Thermal Manufacturing Engineer - Cold Plate Systems

The Consensus; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision

Medical premium credit

Housing subsidy

Relocation support

Wellness benefits

Daily meals

Compute budget

Job summary

Etched seeks a Thermal Manufacturing Engineer to own the development, qualification, and scaling of thermal management processes for its silicon-to-system products, with a focus on liquid cooling cold plates.

You will collaborate with contract manufacturers and internal teams to meet performance, quality, and reliability requirements for frontier AI infrastructure, driving process validation and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of manufacturing/thermal systems experience.
• Hands-on with cold plates or heat exchangers.
• Experience qualifying manufacturers and running CP studies (Cpk, GR&R).
• Experience with leak testing, flow testing, and thermal performance.
• Knowledge of DFx for liquid cooling system designs.
• Strong technical documentation skills (PFMEA, control plans).

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end manufacturing engineering for thermal components (cold plates & manifolds) from NPI to mass production.
• Develop, qualify, and optimize cold plate fabrication processes (skiving, brazing, FSW, diffusion bonding, etc.).
• Define process parameters, controls, and acceptance criteria; establish capability benchmarks.
• Partner with design teams early to drive DFx for liquid cooling system designs.
• Lead process qualification and first-article inspection at CM/supplier sites; own PFMEA and control plans.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective action for leaks, warpage, and bonding issues.
• Evaluate and qualify new suppliers and technologies for cold plates and thermal interface materials.
• Define and monitor KPIs: yield, leak rate, flatness, cycle time, cost per unit.

Skills

Manufacturing engineering

Thermal systems

Process validation

Root cause analysis

Contract manufacturer collaboration

Documentation skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

PFMEA

Control plans

DFM/DFY reviews

Job description

Etched seeks a Thermal Manufacturing Engineer to own the development, qualification, and scaling of thermal management processes for its silicon-to-system products, with a focus on liquid cooling cold plates.

You will collaborate with contract manufacturers and internal teams to meet performance, quality, and reliability requirements for frontier AI infrastructure, driving process validation and continuous improvement.