Manager, Mechanical Engineering

About this position

About Eridu

Eridu is a Silicon Valley-based hardware startup pioneering infrastructure solutions that accelerate AI data centers to deliver Faster AI . Today's AI performance is frequently limited by communication bottlenecks. Eridu introduces multiple industry-first innovations across silicon, packaging, software, and systems to deliver an order of magnitude improvement in performance and unlock greater GPU utilization to speed training job completion times and tokens-per-second for more profitable inference. We do this while simultaneously reducing capital and power costs and improving reliability.

The company's solutions and value proposition have been widely validated by leading hyperscalers.

Eridu has raised over $200M to date including its most recent, oversubscribed Series A round. The company is led by a veteran team of Silicon Valley executives who have delivered multiple billion dollar product lines and led multiple companies to billion dollar exits, including serial entrepreneur Drew Perkins, co-founder of Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN), Lightera (acq. by Ciena), Gainspeed (acq. by Nokia) and Mojo Vision (the world's leading micro-LED company). The company is in execution mode and has a world-class engineering team with decades of experience in state-the-art silicon, packaging, optics, software, and systems. Eridu is working with best-in-class supply chain partners including silicon, packaging and systems.

Visit our website eridu.ai to learn more.

Position Overview

We're hiring a Mechanical Engineering Manager to lead the team that designs the enclosures, chassis, and thermal solutions for our switching and interconnect hardware. You'll report to the Director of Thermal and Mechanical Engineering and lead a team of mechanical and thermal engineers. This is a player-coach role. You'll set technical direction, grow the team, and stay hands-on enough to make the hard design calls on high-power, high-density systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead, hire, and develop a team of mechanical and thermal engineers, with regular 1:1s, clear goals, and honest feedback.
• Own mechanical design from concept through mass production: chassis, enclosures, line cards, front panels, heatsinks, and cable and fiber management.
• Drive thermal architecture for high-power ASICs and optics, including air cooling and liquid-cooling options such as cold plates.
• Set design standards, review processes (DFM, DFA, tolerance analysis), and documentation practices for the team.
• Partner closely with silicon, hardware, optics, signal integrity, and systems teams on board layout, component placement, and power budgets.
• Manage contract manufacturers and suppliers for sheet metal, die-cast, machined, and plastic parts through prototype, NPI, and volume ramp.
• Own mechanical schedules, resource plans, and risk tracking across multiple concurrent programs.
• Lead compliance and reliability work: NEBS, shock and vibration, safety (UL/IEC), EMC enclosure design, and OCP or OEM rack requirements where applicable.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of mechanical design experience on electronic hardware, including 3+ years managing engineers.
• A track record of taking networking, telecom, server, or similar rack-mounted systems from concept to volume production.
• Strong grounding in thermal management for high-power electronics, plus hands-on use of CFD tools (e.g., FloTHERM, Icepak, or 6SigmaET).
• Fluency in 3D CAD (Creo, SolidWorks, or NX) and PLM workflows.
• Deep knowledge of DFM/DFA, GD&T, tolerance analysis, and common manufacturing processes.
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers and suppliers, including overseas.
• Clear communication with engineers, cross-functional partners, and leadership.
• Occasional travel to contract manufacturers and suppliers
• Bachelor's Science in Mechanical Engineering or a related field or experience

Preferred Qualifications

• MS in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on heat transfer or fluid mechanics.
• Liquid-cooling experience: cold plates, manifolds, quick disconnects, or immersion.
• Background in optical networking or pluggable optics (QSFP-DD, OSFP) and their thermal challenges.
• Familiarity with OCP specifications and hyperscale data center deployment requirements.
• Experience building a team or function at an early-stage startup.
• Exposure to FEA for structural, shock, and vibration analysis.

Why Join Us?

At Eridu, you'll have the opportunity to shape the future of AI infrastructure, working with a world-class team on groundbreaking technology that pushes the boundaries of AI performance. Your contributions will directly impact the next generation of AI infrastructure solutions, transforming the performance of AI data centers.

The starting base salary for the selected candidate will be established based on their relevant skills, experience, qualifications, work location, market trends, and the compensation of employees in comparable roles.

Notice to Recruiting Agencies

Eridu does not accept unsolicited resumes or candidate profiles from staffing agencies or third-party recruiters. Any candidate submitted to Eridu without prior written authorization from our recruiting team will be considered unsolicited and will become the property of Eridu. Eridu reserves the right to pursue and hire such candidates without any obligation to pay fees. Recruiting agencies are expressly instructed not to contact hiring managers, employees, or executives regarding open positions.