Senior Thermal Expert

Li Auto is expanding its Munich presence and is looking for a Senior Thermal Expert to lead heat-management challenges across its core automotive technologies. The role is full-time and onsite in Munich, aimed at someone who enjoys solving tough thermal problems and turning insights into reliable, mass-produced solutions. The right candidate will work with a global team and contribute to the company’s push in electric propulsion and power electronics.

In this role you’ll own thermal engineering end to end, from diagnosing problems to implementing fixes and verifying results. You’ll drive thermal design and simulations for electric drive systems, inverters, motors and power semiconductors, setting specifications and standards, then using CFD to model temperature and flow fields, exploring air, liquid and phase-change cooling options to optimize performance while balancing cost and manufacturability. You’ll also build and upgrade thermal testing platforms, define test plans and verification plans, run performance and reliability tests, and translate test data back into more accurate models. Beyond hands-on work, you’ll help shape Li Auto’s thermal technology roadmap and mentor teammates as you document best practices and push for standardization across projects.

Effective collaboration matters here, so strong English communication and the ability to work well with colleagues across cultures are expected. The team looks to you not only for technical leadership but also for building capability, capturing learnings in manuals and fault databases, and helping train the next generation of thermal engineers.

A day in the life in Munich

You’ll lead investigations into practical thermal issues encountered in electric drive systems, electronic motors, power electronics and power semiconductors, crafting concrete corrective actions and guiding closed-loop verification to ensure safe and reliable operation under real-world conditions. You’ll steer thermal design work for electric drive components, set design specs and technical standards, and use steady-state and transient CFD analyses to evaluate temperature and flow fields, applying multi-physics coupling where needed to optimize cooling strategies. The aim is to achieve balanced thermal performance, cost, space and manufacturability while improving power density and overall efficiency.

Your days will also center on testing and verification, including planning and executing thermal performance, temperature rise and reliability tests, organizing data-driven tests, and refining simulation models based on findings. You’ll build a thermal test database, document test experiences and parameters, and use those insights to support iterative product improvements. In addition, you’ll help develop and maintain a coherent thermal technology system for the company, tracking global trends and standards in the field and leading efforts to pre-research and implement new cooling materials and techniques. Training and mentoring will be part of your role as you help raise the team’s technical capability and push for standardized methods and documents across projects.

Must-haves and nice-to-haves

Must-haves

• A master’s degree or higher in Engineering Thermophysics, Thermal Energy Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, Power Electronics or a related field; a PhD or 5+ years at a leading OEM or Tier-1/2 supplier is preferred
• Proven hands-on experience with E-drive systems, inverters, E-motors, OBC or power semiconductors, especially where products reached mass production
• A solid grasp of thermal design principles for electric drives and power electronics, with practical knowledge of air cooling, liquid cooling and phase-change cooling; familiar with heat-dissipation materials and components like radiators and cooling plates
• Knowledge of automotive thermal standards and power semiconductor thermal reliability standards; ISO 26262 understanding is a plus
• Strong technical innovation capability and a track record of pursuing new thermal management technologies; patents or papers are a plus
• Good teamwork and communication skills, comfortable working across cultures; proficient in at least one mainstream CFD tool and familiar with 3D CAD
• Strong English written and spoken communication

Nice-to-haves

• Experience building and upgrading thermal testing platforms, crafting test plans and DVP verification, and analyzing results to improve models
• Experience leading capability development within a thermal engineering team, including creating design manuals and standardized processes
• Exposure to cutting-edge cooling materials and advanced cooling schemes, with a bias toward pre-research and practical implementation aligned to product needs

Lead with your most relevant degree and project work up front, and make sure your resume highlights specific involvement with E-drive components or power electronics and your role in moving concepts into mass production.

Back up must-have skills with concrete project stories. Show how you used CFD to optimize a cooling strategy, which cooling method you chose, and how it affected performance, space and cost, all tied to a real project deliverable.

Be ready to talk about thermal testing end-to-end: how you designed test plans, what a DVP looked like, how you analyzed data, and how you revised models to boost accuracy and confidence in results.

Ask a targeted question that signals you’ve thought about Li Auto’s roadmap in this area, for example about the thermal technology system they’re building, the role of new cooling materials in the near term, or how ISO 26262 considerations are integrated into thermal verification and safety-critical components.