Principal Mechanical Engineer

Job Description

Independently designs and develops mechanical systems including components, enclosures, and packaging, ensuring reliability, performance, and manufacturability. Utilizes advanced computer aided design (CAD) tools to develop 3D models and detailed designs in collaboration with cross-functional teams. Reviews and evaluates mechanical strength and reliability of materials and components, identifies failure points, and works closely with operations and suppliers to support prototype-to-production transitions. Conducts testing and reliability assessments, resolves defects, and integrates new materials to improve hardware products. Manages mechanical design aspects of engineering projects, ensuring alignment with project timelines, quality standards, and design goals.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities
Design and Development:
-Independently designs and develops electronic parts, components, board layout and board planning, mechanical systems, equipment, and packaging, ensuring reliability, performance, and manufacturability.
-Contributes to setting thermal cooling strategies and designs mechanical architecture for server generations, from feasibility studies to production.
-Utilizes advanced computer assisted design (CAD) tools (e.g., ProE, SolidWorks) to develop 3D models and detailed mechanical designs, collaborating with cross-functional teams to refine solutions.
-Contributes to the mechanical design of electronics enclosures or embedded systems, ensuring alignment with hardware systems and design requirements.
Structural and Reliability Analysis:
-Reviews the results of stress analysis, strain analysis, and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to evaluate the mechanical strength and reliability of materials and components, addressing challenges independently.
-Identifies and addresses potential points of failure, conducting root cause and corrective action analysis to refine designs and improve reliability.
Manufacturing and Production Support:
-Ensures that designs are manufacturable within cost and quality constraints, working closely with Operations and External Manufacturers to support the transition from prototype to production.
-Guides the design development process, ensuring alignment with project timelines and collaborating across teams to optimize manufacturing processes.
Product Testing and Quality Assurance:
-Conducts reliability assessments of materials and designs, ensuring products meet company standards.
-Oversees prototype build and testing processes, ensuring designs meet functional and performance goals while identifying areas for improvement.
-Analyzes test data to detect bugs, defects, and failure trends.
Research and Innovation:
-Researches and implements next-generation technologies to optimize data center and cloud application products.
-Evaluates and integrates new materials, processes, and mechanical design techniques, contributing to continuous innovation and product improvement.
Collaboration with Cross-functional Teams:
-Collaborates with electrical engineers, component engineers, operations teams, and other internal stakeholders to contribute to design optimizations that enhance product performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
-Engages with suppliers to develop high-quality components and assemblies, ensuring they meet performance and cost goals.
-Works with manufacturing to transition designs to production.
Project Management:
-Manages the mechanical design aspects of engineering projects in coordination with program schedule requirements.
-Begins to coordinate resources, timelines, and design reviews for their portion of the project to ensure successful delivery.
-Maintains detailed documentation of design processes and decisions, providing clear communication to stakeholders and ensuring alignment with project objectives and schedule.

Additional Responsibilities (as needed)
Thermal Management:
-Conducts detailed thermal analysis and design using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools like FloTHERM or Icepak, ensuring optimal thermal management for electronic devices.
-Develops and executes airflow measurements, environmental testing, and thermal validation tests for products, ensuring compliance with internal and external standards (e.g., ASHRAE Data Center Standards) and correlation with simulation results.
Environmental Test Engineering:
-Leads efforts to ensure mechanical product designs meet global regulatory and industry standards by independently managing standards activities throughout the development lifecycle.
-Oversees environmental testing, collaborating with internal teams or third-party labs to ensure designs fully comply with required standards.
-Leads communication with design engineers and program managers to align test results and issues, providing guidance on how to address constraints in product development.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical field; advanced degree is a plus.
• 8+ years of hands-on mechanical design experience, or equivalent depth, with enterprise server, storage, networking, rack infrastructure, or other complex electro-mechanical products.
• Expert CAD capability with Creo/ProEngineer, SolidWorks, NX, or similar mechanical design platforms, including complex assemblies and production drawing release.
• Deep experience designing sheet metal, machined, plastic, die-cast, fastened, and integrated electro-mechanical components and assemblies.
• Strong working knowledge of manufacturing processes, including stamping, bending, machining, injection molding, die casting, finishing, assembly, inspection, tooling feedback, and supplier qualification.
• Proven ability to lead tolerance strategy, GD&T, DFM/DFA, mechanical drawings, BOM creation, design documentation, engineering change processes, and manufacturing release discipline.
• Experience leading prototype builds, mechanical validation, environmental testing, vibration testing, thermal characterization, failure analysis, and production readiness activities.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams through ambiguous mechanical, thermal, manufacturability, rack integration, serviceability, cost, and schedule tradeoffs.
• Strong technical judgment, ownership, communication, mentoring, documentation, and schedule-management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading mechanical development for cloud infrastructure, hyperscale data center hardware, enterprise servers, storage systems, networking systems, or rack-level platforms.
• Working knowledge of thermal and structural analysis workflows and tools such as FloTHERM, Icepak, ANSYS, or similar simulation environments.
• Strong background in environmental, vibration, shock, thermal, reliability, and qualification testing for high-volume hardware products.
• Familiarity with EMI/EMC, safety, regulatory, reliability, serviceability, and data center environmental requirements.
• Prior leadership with global ODM/JDM partners, external manufacturers, tooling vendors, and supply chain organizations is a plus.
• Knowledge of high-power systems, airflow optimization, liquid-cooling interfaces, rack integration, cable routing, packaging density constraints, and service-access requirements.
• Experience with PLM/PDM systems and formal release processes for high-volume hardware products.

Core Technical Skills

• Mechanical architecture: Server, storage, networking, rack-level, airflow, thermal-interface, serviceability, and electro-mechanical system integration.
• Technical leadership: Design direction, requirements definition, tradeoff decisions, design review leadership, issue escalation, and mentoring of junior engineers.
• Manufacturing execution: DFM/DFA leadership, tooling strategy, supplier engagement, cost optimization, quality improvement, and production transfer.
• Validation closure: Test strategy, qualification planning, tolerance and structural risk assessment, environmental testing, thermal characterization, and RCCA leadership.
• Documentation discipline: CAD models, drawings, BOMs, ECOs, PLM records, specifications, assembly procedures, validation evidence, and production release records.

Qualifications

Disclaimer:

Certain U.S. based or U.S. customer or client-facing roles may be required to comply with applicable requirements, such as immunization/occupational health mandates, and/or drug testing requirements.

Range and benefit information provided in this posting are specific to the stated locations only

US: Hiring Range in USD from: $114,600 to $234,600 per annum. May be eligible for bonus, equity, and compensation deferral.

Oracle maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions and locations, as well as reflect Oracle's differing products, industries and lines of business.
Candidates are typically placed into the range based on the preceding factors as well as internal peer equity.

Oracle US offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes the following:
1. Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including expert medical opinion
2. Short term disability and long term disability
3. Life insurance and AD&D
4. Supplemental life insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
5. Health care and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts
6. Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits
7. 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan with company match
8. Paid time off: Flexible Vacation is provided to all eligible employees assigned to a salaried (non-overtime eligible) position. Accrued Vacation is provided to all other employees eligible for vacation benefits. For employees working at least 35 hours per week, the vacation accrual rate is 13 days annually for the first three years of employment and 18 days annually for subsequent years of employment. Vacation accrual is prorated for employees working between 20 and 34 hours per week. Employees working fewer than 20 hours per week are not eligible for vacation.
9. 11 paid holidays
10. Paid sick leave: 72 hours of paid sick leave upon date of hire. Refreshes each calendar year. Unused balance will carry over each year up to a maximum cap of 112 hours.
11. Paid parental leave
12. Adoption assistance
13. Employee Stock Purchase Plan
14. Financial planning and group legal
15. Voluntary benefits including auto, homeowner and pet insurance

The role will generally accept applications for at least three calendar days from the posting date or as long as the job remains posted.
Career Level - IC4

About Us

Only Oracle brings together the data, infrastructure, applications, and expertise to power everything from industry innovations to life-saving care. And with AI embedded across our products and services, we help customers turn that promise into a better future for all. Discover your potential at a company leading the way in AI and cloud solutions that impact billions of lives.

True innovation starts when everyone is empowered to contribute. That's why we're committed to growing a workforce that promotes opportunities for all with competitive benefits that support our people with flexible medical, life insurance, and retirement options. We also encourage employees to give back to their communities through our volunteer programs.

We're committed to including people with disabilities at all stages of the employment process. If you require accessibility assistance or accommodation for a disability at any point, let us know by emailing View email address on click.appcast.io or by calling View phone number on click.appcast.io in the United States.

Oracle is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans' status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Oracle will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.