Principal Thermal Solutions Engineer - Paris/Grenoble

Principal Thermal Solutions Engineer – Paris/Grenoble 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 and determinism of traditional simulation and the speed and scaling of AI, and is redefining how the world's most advanced semiconductors are designed, verified, built, brought to market, and integrated into complex systems. Role Overview As a pivotal leader within our European technical sales 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 use 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, including 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. You will also 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, and partner 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. •