Tesla

Makes electric cars, robotaxis and grid batteries

Senior Software Engineer - Energy Optimization

Backend EngineeringUpdated on Nov 13

Full-timePalo Alto, CA, USANo salary listedIn-person

About the Job

Requirements

A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience is required.
Strong proficiency in Python and Linux is required.
Experience building and shipping production software or internal developer tooling, such as services, pipelines, evaluation systems, or automation with real users, is required.
Experience using SI tools to build high-leverage engineering tooling and workflows is required.
Experience with cloud and data technologies such as AWS, Spark, Airflow or Argo (or equivalent orchestration), Docker or Kubernetes, and CI/CD is required.
Experience owning complex production software through design, implementation, debugging, and operation where correctness, performance, and maintainability matter is required.
Ability to collaborate across algorithm, firmware, and product partners is required.

Responsibilities

Implement and ship production changes in the Opticaster codebase, taking features and fixes from development through validation and release to the customer fleet.
Build and improve internal tooling that accelerates Opticaster development and operations, including evaluation workflows, regression detection, experiment analysis, diagnostics, and automation.
Apply SI tools to team workflows, including assisted analysis of simulation and fleet results, improved evaluation loops, and automation to reduce repetitive debugging and review, with measurable productivity and quality gains.
Own and evolve the software platforms around Opticaster, including simulation and benchmarking systems, cloud evaluation pipelines, monitoring and alerting, and release automation.
Design and maintain production integration points with Tesla Energy firmware and Site Manager, including interfaces, signals, parsers and inputs, configuration, and version compatibility.
Strengthen reliability and operability with monitoring, alerting, dashboards, and tooling that explain field or simulation behavior.
Improve CI/CD and release automation so changes can be validated and shipped safely.
Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks involving CPU, memory, latency, and runtime in services, pipelines, evaluation workloads, and constrained on-device or runtime paths.
Partner with algorithm, firmware, and product engineers to turn energy-domain requirements into production-ready software, interfaces, and tooling.

Desired Qualifications

Experience with another production language such as C++, Go, Rust, Java, or C# is a plus.
Experience with production systems that have real integration, reliability, or performance constraints is a plus.
Experience with energy systems, on-device or firmware-adjacent environments, or machine learning is a plus.

Category	Energy Engineering
Location	Palo Alto, California
Requisition ID	249341
Type	Full-time

Job Description

<p>Opticaster’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by optimizing how batteries are charged and discharged to maximize value for customers and the grid. Our advanced algorithms determine the best times to store and use energy, considering electricity prices, solar generation, and grid conditions. These optimizations power Tesla’s energy products, including Megapacks, Powerwalls, Virtual Power Plants, and microgrids. With a global fleet of over 500,000 residential systems, our software operates at scale, requiring robust and efficient solutions. Opticaster also plays a key role in supporting grid stability through programs like demand response and by integrating with Autobidder to actively participate in energy markets. <br><br>Opticaster is a customer-facing product: the software you build directly shapes how hundreds of thousands of homes and energy sites store, use, and export energy every day. As a Software Engineer on Opticaster, you will build the production systems and internal tooling that let algorithm changes ship safely to a global energy fleet. Part of the role is improving developer and research workflows with SI tools—evaluation harnesses, failure analysis, experiment tooling, and automation around simulation, diagnostics, and release. You will also work on the software that surrounds Opticaster in production: Python services, firmware/Site Manager integration points, simulation/benchmarking platforms, cloud data pipelines, CI/CD, and observability. You will partner closely with algorithm engineers to develop, evaluate, integrate, and operate Opticaster at scale. </p>

Job Responsibilities

Implement and ship production changes in the Opticaster codebase, taking features and fixes from development through validation and release to the customer fleet
Build and improve internal tooling that accelerates Opticaster development and operations, including evaluation workflows, regression detection, experiment analysis, diagnostics, and automation
Apply SI tools to real team workflows—assisted analysis of simulation/fleet results, smarter evaluation loops, and automation that reduces repetitive debugging and review—with measurable productivity and quality gains
Own and evolve the software platforms around Opticaster: simulation/benchmarking systems, cloud evaluation pipelines, monitoring/alerting, and release automation
Design and maintain production integration points with Tesla Energy firmware and Site Manager—interfaces, signals, parsers/inputs, configuration, and version compatibility
Strengthen reliability and operability with monitoring, alerting, dashboards, and tooling that explain field or simulation behavior
Improve CI/CD and release automation so changes can be validated and shipped safely
Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks (CPU, memory, latency, runtime) in services, pipelines, evaluation workloads, and constrained on-device/runtime paths
Partner with algorithm, firmware, and product engineers to turn energy-domain requirements into production-ready software, interfaces, and tooling

Job Requirements

Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience
Strong proficiency in Python and Linux
Experience building and shipping production software and/or internal developer tooling—services, pipelines, evaluation systems, or automation with real users
Experience using SI tools to build high-leverage engineering tooling and workflows
Experience with cloud and data technologies such as AWS, Spark, Airflow/Argo (or equivalent orchestration), Docker/Kubernetes, and CI/CD
Experience owning complex production software through design, implementation, debugging, and operation—where correctness, performance, and maintainability matter
Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate across algorithm, firmware, and product partners
Experience with another production language (e.g. C++, Go, Rust, Java, or C#) is a plus
Experience with production systems that have real integration, reliability, or performance constraints is a plus
Experience with energy systems, on-device or firmware-adjacent environments, or machine learning is a plus

About the Company

Tesla

Makes electric cars, robotaxis and grid batteries

Tesla makes electric cars and batteries that store power for homes and utilities, and it develops self-driving software and humanoid robots. In 2023, its Model Y became the first electric vehicle to rank as the world's best-selling car. Buyers order the Model 3 sedan, Model Y SUV, or Cybertruck pickup directly from Tesla instead of through dealers, and they charge on its Supercharger fast-charging network. It also sells Megapack and Powerwall batteries, runs a robotaxi service, and charges drivers a monthly fee for self-driving software that still needs their supervision. Tesla was founded in 2003, with Elon Musk as its lead early investor and a recognized co-founder, and it is based in Austin, Texas.

Company size: 10,001+
Company stage: IPO
Headquarters: Austin, TX
Founded: 2003

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