Mechanical Engineer, Senior Staff

Qualcomm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 255,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. seeks a Senior Staff Engineer to drive world-class thermomechanical system solutions for server and rack-level cooling.

You will shape cooling architectures across package, server, rack and pod levels, leveraging CFD and thermal modelling to guide design decisions. You will lead partnerships with ODMs/OEMs, perform full CFD simulations, and push for manufacturable, high‑reliability solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical/thermal/hw engineering or related field is required.
• 15+ years in thermomechanical design.
• Portfolio of shipped high-volume products preferred.
• 3+ years liquid cooling experience with high power density systems.
• Advanced CFD modelling experience and tools proficiency.
• Experience with ODM/OEM partnerships and joint design activities.

Responsibilities

• Support design teams with thermomechanical analysis at package/server/rack/pod levels.
• Lead external partner engagements and backstop analyses with internal teams.
• Identify thermal power use cases and power envelopes to optimize designs.
• Explore new cooling technologies and capture IP relevant to architecture.
• Participate in design reviews and ensure manufacturability and reliability.
• Conduct full CFD simulations and guide modelling approaches across the design flow.

Skills

Thermomechanical design

CFD modelling

System thermal analysis

ODM/OEM partnership management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Thermal, HW Engineering or related field

Tools

ANSYS Fluent

ANSYS AEDT

ANSYS Icepak

STAR-CCM+

OpenFOAM

Job description

Company:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Hardware Engineering

General Summary:

Qualcomm Technologies is scaling from silicon leadership into full rack-scale data center systems. Our Qualcomm® solutions deliver purpose-built, rack-level AI inference — paired with our data center CPU roadmap — to multiple global customers solutions

These are complete, serviceable systems: direct to chip - liquid-cooled racks & solutions, PCIe for scale-up, Ethernet for scale-out, computing for secure workloads all managed by the Qualcomm AI Infrastructure Management Suite. With our recent announcements into high-speed connectivity, SerDes, and chiplet expertise to the platform. This role is central to helping turn that portfolio into designs our key customers & ODMs can deploy at scale.

Role Summary

We are seeking a Senior Staff Engineer to drive world class thermomechanical system solutions as part of the design team. You will help shape cooling system architectures at every level of detail by leveraging your strong thermomechanical design and modelling aptitude and experience. You will

Key Responsibilities

• Support the design team with system thermal and liquid flow modelling at the package, server, rack and pod level. Deliver timely guidance on performance, risk, cost, feasibility. Back up that guidance with high quality and right sized analysis.
• Lead partner engagements: Engage with external partners for solution development. Backstop external analysis with internal. Set expectations and drive to successful outcomes.
• Extract and keep pace with thermal power use cases: Team up to understand the thermal power use cases and power envelopes. Provide timely analysis to system engineering to help optimize the product.
• Explore new technologies and Intellectual Property: Ensure designs are world class and cost effective. Capture IP critical to the optimized architecture.
• Support development parter relationships: Ensure information exchanges are sufficient, timely and complete. Participate in design reviews and leverage experience to add value.
• Conduct full CFD thermal simulations: Decide when to simulate and when not to. Ensure effective modelling approaches are taken. Delegate when appropriate, but contribute regularly at the lowest detailed level with ease. Help improve the analysis process flow.
• You aren’t just doing simulations in a vacuum: Leverage your knowledge of practical mechanical engineering best practices, fabrication techniques, tolerance analysis, failure mechanisms. Leverage your design acumen to deliver solutions grounded in reality.

Minimum Requirements

• Education (required): A Bachelor’s degree in an approved engineering field — Mechanical, Thermal, HW Engineering (or a closely related engineering discipline) — is required.
• Experience: 15+ years in thermomechanical design.
• A portfolio of shipped products High volume products shipped at scale preferred.
• Liquid cooling: 3+ years experience with liquid cooling of high power density, high efficiency coolers, manifolds, connections.
• Modelling / Simulation: Advanced, expert level skill in one or more CFD tools.
• ODM/OEM partnership: close working relationships with ODMs and OEMs across the server/rack ecosystem — joint design (JDM), manufacturing readiness, BOM and supply alignment, and executive-level partner management.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with OCP rack and server architectures, including ORV3 / Open Rack Wide.
• Experience with data center rack-level and system-level thermal design.
• Experience with AI/accelerator or other high-power-density compute platforms.
• Familiarity with server and rack mechanical design, manufacturing methods, tolerance analysis, reliability considerations, and design for high-volume production.
• Experience working directly with ODMs, OEMs, suppliers, and cross-functional engineering teams to develop and validate thermal solutions.
• Familiarity with PCIe, Ethernet, high-speed connectivity, and other technologies relevant to modern server and rack architectures.
• Experience with microfluidic cooling technologies

What Success Looks like (First 12 months)

• Become a strong hands-on contributor to thermomechanical design and analysis for server and rack-level programs.
• Deliver timely, right-sized thermal and liquid-flow analysis that supports design decisions, identifies risk, and helps optimize system performance.
• Develop and improve end-to-end cooling and fluid-mechanics analysis methods spanning facility interfaces, pods, racks, servers, and SoCs.
• Support development and validation of liquid-cooling solutions with ODMs, OEMs, suppliers, and internal engineering teams.
• Contribute practical mechanical and thermal engineering judgment during design reviews, helping ensure solutions are manufacturable, reliable, cost-effective, and grounded in real hardware.
• Evaluate new cooling technologies and help identify opportunities for improved performance, cost, scalability, and intellectual property.

Keywords

Thermomechanical, thermal engineering, CFD, computational fluid dynamics, thermal simulation, thermal modeling, ANSYS Fluent, Ansys AEDT, ANSYS Icepak, STAR-CCM+, FloEFD, FloTHERM, FloTHERM XT, Simcenter 3D, COMSOL, OpenFOAM, conjugate heat transfer, CHT, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, pressure drop, flow distribution, liquid cooling, direct liquid cooling, DLC, direct-to-chip cooling, cold plate, microchannel, jet impingement, manifold, CDU, FWS, TCS, quick disconnect, QD, heat exchanger, high heat flux, high power density, server cooling, rack cooling, AI accelerator, GPU, CPU, data center, OCP, ORV3, Open Rack Wide, thermomechanical design, thermal validation, mechanical design, DFM, tolerance analysis, ODM, OEM, JDM.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 5+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail [e-mail] or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits

$169,800.00 - $254,600.00

The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer – and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.