Thermal Design Engineer

About Mind

Mind Robotics is building Physical AI for real-world industrial deployment, starting with the factory floor. We believe the hardest problems in AI are solved when researchers and engineers are hands-on with the physical world every day - and we're looking for people who are passionate about robotics, value ownership, and are excited to tackle difficult problems. Join us if you want to move beyond digital intelligence and put intelligence into motion.

About the Role

As a Thermal Design Engineer at Mind Robotics, you will own the thermal architecture and analysis for our industrial robots, from high-torque actuators and constrained end effectors to dense on-board compute. You will build high-fidelity CFD/FEA models and validate them through hands-on testing, environmental stress, and hardware instrumentation. Working from concept through volume production, you will design scalable cooling solutions like heat sinks, vapor chambers, and TIMs using manufacturing processes like die casting and extrusion. Collaborating closely with electrical, firmware, and controls teams, you will turn complex thermal challenges into high-performance, real-world Physical AI systems.

Responsibilities

• Own thermal design and analysis across the robot including arms, end effectors, and on-board compute from concept through volume production.

• Develop thermal architectures for high-torque-density actuators (motors, gearboxes, drives) in joints, where heat dissipation is the limiting factor on continuous performance.

• Design cooling solutions for end effectors within tight volume, mass, and cable-routing constraints.

• Develop thermal management for on-board compute (CPUs, GPUs, custom accelerators, power electronics), including airflow, heat sinks, heat pipes, vapor chambers, TIMs, and active cooling where needed.

• Build thermal models (analytical, CFD, FEA) and validate them with hands-on testing (thermocouple instrumentation, IR imaging, calorimetry, and accelerated stress tests)

• Specify and select thermal components (TIMs, fans, heat pipes, heat sinks, blowers, phase-change materials) and own supplier relationships.

• Define thermal limits, derating curves, and protection logic in collaboration with electrical, firmware, and controls teams.

• Contribute to DFM/DFA so thermal solutions scale from low-volume prototypes to high-volume production.

• Develop accelerated test plans to validate thermal performance over the product's lifetime, including environmental and duty-cycle stress.