Principal Hardware Engineer

Cisco; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Join an innovative team at a leading tech company, where you'll drive advancements in thermal technology for electronic systems. This role involves developing and leading a thermal technology roadmap, collaborating with suppliers, and engaging in cutting-edge research to enhance product performance. You'll have the opportunity to investigate and implement innovative cooling solutions, ensuring that products meet the highest standards of efficiency and reliability. If you are passionate about thermal engineering and want to make a significant impact in the tech industry, this is the perfect opportunity for you to shine.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in thermal solutions for electronics.
• Extensive experience with air-cooling and liquid cooling technologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of thermal technology roadmaps with partners.
• Investigate innovative thermal cooling solutions for hardware systems.
• Conduct mechanical design validation and testing for electronic assemblies.

Skills

Thermal Engineering

Mechanical Design

Simulation and Testing

Troubleshooting

Data Acquisition Systems

Cooling Technologies

Education

BS in Mechanical/Thermal or Chemical Engineering

MS or PhD in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering

Tools

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Job description

Application window expected to close 4/10/2025

Meet the Team

You will be part of the outstanding GSM-Component Quality & Technology team. The team is a key hub of technical innovation at Cisco, with a broad scope of influence. Members interact with Business Units, Product Operations, Manufacturing Operations, Planning and Fulfillment, Supplier Management, and directly with Suppliers. Additionally, the team participates in industry consortia, conferences, and collaborates with academia and other strategic partners. The organization focuses on evaluating and adopting new technologies to help Cisco leapfrog the competition with sophisticated algorithms and solutions to solve complex problems.

Your Impact

In this role, you will:

1. Develop and lead the system thermal technology roadmap in partnership with microelectronics packaging suppliers, thermal interface material suppliers, cooling solution providers, and internal partners to meet Cisco products’ needs.
2. Investigate innovative thermal cooling solutions for hardware systems on a large scale.
3. Derive trade-offs in thermal performance of different package design elements and chip thermal gradients from experimental test data.
4. Develop test plans and qualification requirements to ensure mechanical and manufacturing adaptability of thermal cooling solutions.
5. Engage with external vendors, including ODM and component vendors, on design, test, and production.
6. Develop and publish case studies/technical papers describing thermal analysis of cooling systems.
7. Establish parameters for thermal design/testing and correlate design/test results to model predictions.
8. Contribute to analytical and numerical models using Computational Fluid Dynamics tools to simulate and analyze different device-level cooling schemes.
9. Drive supplier ecosystem development and participate in industry consortia, conferences, and collaborate with academia and other strategic partners to influence Cisco’s industry position.
10. Integrate Circuit Thermal simulation and testing with system-level cooling technologies.
11. Conduct mechanical design validation and testing for electronic assemblies.
12. Coordinate Circuit Packaging technologies.
13. Perform component and system reliability analysis.

Minimum Qualifications:

1. BS in Mechanical/Thermal or Chemical Engineering.
2. 15+ years of experience in the design, simulation, and testing of thermal solutions for electronic devices and systems.
3. Extensive experience with advanced air-cooling technologies.
4. Experience with liquid cooling and/or immersion cooling.
5. Experience with troubleshooting and thermal validation with data acquisition systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. MS or PhD in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering or related field.
2. 20+ years of relevant proven experience in microelectronics thermal cooling.
3. Experience with JEDEC JESD 51 thermal testing standards.
4. Experience with Thermal Interface Material Thermal Conductivity Testing procedures.

#WeAreCisco

Cisco is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.

Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.