What to Expect

The New Programs Engineering team works at the front-end of vehicle design and development, working in an iterative environment to study, simulate, build, and prove Tesla’s future generation of vehicles. This position requires frequent interaction with the Vehicle Design, Human Factor & Ergonomics, and Vehicle Engineering & Manufacturing Production teams, most closely with Chassis, Body in White, Low/High Voltage Distribution, Thermal, CAE Analyses and Powertrain Modelling. You will be part of the team that creates and executes world-class new vehicle architectures. You will utilize your expertise in battery engineering and attributes and develop as a full vehicle engineer – designing and delivering systems rather than just components. This is a mechanical design engineering position where product design expertise and a fundamental, first principles approach to problem solving are far more important than extensive project engineering or automotive industry specific experience. 

What You’ll Do
Operate as a standalone role and responsible for owning the high-voltage battery architecture (cell, module, thermals, ancillaries, pack) concept design in the early vehicle development phase
Architect, mature and develop the battery architecture from initial product scope and concepts through to design & release of prototype level components and systems that represent future production vehicles
Capture, document, and trade-off internal and external vehicle targets and translate them into high-voltage battery specific design requirements
Conceptualize proposals for a scalable battery architecture and identify layouts that can meet the vehicle packaging, vehicle performance, crashworthiness, and thermal targets
Apply first-principal thinking to lay out a scalable high-voltage battery pack (cell series/parallel count, number of cells per module, number of modules, module packaging inside enclosure, cooling type, ancillary location, and enclosure design) based on required battery pack energy capacities
Collaborate with powertrain and thermal engineering to design high-voltage distribution and thermal interfaces as it related to the battery pack system
Collaborate with manufacturing and service engineering to understand mass production factory constraints (body shop, coatings, assembly) and service center requirements (pack removal, component servicing)
Conduct architectural trade-off studies to evaluate feasibility of unique design options
Down select proposals generated based on a vehicle-level roll up of attributes, cost, weight, and factory/service opportunities and constraints. Propose and defend solutions in engineering and studio design review meetings
Develop and mature CATIA 3D geometry of the CATIA parametric design of modules, enclosures, high voltage distribution and ancillary systems
What You’ll Bring
Degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent experience 
Minimum of 4 years of relevant battery engineering experience (OEM/supplier/contractor)
First-principles knowledge of vehicle attributes as it relates to high-voltage battery design including vehicle performance, range, safety, durability/reliability
Experience with energy storage cells, modules, and packs
Ability to interpret powertrain, thermal and crashworthiness simulation results and integrate recommendations into product designs
Proficiency in CAD (Computer Aided Design) software using parametric elements and knowledge-based engineering tools
Strong understanding of GD&T
Must be proactive in improving processes and driving projects, examples of this should be provided
Understanding of power electronics and how different cell chemistries can affect the high-voltage battery design preferred
Hands-on experience building/assembling (prototype) battery modules/packs preferred

Hawthorne, California

Full time