Senior Mechanical Systems Engineer - Drive Systems

Job Description

Tesla’s Drive Systems Engineering team is looking for an outstanding Senior Mechanical Systems Engineer to own system architecture, modeling, and test across the Drive Unit portfolio. You will drive efficiency, lubrication performance, reliability across all vehicle programs.

You will set how DSE measures, models, and improves drive unit lubrication, efficiency, and durability, and own the model-to-bench-to-fleet correlation that backs design decisions. You will identify system-level opportunities, drive architecture and component changes, and validate them on hardware. Scope spans motor, gearbox, lubrication, thermal, power electronics, and firmware. You will own the models that predict lubrication-driven drag and reliability, close them against dyno and component-level data, and mature the vehicle models for new and existing programs.

This is a hands-on systems role. You will spend time in the lab and on the dyno, designing fixtures, instrumenting drive units, running tests, and digging into raw data. You will also build and maintain the analytical, 1D, and 3D models needed to size architecture, spot opportunities, and interpret results. Projects can be open-ended, and the individual must thrive in a challenging environment.

Our world-class engineering teams operate with a non-conventional automotive product development philosophy of high interdisciplinary collaboration, flat organizational structure, and technical contribution at all levels. You will be expected to challenge and to be challenged, to create, to innovate. You must want to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial company. We are building real products. This must excite you. You’ll work alongside accomplished, world-renowned engineers on perhaps the most exciting automotive programs in existence today.

Job Responsibilities

• Own the efficiency roadmap across current and next-generation drive units, identifying the highest-leverage loss-reduction opportunities across motor, gearbox, lubrication architecture, EM, and power electronics, and sequencing them against program launch timing
• Drive lubrication system architecture from modeling: oil-level dynamics (splashing, churning, and starvation); passive vs. active lubrication; pump, sump, and oil-circuit design, balancing efficiency with reliability
• Build, maintain, and own physics-based 1D and 3D CFD lubrication models that refine flow targets to the gearbox and capture air-lubricant interaction, and validate system thermal and lubrication health under all corner cases
• Translate vehicle range (Wh/mi) targets into component-level loss budgets across motor, gearbox, lubrication architecture, EM, and power electronics, and track delivery against them program by program
• Design, instrument, and execute dyno tests for system efficiency mapping, spin loss, lubrication, and component-level loss characterization, owning the method from fixture through data reporting to leadership
• Partner with motor, gearbox, lubrication, thermal, power electronics, and firmware teams to prioritize and execute the improvements that move range for customers
• Analyze fleet telemetry to confirm production drive units meet predicted efficiency, and feed lessons learned into the next program
• Coordinate with DSE teams globally to scale methodology, test plans, models, and lessons learned across regions

Job Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent experience
• Experience in electric drive units, powertrain, or rotating machinery, through modeling, test, or systems engineering
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics, tribology, heat transfer, and rotating machinery
• Hands-on lab and dyno experience, and/or a track record of correlating models to hardware
• Comfortable creating and executing DVP&R and DOE
• Proficiency with Python, MATLAB, or equivalent; comfortable with large dyno and fleet datasets
• Working knowledge of 3D CAD (CATIA 3DX preferred)
• Strong first-principles problem-solving; able to reason from fundamentals when models or data disagree
• Hands-on experience with hydraulic 1D system modeling is a plus
• Experience with 3D lubrication CFD is a plus, automotive industry experience is a plus