Senior Thermal Engineer

Job Title

Senior Thermal Engineer

Role Summary

Lead thermal design, simulation, and validation for next-generation silicon photonics and co-packaged optics platforms. Work across photonics, electrical IC, packaging, and reliability teams to deliver robust thermal solutions for high-density, high-performance AI infrastructure.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 4+ years of relevant thermal or mechanical engineering experience.

Responsibilities

Design, model, and validate thermal solutions spanning chip, package, and system levels for co-packaged optics and silicon photonics.

• Engineer, build, and optimize thermal solutions for photonic engines and ASICs.
• Develop and validate comprehensive thermal models using Cadence Celsius Thermal Solver.
• Drive thermal co-design of architectures including heat sinks, cold plates, and thermal interface materials.
• Model heat transfer and airflow using CFD tools (air and liquid cooling) to enable scalable cooling solutions.
• Lead simulation-to-silicon correlation, experimental thermal characterization, and root-cause analysis.
• Define thermal build methodologies and guidelines for optical interconnect and HPC systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to integrate thermal solutions into product designs.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience:

• Proven experience in thermal or mechanical engineering with strong fundamentals in heat transfer, thermodynamics, and mechanics.
• Expertise in Cadence Celsius Thermal Solver.
• Experience with CFD tools such as Ansys Fluent or Icepak for air and liquid cooling simulations.
• Experience in coupled electro-thermal simulation and analysis.
• Thermo-mechanical stress and reliability analysis experience (ANSYS or equivalent).
• Proficiency in Python or MATLAB for modeling, automation, and data analysis.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively in fast-paced, multi-functional engineering teams.
• Nice-to-have: experience with silicon photonics, optical interconnects, or datacenter hardware.

Education Requirements

PhD in Mechanical Engineering or a related field preferred; equivalent practical experience accepted. Related fields include mechanical, thermal, or other engineering disciplines; the posting explicitly allows "or equivalent experience."

About the Company

Company: NVIDIA

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, renowned for its innovative solutions in AI and digital twins that transform diverse industries. The company specializes in networking technologies, providing end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions for servers and storage that optimize performance and scalability. NVIDIA serves sectors such as high-performance computing, enterprise data centers, and cloud computing, constantly reinventing its products and services to stay ahead in the market.