Test Engineer Jobs in Palo Alto, CA

We are looking to hire an experienced Staff Test Engineer focused on Battery Electronics for our Hardware Testing team. This role will be both a high-impact individual contributor and a team technical lead responsible for managing or mentoring other team members. As a Battery Electronics Test Engineer, you will work with a passionate and multi-disciplinary group of engineers while learning how to build and use hardware, firmware, and software solutions to validate Tesla Battery Electronics products to rigorous internal and automotive-industry standards.

This role influences product design through reliability risk identification and testing. We start at early concept phases, going through product development and launch, and continuing into mass production. The candidate will be responsible for developing test plans, designing and implementing automated test rigs, pushing test samples to failure, contributing to failure analysis, and reporting on findings. In addition, as an experienced engineer, you will be put in leadership positions to drive programs and facilitate other engineers in their work.

We are interested in candidates with over 5 years of relevant experience, with priority given to curious and driven engineers that have a proven track record of strong technical problem solving, leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Perform validation and reliability testing at the component and system levels, simulating realistic and accelerated stress conditions
• Design, build, instrument, and automate testing equipment for electrical, thermal, and mechanical testing
• Work together with Design Engineers, Reliability scientists, Material scientists, Quality, and Service to identify failure modes and generate design validation and reliability test plans
• Mentor and/or manage early career engineers and technicians on the team. Provide feedback through 1:1 problem solving, design reviews, and technical presentations
• Investigate Battery Electronics assembly and subassembly failures to drive product development and test improvement
• Identify and execute experiments targeting new technologies or critical failures
• Interface and simulate complex vehicular systems to validate firmware/hardware interactions

• Degree in electrical engineering, mechatronics, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of relevant work experience
• Strong understanding and demonstrated experience of analog and digital electronic circuits. General knowledge in sensing circuits, microcontrollers, interface circuit, firmware development, Power Electronics, DCDC or DCAC Converters, and High Voltage Circuits, is preferred
• Experience with electrical test equipment (such as oscilloscopes, power supplies, multimeters, DAQs, and function generators), hand tools, and power tools
• Experience with an object-oriented coding language and scripting (Python, MATLAB, etc.), experience in Python , firmware development, and data visualization is preferred
• Comfort with EDA software of Altium, OrCAD, Cadence, Eagle, SPICE or equivalent
• Working knowledge of mechanical CAD software of SolidWorks, CATIA or equivalent is preferred
• Formal or informal experience with one or more of the following is preferred: Battery management system design or analysis; automotive components or systems, or vehicles in general; physical testing and analysis of electrical, thermal, or mechanical systems; any form of automation (manufacturing, robotics, testing, personal hobbies, etc.)
• Experience in creating and executing design validation plans and test methods to validate performance requirements is preferred
• Comfort with balancing competing priorities and timelines and aligning those prioritizations with cross-functional teams in a fast pace environment

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits at day 1 of hire:

• Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
• Company Paid (Health Savings Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
• Company paid Basic Life, AD&D
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly positions), and Paid Holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
• Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs
• Tesla Babies program
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program

Pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.