Tesla Looking For HVAC Calibration Controls Engineer at Palo Alto, CA Full Time

Tesla develops all algorithms for the climate control system completely in-house. The Climate Controls Calibration Engineer will play a key role in ensuring these algorithms deliver a consistently excellent user experience across all seasons and vehicle variants. You will critical contributions to our goal of moving towards a “touchless” HVAC user experience where the vehicle always does the right thing to keep occupants comfortable.

You will use first principles understanding of climate control systems, and human thermal comfort to identify gaps in our algorithms and develop and calibrate solutions to close these gaps. Tracking customer feedback through various channels, reproducing issues, root-causing them, and developing and testing robust solutions will be a regular task. You will also play a critical role in calibrating and updating the climate control algorithms for all the new vehicles we regularly bring to market.

You will get to work on of the most vertically integrated climate control system in the industry, with algorithms ranging from multi-zone temperature control, defog and defrosting, air-quality management, user interface interaction, control of automatic seat and steering wheel heating/cooling functions, etc. all developed by a small team of engineers within Tesla.

.Regular travel will be an essential part of this role.

Responsibilities

Monitor, investigate, and root-cause customer feedback of climate control performance

Develop and validate calibration updates to and improve performance of climate control functions like temperature control, defog/defrost, auto seat heating/cooling, air quality management, etc.

Develop and validate climate control calibration updates for new vehicle programs in co-ordination with various hardware, software, and integration teams

Identify fundamental gaps in existing climate control algorithms and work with controls and firmware engineers to drive improvements

Push to improve Tesla’s technology in climate control systems towards the goal of a “touchless” climate control system

Regularly execute test plans to ensure stability of the customer experience across changing seasons and vehicle platforms/variants

Scope-out, coordinate, and execute regular test-trips to various climatic conditions to develop, verify, and sign-off on climate control algorithm and calibration updates

Be the voice of the customer when new HVAC hardware is being designed

Requirements

Strong grasp of heat-transfer fundamentals, HVAC systems, and concepts of human thermal comfort

Demonstrated ability to conceptualize, plan, and execute experiments on any practical thermal problem

Demonstrated ability to operate independently, triage issues systematically, and develop, test, and iterate solutions methodically and rigorously

Basic proficiency with embedded software in C/C++

BS/MS/PhD degree in Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering, or related fields

Willingness to travel ~30% of the time every quarter for vehicle-testing in a range of environmental conditions. May vary based on immediate program needs so some degree of flexibility is required