Principal, Thermal Design Engineer

Celestica; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 181,000 - 282,000; Full time

Job summary

Celestica is seeking a senior Thermal Systems Engineer in San Jose to lead designs and guide engineers in liquid cooling solutions for AI servers, switches, accelerators, and rack-level infrastructure.

You will conduct thermal analyses, simulations, and test plans, partnering with cross-functional teams to define system requirements and ensure reliability, cost efficiency, and manufacturability across global deployments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in thermal systems engineering, preferably with direct experience in liquid cooling for high-performance computing or data
• Hands-on experience with manufacturing processes, supplier management, and technology transfer
• Strong understanding of liquid cooling-specific reliability, safety, and performance challenges

Responsibilities

• Lead designs, conduct detailed analyses, set design strategy, and join department planning.
• Guide design engineers in complete ownership of thermal design for various electronic products—from thermal modeling, design, test, and design revision, until transfer to manufacturing.
• Conduct thermal simulations, postprocessing, and analysis ranging from chip to facilities level to verify thermal feasibility, risk, and to inform your designs.
• Maintain awareness of heat transfer hardware available from all sources, including how it operates and performs, its cost, and how it can be incorporated into our products.
• Conceive and implement ways to enhance and extend operation of heat transfer hardware.
• Consider the thermal aspects of chip packaging technologies.
• Apply best-in-class fluid flow and extended surface geometry to cool high heat flux chips.
• Determine and consider the effects of contact resistance and the use of Thermal Interface Materials.
• Apply air cooling when possible and liquid cooling when necessary to achieve full performance and reliability at the lowest cost.
• Size liquid cold plates, heat sinks, heat pipes, air movers, air filters, air ducting, and perforated plates.
• Plan your work, and that of others, to achieve full required performance, and stay on schedule to support overall product development.
• Reference real world limitations to inform your work, such as manufacturing methods and cost, reliability, variability of incoming parts, and tolerances on all specifications.
• Advise and help with hands‑on lab tests of equipment from component to rack and facility level for design and model validation.

Skills

Data center cooling

Liquid cooling

Thermal simulation

Supply chain interaction

Heat transfer theory

Systems design

Leading engineers

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Advanced degree in Mechanical Engineering

Job description

Summary

Join a world-class engineering group at Celestica focused on developing high-end cooling solutions for advanced systems, including AI servers, switches, accelerators, and rack-level infrastructure. We thrive in a highly collaborative, supportive environment where pushing the leading edge of thermal technology is a shared mission.

Req ID: 139398 Region: Americas Country: USA State/Province: California City: San Jose

Your Impact

• Lead Thermal Strategy: Spearhead new technology investigations and drive innovation in advanced electronics cooling.
• Solve Complex Challenges: Leverage your deep data center expertise to immediately address and resolve critical customer thermal needs.
• Shape the Future: Define and execute Celestica’s mid-to-long-term strategic roadmap and capabilities for global thermal systems.

Detailed Description

• Lead designs, conduct detailed analyses, set design strategy, and join department planning.
• Guide design engineers in complete ownership of thermal design for various electronic products from thermal modeling, design, test, and design revision, until transfer to manufacturing.
• Conduct thermal simulations, postprocessing, and analysis ranging from chip to facilities level to verify thermal feasibility, risk, and to inform your designs.
• Maintain awareness of heat transfer hardware available from all sources, including how it operates and performs, its cost, and how it can be incorporated into our products.
• Conceive and implement ways to enhance and extend operation of heat transfer hardware.
• Consider the thermal aspects of chip packaging technologies.
• Apply best-in-class fluid flow and extended surface geometry to cool high heat flux chips.
• Determine and consider the effects of contact resistance and the use of Thermal Interface Materials.
• Apply air cooling when possible and liquid cooling when necessary to achieve full performance and reliability at the lowest cost.
• Size liquid cold plates, heat sinks, heat pipes, air movers, air filters, air ducting, and perforated plates.
• Plan your work, and that of others, to achieve full required performance, and stay on schedule to support overall product development.
• Reference real world limitations to inform your work, such as manufacturing methods and cost, reliability, variability of incoming parts, and tolerances on all specifications.
• Advise and hekp with hands‑on lab tests of equipment from component to rack and facility level for design and model validation. Guide the documentation of thermal test plans, help devise test stands, metrology, instrumentation, and experiment methodology.
• Analyze test data to draw inferences about the equipment tested. Apply statistical methods as required to maximize utilization of data and test usefulness.
• Work with multi-disciplinary groups to define system requirements and design products.
• Work with cross‑functional teams to identify root causes of system performance.

Knowledge/Skills/Competencies

• Data center system cooling
• Liquid cold plates, manifolds, and flow networks.
• Thermal simulation
• Supply chain interaction
• Heat transfer theory and its application to electronics cooling
• Systems design understanding of the entire heat path: chip to rejection to the environment.
• Leading other engineers

Physical Demands

• Duties of this position are performed in a normal office environment.
• Duties may require extended periods of sitting and sustained visual concentration on a computer monitor or on numbers and other detailed data.
• Repetitive manual movements (e.g., data entry, using a computer mouse, using a calculator, etc.) are frequently required.
• Occasional travel may be required.

Salary

The stated range includes Base Salary and target Short-Term Incentive (STI) compensation only. A comprehensive benefits package is offered in addition to this range.

Salary Range: 180,554 - 282,170

The range described in this posting is an estimate by the Company, and may change based on several factors, including but not limited to a change in the duties covered by the job posting, or the credentials, experience or geographic jurisdiction of the successful candidate.

Typical Experience

• 10+ years of experience in thermal systems engineering, preferably with direct experience in liquid cooling for high-performance computing or data
• Hands‑on experience with manufacturing processes, supplier management, and technology transfer
• Strong understanding of liquid cooling‑specific reliability, safety, and performance challenges

Typical Education

• Required: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering
• Preferred: Advanced degree in Mechanical Engineering

Notes

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities of the position. Employees are held accountable for all duties of the job. Job duties and the % of time identified for any function are subject to change at any time.

#HPS-NA

Celestica 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, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.

This policy applies to hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training, classification, referral and other aspects of employment and also states that retaliation against a person who files a charge of discrimination, participates in a discrimination proceeding, or otherwise opposes an unlawful employment practice will not be tolerated. All information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Celestica is an E-Verify employer.

Company Overview

Celestica (NYSE, TSX: CLS) enables the world’s best brands. Through our recognized customer‑centric approach, we partner with leading companies in Aerospace and Defense, Communications, Enterprise, HealthTech, Industrial, Capital Equipment and Energy to deliver solutions for their most complex challenges. As a leader in design, manufacturing, hardware platform and supply chain solutions, Celestica brings global expertise and insight at every stage of product development – from drawing board to full‑scale production and after‑market services for products from advanced medical devices, to highly engineered aviation systems, to next‑generation hardware platform solutions for the Cloud. Headquartered in Toronto, with talented teams spanning 40+ locations in 13 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia, we imagine, develop and deliver a better future with our customers.

Nearest Major Market: San Jose, California

Job Segment: Thermal Engineering, Design Engineer, Cloud, Testing, Engineering, Operations, Technology

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Celestica's policy on equal employment opportunity prohibits discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran or disability status, or other characteristics protected by law.

This policy applies to hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training, classification, referral and other aspects of employment and also states that retaliation against a person who files a charge of discrimination, participates in a discrimination proceeding, or otherwise opposes an unlawful employment practice will not be tolerated. All information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Celestica is an E-Verify employer.

The location is a US ITAR facility and these positions will involve the release of export‑controlled goods either directly to employees or through the employee's movement within the facility. As such, Celestica will require necessary information from all applicants upon an applicant's acceptance of employment to determine if any export control exemptions or licenses must be filed.