Tesla Looking For Design Engineer, Materials Applications at Palo Alto, CA Full Time

The Role:
The purpose of the Materials Applications Team is to accelerate the adoption of new materials and processes at Tesla. Our goal is to work on problems that make step changes in the optimal design space. As a Design Engineer on the team, you will bridge the gap between materials science and part design. That can mean many different things depending on the material or process. On any given day you might design prototype tooling to make trial parts, work with vendors to perfect a process, perform large design space studies to see how a new material impacts mass and cost, or work in the lab to characterize a part or system.

Responsibilities:
Meet with materials engineers to understand strengths and weaknesses of proposed materials or processes and how those affect part design

Meet with part owners in design teams to understand design requirements for their parts

Create models to demonstrate the possible gains offered by a new material or process

Create 3D and 2D CAD for prototype parts and/or tooling

Source prototype parts and tooling

Design test plans for prototypes and assist in test execution and data collection

Report out results to executives with recommendations for next steps

Work with the design, test, sourcing, program management, and finance teams to transition new materials and processes to production

Requirements:
BS/MS/PhD Degree in Engineering or Physics

A strong foundation in mechanics, strength of materials, physics, heat transfer, and chemistry

Intellectual curiosity and innovation backed up with a need to see real-world results

A portfolio of design projects that demonstrate excellence in first priciples thinking

Demonstrated skill in part design for manufacturing techniques other than machining and 3D printing – casting, injection molding, stamping, forming, blanking, forging, blow molding…etc.

Facility with CAD systems and GD&T

Facility with FEA tools

Facility with Matlab or Python for building models of systems

Facility in the lab in test preparation, instrumentation, and presentation of data