Design of experiments (DOE) technique has been used to design an exhaust heat exchanger to reduce the exhaust gas temperature under high load conditions in a spark-ignition engine. The DOE evaluates the influence and the interaction of a selected eight design parameters of the heat exchanger affecting the cooling performance of the exhaust gas through a limited number of experiments. The heat exchanger was installed between the exhaust manifold and the inlet of the close-coupled catalytic converter (CCC) to reduce thermal aging. To maximize the heat transfer between exhaust gas and coolant, fins were implemented at the inner surface of the heat exchanger. The design parameters consist of the fin geometry (length, thickness, arrangement, and number of fin), coolant direction, heat exchanger wall thickness, and the length of the heat exchanger. The acceptable range of each design parameter is discussed by analyzing the DOE results.