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Thermal Lab Lead

Etched· Operations
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San JoseFull-timePosted 5d ago

About the role

Thermal Lab Lead responsible for building and maintaining a world-class thermal lab to test thermal assemblies for high-performance data center products. Leads lab operations, develops test plans, automation tools, and coordinates testing across teams, while partnering with facilities and lab operations for future lab buildouts and CDU/ liquid-cooled rack deployments.

Responsibilities

  • 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 against agreed objectives and acceptance criteria.
  • Develop, maintain, and validate automation tools for test execution, data acquisition, and data reduction and analysis.
  • Coordinate testing requests across multiple teams, establish priorities with stakeholders, and forecast equipment, capacity, and staffing bottlenecks.
  • Lead thermal technicians, assign testing activities, provide technical guidance, and review completed work.
  • Maintain lab procedures and coordinate equipment maintenance, calibration, and safe operating practices with lab operations.
  • Partner with lab operations to plan future lab capabilities, equipment, and infrastructure.
  • Assist with the installation, integration, and commissioning of primary and secondary cooling loops in partnership with facilities, lab operations, equipment vendors, and qualified contractors.
  • Assemble thermal test vehicles, including wiring and soldering of PCBs and heaters.
  • Commission CDUs and liquid-cooled racks to support lab testing.
  • Assist in the design and buildout of Etched thermal labs in Taiwan.

Qualifications

  • Relevant technical education—such as an associate’s degree, technical diploma, or 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, as well as operating chillers and liquid-cooling test equipment.
  • Demonstrated ability to independently build and troubleshoot test setups, assess measurement quality, and document reliable results.
  • Working knowledge of heat transfer and fluid flow sufficient 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.

Skills

Required:Thermal testing and lab operations leadershipTest planning and executionAutomation and data analysis

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
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Etched

Etched is building frontier inference clusters: co-designs chips, racks, software and manufacturing to push the pareto frontier for AI hardware.

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