Staff Thermal Mechanical Engineer, Suncatcher

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design, Electrical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 6 years of experience working with thermal analysis tools (e.g., Thermal Desktop, ANSYS, NASTRAN) and principles of heat transfer.
• 6 years of experience working with CAD software (e.g., NX, SolidWorks, Creo) for mechanical design and modeling.
• 6 years of experience in managing vendor relationships, including technical oversight, quality control, and schedule adherence.
• 6 years of experience with spacecraft payload integration and testing procedures or other relevant aerospace experience.

Preferred qualifications:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience in collaborating with research and software teams.
• Ability to perform structural analysis, including static, dynamic, and fatigue analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

About the job

Be part of a team that pushes boundaries, developing custom silicon solutions that power the future of Google's direct-to-consumer products. You'll contribute to the innovation behind products loved by millions worldwide. Your expertise will shape the next generation of hardware experiences, delivering unparalleled performance, efficiency, and integration.

In this role, you will be instrumental in the mechanical design, thermal analysis, and vendor engagement aspects of our compute payload development. You will lead critical design efforts, ensure thermal performance in extreme environments, and effectively manage relationships with key suppliers to deliver high-quality mechanical and thermal management design solutions.Labs is a group focused on incubating early-stage efforts in support of Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Our team exists to help discover and create new ways to advance our core products through exploration and the application of new technologies. We work to build new solutions that have the potential to transform how users interact with Google. Our goal is to drive innovation by developing new Google products and capabilities that deliver significant impact over longer timeframes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the mechanical design and structural analysis of critical systems, ensuring compliance with extreme environmental requirements through testing for loads, vibration, and thermal cycling.
• Develop advanced thermal control strategies utilizing detailed simulation tools Finite Element Method, Computational Fluid Dynamics (FEM, CFD) to predict performance, optimize heat dissipation, and design heater and insulation elements.
• Oversee the complete fabrication life-cycle, from managing external vendors for component sourcing to directing in-house assembly, integration, and qualification testing procedures.
• Collaborate closely with electrical and systems engineering teams to ensure seamless payload integration, actively participating in design reviews and mitigating technical risks.
• Generate comprehensive design documentation, including drawings, specifications, and analysis reports, while supporting occasional travel to partner locations for on-site coordination.