Thermal Design & Analysis Engineer

We’re looking for a mid-to-senior level Thermal Design & Analysis Engineer to shape the thermal performance of next-generation consumer products. You’ll own the thermal strategy from concept to production, using advanced simulation tools to predict and optimize how our products manage heat. This is a hands-on, cross-disciplinary role where you’ll collaborate closely with mechanical, electrical, and software teams to ensure products meet stringent safety, reliability, and user experience requirements.

You’ll run FEA and CFD simulations using tools like ANSYS Fluent or Simcenter Flotherm, analyze system and subsystem performance, and make recommendations on design and architecture improvements. You’ll help define thermal policies and throttling strategies, validate your models through testing, and debug failures when units don’t meet thermal requirements. We’re looking for someone with deep experience in thermal design for high-volume consumer products, including first-generation and category-defining devices.

This role is based in our San Francisco office, with an expectation of being onsite four days per week.

What You’ll Do

• Perform thermal analysis and simulation (FEA/CFD) for subsystems and complete products.

• Define thermal requirements based on safety, user comfort, and reference benchmarks.

• Collaborate with electrical and software teams to create system-level thermal policies and throttling behavior.

• Validate and refine thermal models with subsystem tests and lab measurements.

• Debug thermal issues and drive design improvements to meet requirements.

• Support system-level testing and validation during development.

• Influence product architecture and component selection through early thermal design reviews.

What We’re Looking For

• Relevant experience in thermal design/analysis for high-volume consumer hardware.

• Expertise with thermal simulation tools (ANSYS Fluent, Simcenter Flotherm, or equivalent).

• Strong understanding of heat transfer, thermal management techniques, and material properties.

• Experience creating and validating thermal models using both CFD and FEA.

• Background in defining thermal requirements and developing thermal control policies.

• Hands-on testing and debugging experience with thermal instruments (e.g., IR cameras, thermocouples).

• Demonstrated success in delivering thermally optimized designs for first-generation or category-defining products.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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