Thermal Lab Lead - San Jose
Originally posted 19 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As Thermal Lab Lead, you will build and maintain a thermal lab to support testing of thermal assemblies for high-performance data center products. You will oversee thermal validation, guide lab operations, and support the deployment of CDUs and liquid-cooled racks.
What you'll do
- Lead day-to-day thermal lab operations, including test benches, instrumentation, equipment, and consumables inventory. - Develop test plans and procedures in partnership with thermal engineering, owning test setup, execution, data-quality review, and reporting. - Develop, maintain, and validate automation tools for test execution, data acquisition, and data reduction and analysis. - Lead thermal technicians, assign testing activities, provide technical guidance, and coordinate testing requests across multiple teams. - Assemble thermal test vehicles, including wiring and soldering of PCBs and heaters. - Commission CDUs and liquid-cooled racks to support lab testing, and assist with the installation and commissioning of primary and secondary cooling loops. - Assist in the design and buildout of thermal labs in Taiwan.
What you'll need
- Relevant technical education—such as an associate's degree, technical diploma, or bachelor's degree in engineering, engineering technology, mechatronics, instrumentation, or a related field—or equivalent hands-on experience. - Hands-on experience testing single-phase liquid-cooled assemblies, including cold plates, manifolds, quick disconnects, and CDUs. - Experience selecting, installing, and troubleshooting instrumentation such as flowmeters, thermocouples, and pressure transducers, as well as operating chillers and liquid-cooling test equipment. - Demonstrated ability to independently build and troubleshoot test setups, assess measurement quality, and document reliable results. - Working knowledge of heat transfer and fluid flow sufficient to interpret test results and troubleshoot thermal-fluid systems. - Experience developing, debugging, and validating test automation and data-analysis workflows. - Experience coordinating competing testing priorities and providing technical direction to technicians.
This role has been open 2 days — well below the 51-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
1003
|
Median days open
51 d
|
Median salary
$155k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Etched | All employers we track in this specialty (1003 roles · 104 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 9 | 1003 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 42 | 6291 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 132 d | 51 d (+81 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $155k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 72 open roles · median 34 d
- KLA Corporation · 63 open roles · median 48 d
- Teradyne · 61 open roles · median 34 d
- NVIDIA · 53 open roles · median 72 d
- Applied Materials · 51 open roles · median 70 d
- AMD · 46 open roles · median 52 d
How we counted: 1003 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 104 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 22 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.