Thermal Lab Lead

The role

The Thermal Lab Lead will build and maintain a thermal lab to support testing of high-performance data center product thermal assemblies. This role involves developing test plans, leading technicians, and working on lab build outs and liquid cooled rack deployment.

What you will do

• Lead day-to-day thermal lab operations including test benches, equipment, and consumables inventory.
• Develop test plans and procedures in partnership with thermal engineering.
• Own test setup, instrumentation, execution, data-quality review, and reporting.
• Develop, maintain, and validate automation tools for test execution and data analysis.
• Coordinate testing requests across multiple teams and establish priorities.
• Lead thermal technicians, assign testing activities, and provide technical guidance.
• Maintain lab procedures and coordinate equipment maintenance and calibration.
• Partner with lab operations to plan future lab capabilities and infrastructure.
• Assist with installation, integration, and commissioning of cooling loops.
• Assemble thermal test vehicles, including wiring and soldering of PCBs and heaters.

Required qualifications

• Associate’s degree, technical diploma, 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.
• Experience operating chillers and liquid-cooling test equipment.
• Ability to independently build and troubleshoot test setups, assess measurement quality, and document results.
• Working knowledge of heat transfer and fluid flow 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.
• Excellent organizational and documentation skills.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage
• $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits
• Housing subsidy of $2,500 per month for those living within walking distance of the office
• Relocation support for those moving to San Jose (Santana Row)
• Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more
• Daily lunch and dinner in our office
• Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification

About the company

Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence, co-designing chips, racks, software, and manufacturing. The company is a fully in-person team in San Jose (Santana Row).