Principal Thermal Engineer - AI System

Hyve Solutions; Bend (OR); On-site; USD 214,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Spending Account

Health Savings Account

Mental Health Care

401K with match

Paid Holidays, Vacation & Sick Days

Tuition Reimbursement

Perks at Work

LEAP Program

MyFlexPay

Job summary

Hyve Solutions is seeking a Principal-level thermal design engineer to own system-level cooling for next-generation AI and GPU servers. You will design, validate, and optimize air-cooled and liquid-cooled solutions from concept through production.

You will perform CFD modeling, lab correlation, and bring-up across EVT/DVT/PVT, collaborating with mechanical, hardware, and manufacturing teams to ensure reliable, scalable cooling for high-power platforms.

Qualifications

• 10+ years hands-on thermal design for servers and GPUs.
• Experience bringing air- and liquid-cooled systems into production.
• Hyperscale deployment experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own system-level thermal design from concept to production.
• Design and optimize liquid and air cooling solutions.
• Perform thermal CFD modeling and validate with lab data.
• Lead thermal bring-up across EVT/DVT/PVT and drive root-cause fixes.
• Collaborate with mechanical, hardware, power, firmware, SI, and manufacturing teams to embed thermal considerations.

Skills

Thermal design for servers

Air & liquid cooling

CFD/thermal modeling

Bring-up & validation

Cross-functional leadership

Lab debugging & problem solving

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering

Tools

CFD software

Lab instrumentation

Data analysis tools

Job description

Hyve Company Overview

Hyve Solutions transforms complex engineering challenges into production reality for technology innovators building AI, cloud, and connected infrastructure. As a US-based manufacturing partner, the company rapidly delivers fast, agile execution through dep technical partnerships and co-innovation, and supply chain clarity. Hyve’s integrated ODM, CM, and SI capabilities eliminate vendor complexity while accelerating time-to-market with single-partner accountability from design through scale. The company co-innovates with deep engineering expertise, treating customer success as its own while building tomorrow's digital infrastructure.

With next-generation AI accelerators pushing power densities far beyond traditional limits, thermal design is now one of the primary constraints on system performance, reliability, and deployment. The industry is rapidly transitioning from air cooling to hybrid and liquid-cooled systems, and hands-on thermal execution is critical to getting these platforms into production. This Principal-level individual contributor role owns system thermal design, validation, and production support for Hyve's next-generation AI and GPU servers—directly designing, testing, and debugging air-cooled and liquid-cooled systems.

Core Responsibilities

• Hands-on system thermal design. Own system-level thermal design from early concept through production, optimizing airflow, heatsinks, cold plates, heat exchangers, and liquid cooling hardware for very high-power GPUs, CPUs, VRs, and memory.
• Liquid and air cooling implementation. Design direct-to-chip liquid cooling solutions (cold plates, manifolds, tubing, quick-disconnects), support hybrid platforms, and own airflow design including fan selection, ducting, zoning, and impedance reduction.
• Modeling, lab validation, and correlation. Perform thermal and CFD modeling to guide placement and layout, instrument systems for validation, execute characterization and margin testing under real AI workloads, and correlate simulation with lab data.
• Bring-up, debug, and issue resolution. Lead thermal bring-up across EVT/DVT/PVT, debug hotspots, instability, and flow anomalies, and drive root-cause analysis with permanent fixes through factory ramp and field deployment.
• Cross-functional leadership. Work closely with mechanical, hardware, power, firmware, SI, and manufacturing teams to ensure thermal considerations are embedded into board layouts, mechanical stackups, and rack packaging; set thermal methodology and mentor engineers.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience: 10+ years of hands-on thermal design for servers, GPU platforms, HPC systems, or high-power electronics, with proven delivery of air-cooled and/or liquid-cooled systems into production and direct involvement in bring-up, validation, and manufacturing ramp. Hyperscale deployment experience strongly preferred.
• Technical expertise: Strong hands‑on knowledge of airflow and thermal design for high-power servers, direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems, cold plates/pumps/manifolds/heat exchangers, and CFD/thermal modeling tools; deep understanding of thermal-power-reliability relationships in AI/GPU systems.
• Working style: Strong individual contributor able to own problems end-to-end, comfortable debugging physical systems in the lab, and a clear communicator who translates thermal data into actionable design changes.

Compensation: $214K to $275K

What’s in it for you

Benefit Insurance

• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Mental Health Care
• 401K with match
• Paid Holidays, Vacation & Sick Days
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Perks at Work
• LEAP Program
• MyFlexPay

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.