Thermal /Mechanical Hybrid Engineer - San Jose, United States
Originally posted 11 June 2026 by the employer.
About the role
As a Thermal /Mechanical Hybrid Engineer at Etched, you will lead the thermal and mechanical design and optimization of direct-to-chip cold plate modules and liquid cooling systems for high-performance data center products. You will also oversee thermal simulations, fabrication, assembly, and testing of adjacent cooling components such as thermal interface materials (TIM).
What you'll do
- Lead the in-house design and optimization of direct-to-chip cold plate modules, including pedestals, nozzles, and internal fin designs such as skived fins. - Develop and implement water cooling solutions, including internal manifolds, quick disconnects, coolant distribution units (CDUs), and heat exchangers. - Run liquid thermal simulations to predict and analyze the thermal performance of heat exchangers. - Evaluate and select thermal interface materials (TIMs) across cooling solutions to optimize thermal conductivity and heat dissipation. - Oversee the testing and validation of thermal management systems and document design specifications, simulation results, and test reports. - Collaborate with mechanical engineers, electrical systems engineers, and vendors to ensure seamless integration and operation of thermal solutions.
What you'll need
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, or a related field. - Minimum of 5 years of experience in thermal and mechanical engineering focused on water cooling systems and advanced thermal management solutions. - Proven expertise designing direct-to-processor cold plate modules and cooling systems. - Proficiency in mechanical CAD software such as NX, Creo, or CATIA, along with mechanical tolerances and generating mechanical drawings using GD&T. - Proficiency in thermal simulation tools such as Fluent to predict and analyze heat exchanger performance. - Experience applying DFM and DFA principles to optimize designs for manufacturing, assembly, and maintenance.
This role has been open 132 days — well above 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.