Director, Thermal and HVAC Design – Powertrain

About the Role

Lucid Motors is seeking a visionary and hands-on Director of Thermal and HVAC Design to lead the development, integration, and delivery of world-class thermal and HVAC systems for our powertrain platforms. This leadership role will grow and sustain a high-performance team to design, integrate and validate thermal systems that directly influence vehicle comfort, efficiency, performance, and customer experience.

You Will:

• Grow and mentor a high-performing team of thermal engineers, analysts, technicians, and people leaders.
• Champion a collaborative culture of innovation, psychological safety, technical excellence, and accountability.
• Support the thermal attributes team by reviewing L1 and L2 requirements.
• Own L3 requirements definition, concepts, design release, validation, and signoff of thermal and HVAC components and sub systems across all powertrain programs.
• Drive thermal testing and performance validation at component and subsystem levels
• Guide the development of sub-system thermal models to support architecture and design decisions.
• Support robust supplier engagement and collaboration from early sourcing through launch with the help of the global supply team.
• Foster effective links with Vehicle Packaging, Field Service, and Manufacturing teams to ensure good DFM, DFS and efficient system integration.
• Represent the Thermal and HVAC team in program reviews and executive-level communications.
• Develop and share long-term roadmaps and strategy for thermal systems.

You bring:

• Strong motivational skills to inspire and encourage the team.
• 10+ years of experience in thermal system design, test, and integration within automotive or adjacent industries.
• Fundamentals based technical expertise in thermal management, HVAC, system modeling, and component design.
• Proven track record in leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams from concept through production.
• Strong understanding of vehicle development lifecycle and experience working with manufacturing and service organizations.
• Effective communicator with the ability to align technical goals with business priorities.

Great to Have:

• Experience in EV or high-performance vehicle programs.
• Proficient with 3DX/Catia.
• Familiarity with Analysis tools such as GT-Suite, MATLAB, TaiTherm, or Ansys Fluent.
• Demonstrated success in building scalable systems, teams, and processes in a high-performance environment.
• Experience with Thermal controls systems.
• Experience at Thermal systems suppliers.

Education requirements:

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
• Professional Engineering (PE) accreditation preferred.