Physical Hardware Engineering Director

Socket.dev; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 275,000 - 382,000; Full time

Job summary

Google is seeking a Director of Physical Design Engineering in Sunnyvale to set the technical outlook and lead execution for next‑gen rack-to-chip physical solutions. You will drive robotics, mechanical, and thermal management strategies across data centers to support TPU, GPU, CPU, storage, and networking hardware.

The role requires deep technical excellence, broad leadership experience, and the ability to guide cross‑functional teams, suppliers, and partners while delivering reliable, scalable

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design Engineering, Physics, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience in the computing hardware industry.
• 10 years of experience in technical leadership and engineering management.
• Experience architecting and shipping hyperscale compute, telecom infrastructure, or high-reliability physical hardware products directly to the data center.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a comprehensive physical hardware roadmap and solutions for Google’s data center hardware spanning ML TPU, GPU, Networking, Server compute, Storage, and any additional computing hardware and supporting solutions for data center.
• Drive mechanical, cooling, and robotics solutions from early architecture through to volume production and data center deployment. Anticipate, troubleshoot, and mitigate complex, fleet-wide deployment challenges in a high-demand environment.
• Steer technical engagements and partnerships with suppliers and ecosystem partners to ensure high-quality, high-yield volume manufacturing.
• Serve as the ultimate authority on system-level performance heavily leveraging your deep expertise in managing complex trade-offs.
• Elevate the engineering standards across the organization. Provide technical guidance and mentorship to senior engineers across hardware, silicon, and data center operations teams.

Skills

Leadership experience

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Eng./related field

Equivalent practical experience

Tools

Robotics automation tools

Mechanical design tools

Job description

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design Engineering, Physics, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15 years of experience working in the computing hardware industry.
• 10 years of experience in technical leadership and engineering management.
• Experience architecting and shipping hyperscale compute, telecom infrastructure, or high-reliability physical hardware products directly to the data center.

Preferred qualifications:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design Engineering, Physics, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Knowledge in data center hardware physical development including mechanical design, thermal management, cables/interconnects, backplanes, robotics/automation, advanced packaging, manufacturing processes, and supply chain diversification.
• Knowledge in mechanical and product design principles.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, resolve complex technical trade-offs, and drive consensus across large, globally distributed engineering organizations.

About the job:

As a Director of Physical Design Engineering, you will set the technical outlook and lead the execution for our next generation of rack to chip physical solutions, and associated toolings required for its physical operations. Operating at the highest levels of technical leadership, you will be the driving force behind the integration of complex robotics, mechanical and thermal management solutions to enable Google’s ASICs, TPUs, GPUs, CPUs, storage, and advanced networking hardware into our Data Center roadmap.

In this role, you will utilize experience developing highly innovative mechanical/thermal solutions for Computing hardware systems, while delivering them at high-velocity with high quality and reliability. You will lead the team on developing a compelling roadmap, mechanical/cooling solutions from chip to boards, boards to racks and racks to data center, anticipating fleet-level challenges before they happen and leading the industry in the ongoing AI hardware physical delivery and enclosure transformation including the use of Robotics automation systems. You will guide cross-functional teams, align external ecosystems and suppliers, and ensure our hardware scales reliably to meet the unrelenting demands of our global infrastructure. You will utilize direct deep technical expertise in physical design, significant management experience, experience delivery of complex projects and products, and ability to understand existing performance, quality, and advanced mechanical solutions manufacturing.

The AI and Infrastructure team is redefining what’s possible. We empower Google customers with breakthrough capabilities and insights by delivering AI and Infrastructure at unparalleled scale, efficiency, reliability and velocity. Our customers include Googlers, Google Cloud customers, and billions of Google users worldwide.

We're the driving force behind Google's groundbreaking innovations, empowering the development of our cutting-edge AI models, delivering unparalleled computing power to global services, and providing the essential platforms that enable developers to build the future. From software to hardware our teams are shaping the future of world-leading hyperscale computing, with key teams working on the development of our TPUs, Vertex AI for Google Cloud, Google Global Networking, Data Center operations, systems research, and much more.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $275000 - $382000 (USD) + 30% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and develop a comprehensive physical hardware roadmap and solutions for Google’s data center hardware spanning ML TPU, GPU, Networking, Server compute, Storage, and any additional computing hardware and supporting solutions for data center.
• Drive mechanical, cooling, and robotics solutions from early architecture through to volume production and data center deployment. Anticipate, troubleshoot, and mitigate complex, fleet-wide deployment challenges in a high-demand environment.
• Steer technical engagements and partnerships with suppliers and ecosystem partners to ensure high-quality, high-yield volume manufacturing.
• Serve as the ultimate authority on system-level performance heavily leveraging your deep expertise in managing complex trade-offs.
• Elevate the engineering standards across the organization. Provide technical guidance and mentorship to senior engineers across hardware, silicon, and data center operations teams.