What to Expect

As a member of Tesla’s Thermal Vehicle Controls team, you will design, simulate, and help implement and calibrate sophisticated algorithms to manage thermal performance of the powertrain, battery-packs, heat pump, and cabin HVAC systems in Tesla’s vehicles. You will be challenged by a wide range of problems like optimal thermal controls of batteries for supercharging, process control for the Tesla heat pump, thermal management of drive systems and power electronics, and even that of occupants through climate control.

What You’ll Do
Research and develop estimation and control algorithms for thermal management of the cabin HVAC, and heat pump, to deliver the best customer-experience in terms of performance, range, NVH, and cabin comfort
Develop control-oriented system models and use them to develop and refine control strategies and drive their implementation
Work closely with Firmware, Integration and Hardware Engineers to implement, test, and debug these algorithms
Work collaboratively with Mechanical, Electrical, and Firmware Engineers to define control system capability and establish actuation/sensing requirements
Monitor, investigate, and close the loop on customer feedback of climate control performance
Plan and execute focused test-trips to identify and resolve issues with algorithm performance in a variety of climates
Collaborate with reliability engineering to run fleet data queries and maintain HVAC centric dashboard
Provide input to HVAC Hardware Engineering teams on potential updates to improve customer experience  
Drive tesla vehicles on daily basis to provide feedbacks and drive notes to identify bugs and area need improvements
Advance the state-of-the-art in Thermal and HVAC Control systems
What You’ll Bring
Excellent background in linear systems analysis, observers and state-estimation, and first principles design and analysis of control systems
Excellent proficiency with creating controls-oriented dynamic system models of thermal, hydraulic, or mechanical systems in Matlab/Simulink/Python etc.
Demonstrated ability to ground-up design, analyze, and implement control systems in real-world applications
Strong fundamentals of heat-transfer and thermodynamics, devices like pumps, radiators, refrigerant systems, etc.
Excellent proficiency with analysis of large data sets in MATLAB/Python
Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally, work hands-on, and execute on open-ended projects in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment
Comfort working in actual vehicles and/or test-benches to test/refine controller designs
Basic proficiency with Embedded Firmware development in C/C++
Experience with Controls System development, modeling, and implementation in real world applications
Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or equivalent in experience and evidence of exceptional ability

PALO ALTO, California

Full time