Senior Thermal Engineer, Expeditionary AI / HPC Data Centers at Anduril Industries · LumiJobs

Responsibilities

We are looking for a Senior Thermal Engineer in Costa Mesa, CA to own the thermal management of expeditionary AI/HPC data centers—air-transportable, modular compute and command-and-control infrastructure built to run at forward operating locations. You will apply a deep understanding of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and HVAC to keep high-density compute running reliably in austere environments with extreme temperatures and limited power.
Own the thermal design and analysis of deployable data center cooling systems—air-side and water-side cooling, heat rejection, chilled water plant, and liquid cooling—from rack and chip level up through the full facility.
Use first principles to discern the right level of analysis, running hand calcs, spreadsheets, and MATLAB/Python first-order models before detailed design.
Define cooling architecture and heat-rejection strategy—CRAH/CRAC, air-side economization, chilled water plants, dry coolers, CDUs, rear-door heat exchangers, and direct-to-chip and immersion liquid cooling—to keep equipment within limits as power density scales.
Develop cooling approaches for high-density racks and trade off air, liquid, and hybrid cooling for modular, transportable systems in austere, high-ambient environments.
Work with electrical, mechanical, and facilities engineers to characterize IT and equipment heat loads across operating and failure modes.
Weigh cooling architectures against reliability, efficiency (PUE/WUE), and total cost, driving trade studies that balance thermal margin with capital and operating cost.
Own the thermal FEA/CFD and system models, predict facility performance, and set red/yellow limits for commissioning and operation.
Lead prototype builds, field testing, commissioning, and operational validation of cooling designs (CAD, sensor and DAQ selection, data post-processing, results).
Present thermal status at internal and customer reviews with a clear view of timelines and technical status.
Develop internal tools to improve analysis effectiveness and efficiency.
Support failure reviews and root-cause analysis with test data and thermal analysis.

Senior Thermal Engineer, Expeditionary AI / HPC Data Centers

Responsibilities

Qualification

Required

Preferred

Benefits

Company

Anduril Industries

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