Principal Thermal Solutions Engineer - IMEC, Lueven, Belgium

Title: Principal Thermal Solutions Engineer - IMEC, Lueven, Belgium Location: Brussels/Leuven About Vinci We are building Physics AI for hardware design. Our software platform helps hardware designers and physics simulation engineers explore, analyze, and optimize hardware systems, leveraging cutting-edge AI to deliver ultrafast, accurate physics intelligence within the realities of engineering design workflows. Our first product bridges the gap between the accuracy & determinism of traditional simulation and the speed & scaling of AI, and is redefining how the world’s most advanced semiconductors are designed, verified, built, brought to market and integrated in complex systems. Role Overview As a pivotal leader within our European Forward Deployment team, you will drive the adoption of Vinci’s platform among the region's top engineering organizations. In this strategic role, you will build, mentor, and guide a high-performing team of thermal engineers dedicated to engaging prospective customers and demonstrating the transformative value of our software. By acting as trusted technical advisors, you and your team will utilize deep simulation expertise to help enterprise customers validate and optimize complex, real-world designs. Through these collaborative engagements, you will champion Vinci's value proposition—showcasing how our platform delivers systemic improvements in thermal performance, product reliability, and accelerated time-to-market. Leveraging strong fundamentals in thermal physics and cooling strategies, you will guide analyses of complex thermal management systems, fluid flow dynamics, and heat dissipation challenges. This includes both steady-state and transient thermal behavior. Your team will help customers evaluate critical factors such as thermal risk, component reliability, power density, and cooling efficiency to architect cutting-edge thermal management systems for next-generation hardware. You will work closely with customer engineering teams to understand their technical challenges, provide expert guidance, and clearly articulate Vinci’s capabilities in solving real-world problems. Additionally, you will serve as a key feedback channel to product and engineering teams, translating customer insights into actionable inputs that shape product direction and drive continuous improvement. This is a remote role, with close collaboration with Sales, Product, and Engineering in Palo Alto, CA, USA. The role includes moderate travel, primarily within continental Europe. Some infrequent intercontinental travel may be required for discussions and collaboration with the US team.. Responsibilities - Build, lead, and scale a high-performing team of thermal engineers, setting the technical direction, hiring, mentoring team members, and driving field execution across Europe. - Collaborate closely with the sales team to lead technical discussions, scope proof-of-concept (PoC) evaluations, and deliver compelling product demonstrations to prospective enterprise customers. - Guide customer engineering teams through the evaluation phase by overseeing simulation setup, running complex test cases, and interpreting results to explicitly prove Vinci’s technical and business value. - Own customer enablement through onboarding, deployment pipeline and account expansion, providing senior technical guidance, structured training sessions, and advanced troubleshooting. - Provide product guidance and feedback, identify customer pain points and workflow bottlenecks, partnering directly with internal product and engineering teams to transform field feedback into critical new product features. - Represent Vinci at major industry conferences and semiconductor events, engaging technically with key prospects and partners through technical presentations and live platform demonstrations. - Maintain a strong understanding of competitive technologies, industry trends, and market positioning to communicate Vinci’s differentiators effectively. Qualifications (Minimum Qualifications) - Education: Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related technical field. - Technical depth: Expert-level mastery of commercial simulation software (Flotherm, Ansys Icepak/Fluent, Simcenter STAR-CCM+, or equivalent), with 15+ years of hands-on experience in thermal management and cooling solutions — either as a practitioner running simulations, or as a technical account manager for commercial physics simulation software. - Industry Domain: Deep familiarity with semiconductor electronics packaging, advanced packaging technologies (e.g., 2.5D/3D IC), or foundry ecosystems. - Customer Engagement: Prior experience in dedicated customer-facing roles, with a strong ability to build trust and manage engineering client relationships. - Automation & Scripting: Practical programming experience using Python or C++ to automate workflows or parse simulation data. - Leadership Impact: Proven track record of prior managerial or technical leadership experience, with the ability to scale, mentor, and drive execution across engineering teams. - Communication: Elite interpersonal and communication skills, with a proven ability to distill complex physics and simulation results into clear, high-impact narratives for both deep technical panels and business-oriented executives. Preferred (Desirable Differentiators) - Multiphysics Breadth: Familiarity with structural mechanical simulations (FEA/stress) and/or Electrical Signal Integrity and Power Integrity (SI/PI) workflows. - Commercial Track Record: Direct experience commercializing technical software—ideally electronic design automation (EDA) or CAE simulation tools—into major semiconductor and electronics enterprises. - Go-To-Market Experience: Prior experience explicitly within technical pre-sales, application engineering (FAE), or strategic technical sales environments. - Emerging Tech Adjacency: Ability to rapidly adopt and champion next-generation, physics-based workflows and AI-assisted design or simulation tools. Why Join Us - Not just use AI, Be part of a team that is actively redefining how the next-generation silicon and hardware are architected. - Work at the absolute convergence of state of the art AI models, fundamental physics, and high-stakes enterprise - Collaborate with world-class engineers and researchers in a fast-moving startup environment.