Technical Staff, Thermal Architect

Dell Technologies•Santa Clara, CA

About The Position

The Technical Staff, Data Center Thermal Architect joins Dell Technologies’ Engineering Technologist team in Austin, Texas, to shape the architecture of next-generation, large-scale AI infrastructure. The role spans accelerated compute, AI fabrics, AI-optimized storage, rack and data center power solutions, and liquid cooling technologies. Working as part of an advanced technology pod, the architect defines long-term technology strategies informed by input from CTO, marketing, development, manufacturing, procurement, customers, and industry stakeholders. The position is responsible for applied research and advanced engineering that influence product strategy and architecture. It involves analyzing industry and competitive capabilities, evaluating technologies and suppliers, and working with design teams, systems engineering, marketing, suppliers, business-unit leaders, and executives to develop products and solutions that meet customer and business needs.

Requirements

Experience collaborating with customers on architectural and design requirements spanning IT systems and data center thermal technologies.
Advanced working knowledge of heat transfer and the ability to analyze component- and system-level problems and apply advanced cooling technologies.
Solid understanding of, and relationships with, key suppliers of data center power and thermal-management components.
Ability to collaborate with technology partners and suppliers on cutting-edge technology development and work with ODMs on mechanical, thermal, and electrical aspects of system design.
Understanding of competitive and business needs when developing technical solutions, including knowledge of manufacturing processes and tolerance-control requirements for high-volume production.
Ability to interface effectively with suppliers, assess the value of their research and offerings, and coordinate those efforts on an ongoing basis.
Ability to understand business needs while developing technical solutions.
Ability to travel 20%–30% to assess customer requirements and develop blueprints.

Nice To Haves

15 or more years of related experience.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Mechanical Engineering, with emphasis on thermal science, fluid dynamics, and/or heat transfer for data center implementations.
An advanced degree may offset years of experience.

Responsibilities

Drive end-to-end solution architecture from server to data center, including air- and liquid-cooled servers, integrated rack solutions, power distribution, and heat rejection.
Develop power-centric solutions for increasingly dense IT environments.
Optimize cost, energy efficiency, and performance from IT systems through the data center.
Engage with AI customers to optimize solutions for their applications and tune systems for maximum performance.
Develop solution overviews and validate them with Engineering.
Propose bills of materials and SKUs to meet technical requirements, review them with Engineering, and shape the resulting offer.
Design air, liquid, and other cooling solutions based on data center and customer requirements.
Drive hardware design based on customer requirements and infrastructure needs, including scalable liquid-cooling solutions and other platform engineering aspects.
Define hardware topologies optimized for AI workload efficiency and performance.
Assess industry and competitive capabilities, lead technology investigations, and derive technology and product strategies.
Collaborate with customers, technology partners, suppliers, ODMs, and internal teams on system architecture and mechanical, thermal, and electrical design.
Develop architecture specifications that guide future product development.
Evaluate potential acquisitions and vendor-partner opportunities.
Travel to assess customer requirements and develop blueprints.