Hardware Design Engineer, Factory Firmware, Vehicle Software

Description

This role owns the electrical and mechanical design of custom hardware used to simulate manufacturing-line conditions on fully assembled vehicles and robots. This Hardware Design Engineer will design and bring up custom boards, fixtures, and breakout harnesses and connectors that support new programs and resolve hardware reliability issues on existing platforms. The work includes designing breakout harnesses and inline connectors that enable positive and negative testing of firmware self-tests, developing mechanical designs and in-house 3D-printed connector interfaces, and owning the full hardware pipeline from concept and schematic through layout, quotation, procurement, bring-up, and validation.

The position supports global factory validation and hardware escalations across manufacturing sites, with a focus on delivering validation setups ahead of pilot so issues can be caught before production.

Responsibilities

• Specify, design, develop, integrate and maintain robust/complex automated test systems
• Review electrical schematics and design circuitry to emulate in-vehicle signals or physical behaviors
• Design custom PCBAs for test and automation platforms, including component selection, schematic capture, layout, and validation
• Develop low-level firmware or device drivers to interface with custom hardware via protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, and CAN
• Hands-on bring-up, build and debugging of new circuit boards

Requirements

• Strong electrical engineering fundamentals and circuit design experience 
• Experience designing and debugging custom PCBs for embedded systems 
• Strong understanding of microcontroller architectures (ARM Cortex-M) and common embedded communication protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN) 
• Familiarity with writing device drivers or embedded firmware in C/C++ 
• Proficiency with Altium or similar schematic software 
• Ability to use oscilloscopes, multimeters, and other electrical test instruments to support troubleshooting 
• Hands-on technical experience debugging complex systems involving networked microprocessors and software-controlled electrical or electromechanical devices 
• Experience with Python or other scripting languages 
• Ability to collaborate and communicate complex technical concepts 
• Experience with Catia, Solidworks, preferred

Compensation and Benefits

Benefits

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

Expected Compensation

$140,000 - $210,000/annual salary + cash and stock awards + benefits

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.