Robotics Thermal Simulation Lead Engineer

Alfie; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 423,000 - 485,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenAI in San Francisco is seeking a Lead Thermal Simulation Engineer to accelerate design and validation of next-generation robotic systems. You will model heat generation, cooling strategies, interfaces, and system-wide thermal performance, collaborating with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers.

You will build and validate simulation workflows, support architecture trade studies, and advance multiphysics capabilities including digital twins and system-level analysis.

Qualifications

• Experience performing thermal simulation and design of complex electromechanical systems.
• Proficiency with commercial CAE tools such as Simcenter 3D, Abaqus, Ansys, Nastran, LS-DYNA, COMSOL, or equivalent platforms.
• Experience correlating simulation models with physical test data and validation campaigns for high volume products.
• Familiarity with robotic systems, actuators, mechanisms, power electronics, batteries, or other highly integrated hardware systems.
• Experience developing simulation methodologies, automation tools, or organization-wide thermal workflows.

Responsibilities

• Perform thermal simulations to assess heat generation, cooling strategies, thermal interfaces, and system-level thermal performance.
• Partner with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers to influence design decisions early in development.
• Build simulation models to evaluate robotic actuators, transmissions, mechanisms, structures, soft goods, and integrated assemblies.
• Correlate simulation results with physical testing and develop methodologies to improve model accuracy.
• Support architecture trade studies by evaluating design concepts before hardware is built.
• Develop simulation workflows, standards, and best practices that scale across the robotics organization.
• Identify technical risks and recommend design changes to improve performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Support root cause investigations by combining test data, failure analysis, and simulation results.
• Contribute to long-term simulation capabilities including multiphysics modeling, digital twins, and system-level analysis.

Skills

Thermal simulation

Multi-physics

System-level thinking

Tools

Simcenter 3D

Abaqus

Ansys

Nastran

LS-DYNA

COMSOL

Job description

OpenAI in San Francisco is seeking a Lead Thermal Simulation Engineer to accelerate design and validation of next-generation robotic systems. You will model heat generation, cooling strategies, interfaces, and system-wide thermal performance, collaborating with mechanical, electrical, and controls engineers.

You will build and validate simulation workflows, support architecture trade studies, and advance multiphysics capabilities including digital twins and system-level analysis.