Systems Engineer Data Center Thermal & Fluid Systems

Ecolab Inc.•San Jose, CA

3d•$140,000 - $200,000

About The Position

The Systems Engineer will join the CDU (Coolant Distribution Unit) team to develop thermal management solutions for hyperscale data centers and high-performance computing systems. The role owns and delivers the end-to-end technical integrity of CDU platforms, bridging Electrical, Mechanical, and PLC disciplines so requirements are clear, interfaces are stable, risks are managed, and the product is integrated, certifiable, and production-ready. This is a technical leadership role focused on system architecture, interfaces, integration, and verification rather than component-level design. The position is accountable for system-level decisions, technical readiness recommendations, and evidence of integrated product conformance. Engineering disciplines remain responsible for detailed subsystem design and subsystem verification. The role involves frequent travel to customer sites in Washington State, occasional travel to headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, and potential international travel as business needs require. Work takes place onsite at client facilities and at remote work locations.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering or a similar engineering- or physics-based discipline.
At least 8 years of experience in electromechanical or controls-based product development.
Demonstrated experience owning system architecture, interfaces, or integration.
Deep understanding of electromechanical systems, including interactions among electrical power, controls/PLC, hydraulics/fluids, sensing, and safety circuits.
Knowledge of system safety and risk methods, including HARA, system DFMEA, HAZOP/FMEA interfaces, mitigation verification, and residual-risk communication.
Strong grounding in systems engineering fundamentals and tools, including requirements decomposition, interface definition, functional analysis, and verification planning.

Nice To Haves

Master's or PhD.
Experience in Thermal Mechanical Engineering, Fluid Dynamics, or a related field.
Exposure to hyperscale data centers and high-performance computing systems.
Experience with high-volume production for industrial products.

Responsibilities

Own and maintain the CDU system technical baseline, including requirements, architecture, operational behavior, cross-discipline interfaces, system risks, integrated configuration, integration strategy, and system verification evidence.
Author and maintain system-level Engineering Requirements Documents (ERDs), ensuring requirements are decomposed, traceable, and allocated across Electrical, Mechanical, and Control Systems domains.
Establish and maintain the requirements source register and technical assumptions log; translate customer, product, regulatory, manufacturing, service, and compliance inputs into clear, testable, traceable system requirements.
Define control-interface ownership and integration across discipline boundaries, providing technical clarity and accountability between technical project teams.
Define and validate system use cases and operational scenarios, including normal, degraded, faulted, and maintenance conditions, to anchor requirements, sequencing, and verification.
Lead cross-discipline trade studies and maintain architecture and technical decision records; evaluate performance, reliability, safety, compliance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, serviceability, scalability, and customer impacts, making decisions within delegated authority and escalating material impacts.
Lead system hazard analysis, system DFMEA, and the technical risk register; integrate discipline mitigations, link risk controls to verification evidence, and recommend technical risk disposition or escalation.
Lead system function integration testing, fault-behavior validation, and use-case testing.
Define the system-level verification and validation strategy and support certification and mass-production launch activities with system-level technical evidence.
Review system verification results and determine whether requirements are verified, failed, or require an approved deviation or waiver; approve the technical sufficiency and consistency of system evidence while Test Engineering retains responsibility for agreed test execution and recording.
Drive systems engineering practices, Vee process development, and requirements-management tools into NPI product development lifecycles.
Collaborate with industry partners and critical component vendors to promote continuous improvement and adoption of best-in-class technology.