Senior Thermal Engineer, Expeditionary AI / HPC Data Centers

Job Overview

We're seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to lead thermal management for expeditionary AI/HPC data centers. These air-transportable, modular systems provide compute and command-and-control infrastructure at forward operating locations. You will apply expertise in heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and HVAC to ensure high-density compute runs reliably in extreme temperatures and limited power environments.

Responsibilities

• Design and analyse deployable data center cooling systems, including air-side and water-side cooling, heat rejection, chilled water plants, and liquid cooling.
• Apply first principles to determine analysis depth, using hand calculations, spreadsheets, and MATLAB/Python models.
• Define cooling architecture and heat-rejection strategies, such as CRAH/CRAC, air-side economization, and liquid cooling.
• Develop cooling approaches for high-density racks, trading off air, liquid, and hybrid cooling for modular systems in austere environments.
• Collaborate with engineers to characterize IT and equipment heat loads across operating and failure modes.
• Evaluate cooling architectures for reliability, efficiency, and cost, balancing thermal margin with capital and operating expenses.
• Own thermal FEA/CFD and system models, predicting facility performance and setting commissioning limits.
• Lead prototype builds, field testing, and operational validation of cooling designs.
• Present thermal status at reviews and develop internal tools to improve analysis effectiveness.
• Support failure reviews and root-cause analysis with test data and thermal analysis.

Requirements

• MS or higher in mechanical engineering, applied physics, or related field focused on heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and HVAC.
• In-depth understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics.
• 5+ years of experience designing thermal management systems for data centers or comparable infrastructure.
• Full-spectrum data center thermal experience, including air-side and water-side cooling, heat rejection, and liquid cooling.
• Experience with steady-state and transient system modeling of thermal management systems.
• Knowledge of applicable operating standards for validating and testing data center thermal equipment.
• Track record of staying current with the latest data center thermal management technologies.
• CAD experience with Siemens NX or SolidWorks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Coding experience in Python or MATLAB for thermal analysis.
• Thermal FEA/CFD experience with STAR-CCM+, ANSYS, Icepak, or FloEFD.
• Familiarity with efficiency metrics (PUE/WUE) and thermal design for high-density AI/HPC compute.
• Experience with modular, transportable, or ruggedized data centers in austere environments.
• Ability to obtain and hold a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Benefits

Anduril offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Competitive salary and equity grants
• Top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including health, recovery, and other support services