufacturing ramp, and sustaining engineering for high-power ASICs, optics, power components, and densely packed electronic modules.
Perform and direct thermal-fluid CFD modeling using FloTHERM, FloEFD, Macroflow, or equivalent tools; correlate models with test data and translate results into clear design decisions and margin improvements.
Define fluid, thermal, mechanical, reliability, serviceability, manufacturability, safety, and regulatory requirements, including flow and pressure budgets, pressure drop, temperature uniformity, material and coolant compatibility, corrosion control, leak prevention and detection, contamination control, and failure-response strategies.
Develop and oversee validation plans and empirical testing for component, subsystem, chassis, rack, and facility interfaces; guide engineers and technicians in instrumentation, test execution, data analysis, and root-cause investigations.
Review designs and project activities for compliance with technology, quality, reliability, and development standards; drive valuable recommendations and innovations into platform architectures.
Evaluate and select technologies, suppliers, outsourced development partners, and manufacturing processes; oversee technical deliverables and resolve complex cross-organizational issues.
Partner with mechanical, electrical, PCB, silicon, optics, firmware, systems, reliability, manufacturing, operations, service, sourcing, and data-center infrastructure teams to optimize total system performance and lifecycle cost.
Develop schedules, critical deliverables, resource plans, risk assessments, and support requirements for major programs; communicate progress, trade-offs, escalations, and issue analysis to senior and executive stakeholders.
Influence business leadership, customers, partners, suppliers, and industry standards groups through recognized domain expertise, business acumen, and clear technical communication.
Drive invention, intellectual property, reusable design practices, and knowledge sharing; mentor less-experienced engineers and actively contribute to the HPE technical community.