Sr. Thermal Engineer

Supermicro•San Jose, CA

About The Position

The Sr. Thermal Engineer will work as a senior thermal engineer in Supermicro’s SMC LAB department, responsible for system cooling design, validation, and thermal issue analysis for server, storage, GPU, and workstation systems. The role leads system cooling solutions and process improvements in collaboration with cross-functional teams, and provides technical support from the server level through the data center level when needed. The engineer will support products throughout their full life cycle, work with project teams to resolve cooling issues and respond to customer concerns, and collaborate with motherboard, chassis, power supply, and system teams to optimize system layout and component placement. The position also involves researching and deploying new cooling techniques, validating thermal designs with measurement and lab equipment, and supporting production-part qualification and quality-control processes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in mechanical engineering, thermal engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or equivalent training.
At least 8 years of experience in server, storage, blade, or industry-system thermal design and solution validation.
Knowledge and experience in server systems, system design processes, thermal design and management, heat-transfer materials, and cooling devices.
Strong organizational and problem-solving skills, with effective verbal and written communication.
Knowledge of mechanical and thermal topics, including cooling devices, airflow, temperature, power, cooling, and mechanical design.
Experience with ODM/OEM design, quality control, thermal solution design reviews, and supplier capability evaluation and improvement.
Experience running stress programs and scripts under Windows and Linux.
Hands-on experience with system-level thermal simulation, design testing, or component validation, including thermocouple installation, automated data acquisition, and related laboratory equipment.

Nice To Haves

Electrical and power knowledge, including power distribution, AC power types, power calculations, DC power, and regulatory and safety requirements.
Experience with advanced cooling technologies such as liquid cooling, loop heat pipes, thermosyphons, and immersion cooling.

Responsibilities

Design thermal solutions for mainstream server, storage, blade, and AI GPU systems, and support product managers throughout the full product life cycle.
Work with cross-functional project teams to provide cooling solutions, debug issues, and respond promptly to customer concerns.
Collaborate with motherboard, chassis, power supply, and system teams to optimize system layout and component placement.
Conduct thermal measurements using thermal test vehicles and flow chamber tests; perform design testing and data acquisition in accordance with industry standards.
Research and develop advanced and future cooling solutions, including liquid cooling, loop heat pipes, thermosyphons, and immersion cooling.
Apply quality-control processes, including 6 Sigma, GR&R, FAI, and thermal-solution stack-up, and lead production-part approval for key component qualification.
Provide thermal and cooling technical support and deployment from server level to data center level when needed.
Investigate, introduce, and apply new techniques to advance cooling schemes and thermal management.
Review system thermal designs, perform analysis, debugging, and validation, and prepare SOP documentation.
Run stress programs and scripts in Windows and Linux environments.
Perform hands-on system-level thermal simulation, design testing, and component validation, including thermocouple installation, automated data acquisition, and operation of related laboratory equipment.