Director, Thermal Chain Technical Business Development

Job Overview

The Director of Thermal Chain Technical Business Development is responsible for leading pre-sales technical engagements focused on thermal management solutions for Vertiv's global strategic customers, including Hyperscale, Neo-Cloud, and MTDC accounts. This key role integrates deep thermal engineering knowledge with customer-facing influence to establish Vertiv as the foundational choice for cooling architectures in next-generation data centers.

Scope of Role

The position involves overseeing a broad range of thermal solutions, from traditional air-cooled systems to advanced liquid cooling technologies such as direct-to-chip, rear-door heat exchangers, immersion cooling, economizer designs, and hybrid approaches. As data centers face increasing heat loads, especially from AI and HPC workloads, this role is crucial in defining solutions for extreme thermal density challenges.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical collaboration with strategic GSA customers, influencing and designing thermal architectures that leverage Vertiv's cooling portfolio as the basis of design.
• Work closely with CTOs, engineering, and design leads to develop system-level thermal strategies addressing current and forecasted density needs, including whiteboarding trade-offs among air, liquid, and hybrid cooling methods.
• Engage early in customer design cycles, influencing thermal requirements prior to RFPs.
• Maintain comprehensive knowledge of Vertiv's thermal products—from precision air cooling solutions to liquid cooling and thermal controls—and convey this expertise to technical buyers to ensure alignment and innovation in thermal solutions.
• Collaborate across sales, product development, and engineering leadership to promote and disseminate thermal thought leadership and reference architectures, fostering a unified brand message.
• Engage with external design firms and consulting engineers to influence specifications for thermal management.
• Collect and relay customer insights, product gaps, and emerging trends to Vertiv’s Thermal Business Unit and product teams, guiding future product development, especially in liquid cooling and sustainability.
• Represent Vertiv at industry conferences, trade shows, and in technical publications to promote thermal innovation and thought leadership while participating actively in relevant standards organizations such as ASHRAE, The Green Grid, and OCP.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a geographically distributed team of thermal experts, encouraging collaboration, knowledge sharing, and cross-business unit technical growth, including understanding how power and whitespace interact with thermal design.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline; advanced qualifications (MBA or MS) are highly regarded.
• Over 10 years in technical business development or pre-sales leadership within thermal or HVAC engineering fields, with a minimum of 5 years in senior roles influencing enterprise-level customers and strategies.
• Extensive recognized expertise in data center thermal management, including air and liquid cooling architectures, demonstrated by a track record of directing cooling architecture decisions for strategic or global clients.
• Proven ability to translate technical thermal strategies into measurable business outcomes such as revenue growth and market share expansion.
• In-depth hands-on experience with data center cooling technologies – precision cooling, economization, various liquid cooling methods, heat rejection, and control systems – with capability to integrate thermal designs within the entire data center infrastructure.
• Experience managing dispersed teams and working closely with global product units and business lines, influencing senior stakeholders across engineering and sales.
• Active participation in industry forums and standards bodies, with a reputation for representing technical thermal direction credibly at conferences and with analysts.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to engage C-suite executives and articulate compelling technical and commercial visions to both internal and external audiences.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently across regions, customers, and global business units.

Additional Information

This role may be based in various jurisdictions and complies with local pay transparency regulations. Salary details vary according to location and market conditions. Vertiv is committed to a high-performance culture built on principles of safety, integrity, respect, teamwork, and inclusion, and emphasizes a customer-first mindset, urgency in action, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Vertiv is an Equal Opportunity Employer and promotes non-discriminatory hiring practices across all protected categories, including age, race, gender identity, and disability, among others.

About Vertiv

Vertiv is a global company that integrates hardware, software, and services to ensure optimal performance and continuous operation for critical applications in data centers, communication networks, and industrial facilities worldwide. With approximately 34,000 employees and presence in over 130 countries, Vertiv provides a comprehensive portfolio of power, cooling, and infrastructure solutions spanning from cloud to network edge.