A thin design heat transfer device for thermal management is described herein. The heat transfer device uses a cold plate that is independent or “floating” relative to a spring mechanism employed to generate contact pressure with a heat-generating device. A bridge component associated with the spring mechanism is designed to span over the cold plate and contact the cold plate when the spring deforms, which therefore allows the cold plate to be independent of the spring mechanism. The independence between the cold plate and the spring mechanism enables deformation in the spring mechanism to drive contact pressure while eliminating or reducing corresponding deformation in the cold plate. Consequently, components of the heat transfer device may be made relatively thin and have less stiffness than traditional designs, but still provide acceptable contact pressure and quality for effective thermal management.