Hybrid Senior Thermal Hardware Engineer – ECU

at General Motors

• Job title: Senior Thermal Hardware Engineer – ECU
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Airflow, Python
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Warren, United States

About the role

• Senior Thermal Hardware Engineer responsible for leading thermal design for ECU at General Motors. Collaborating with teams to ensure optimal solutions for next generation software defined vehicles.

Responsibilities

• Translate CTRS / vehicle requirements into thermal requirements and design constraints (ambient temp, under‑hood vs in‑cabin environment, duty cycles, altitude etc.)
• Define thermal budgets (Tj/Tc limits, margins) for SoCs, power devices, memories, and other critical components.
• Perform steady‑state and transient simulations to optimally size heatsinks, cold plates, fins, airflow paths, and liquid loop elements.
• Evaluate options such as passive cooling, forced air, liquid cooling, heat pipes, and vapor chambers and recommend the best architecture.
• Work with cross-functional teams to implement your thermal design strategy.
• Develop thermal test plans and run thermal characterization tests.
• Provide thermal inputs to DFMEA, DRBFM, and design reviews; clearly quantify risks, margins, and mitigations.
• Present thermal status, trade studies, and recommendations at PDTs, design reviews, and leadership updates.

Requirements

• BS in Mechanical Engineering (or related discipline) with strong focus on heat transfer and thermodynamics.
• 5+ years of experience in thermal design and analysis of electronics (ECUs, servers, power electronics, or similar).
• Hands‑on experience with thermal simulation tools (e.g., Ansys Icepak, FloEFD, Flotherm, or equivalent) and data analysis (e.g., MATLAB, Python, or similar).
• Strong understanding of: Conduction, convection (forced and natural), radiation
• Thermal interface materials (TIMs, gap pads, PCMs)
• Heatsink and cold‑plate design, flow/pressure trade‑offs
• Practical experience defining or executing thermal test plans in environmental chambers and correlating models to lab results.
• Ability to interpret electrical power maps/BOMs, derive thermal loads, and work closely with EE/PCB teams.
• Strong communication skills; able to present complex thermal trade studies clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work across cross‑functional and global teams and manage multiple programs in parallel.

Benefits

• From day one, we're looking out for your well-being–at work and at home–so you can focus on realizing your ambitions.