Director of Thermal Engineering

Company Description

3D Architech is building the next-generation manufacturing infrastructure for thermal management—where geometry, materials, and heat transfer are co‑designed from first principles. Our proprietary gel‑enabled metal manufacturing platform enables 10‑micron and below feature scales, unlocking thermal and hydraulic performance regimes that conventional machining or additive approaches cannot reach.

Our operation across the USA, Japan, and Taiwan, bridging advanced materials R&D with scalable manufacturing for thermal management applications. As we expand our R&D operations in the US and mass production in Japan, we’re seeking hands‑on, deeply technical leadership role to drive the development of application-specific products for cooling devices with our manufacturing technology. 

Role Description

We are seeking a Director of Thermal Engineering to lead and grow our thermal engineering team across the United States and Japan. This is a hands‑on, deeply technical leadership role. You will define the thermal engineering direction of the company—translating customer requirements into next‑generation cooling devices, guiding R&D strategy, and ensuring manufacturable, validated, high‑performance designs reach production.  

Key Responsibilities

• Push beyond fundamental thermal and fluidic limits through first‑principles thinking across geometry, materials, and system‑level design
• Lead R&D with customer requirements to fully leverage our high-resolution and material-versatile manufacturing capabilities
• Establish, qualify, and manage key suppliers and fabrication partners to ensure quality, scalability, and long‑term reliability 
• Contribute hands‑on thermal modeling, simulation, and experimental validation 
• Engage with customers as a technical leader, building strong relationships that deliver mutual value

Required Qualifications

• 3 years of industry experience in thermal engineering, heat transfer, or cooling hardware development
• Demonstrated experience leading or strongly influencing thermal R&D efforts in uncertain, fast‑moving environments
• Excellent understanding of heat transfer and fluid mechanics grounded in f irst‑principles considerations
• Hands‑on experiences of (a) thermal experiments, test design, and data interpretation, (b) CFD and thermal/fluid simulation with model validation, or (c) development of cooling hardware such as cold plates or liquid‑cooling components
• Experience in customer‑facing technical roles
• Master’s or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related field

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience designing and evaluating high heat‑flux cooling technologies, including cold plates, liquid cooling systems, and two‑phase cooling approaches
• Strong experience driving final design decisions efficiently using quantitative engineering approaches such as Design of Experiment (DoE) and optimization methods, with the ability to balance thermal performance and pressure drop
• Experience handling complex geometries, including lattice or porous structures
• Experience ensuring quality, performance, and reliability of liquid‑cooling devices in collaboration with suppliers and fabrication partners

Work Schedule and Compensation:

• Working Hours: Standard business hours with flexibility available.
• Occasional domestic and international travel

Benefits:

• Medical and dental insurance coverage
• Paid leave, maternity/paternity leave, and caregiving leave