Thermal stress control is crucial for massive concrete structures during construction. The cooling strategies directly determine the safety of structures, material quality, construction efficiency, and project cost. However, precise spatiotemporal thermal stress regulation and management are difficult to achieve due to the lack of balanced discriminant criteria and multi-objective optimization methods for the selection of traditional strategies. Therefore, an intelligent optimization method for thermal stress management strategy in massive concrete structures, considering the balance of safety, quality, efficiency, and cost (SEQC-TSOM), is proposed. Initially, a Thermal Stress Simulation Mechanism Model (TSSM) is constructed to accurately evaluate the structural state throughout the entire process. Subsequently, a mechanism data-driven surrogate model (MD-SM) is constructed to quickly evaluate the structural response under different cooling strategies. Furthermore, a multi-objective intelligent optimization model and a multi-criteria decision-making model are proposed to filter the intelligent optimal strategy from the Pareto solution set. Finally, a case study based on the Baihetan arch dam project is conducted, and the results show that the safety, quality, efficiency, and cost (SEQC)-balanced strategy increases safety by 42%, improves cooling efficiency by 36%, and reduces cooling costs by 20.6% compared with traditional strategies.