Tesla

Makes electric cars, robotaxis and grid batteries

Senior Materials Engineer - Coatings

Mechanical EngineeringConfirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-timeNo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

A strong foundation in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and materials science as applied to coating systems is required.
A degree in Chemistry, Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a closely related field, or equivalent experience, is required.
Hands-on experience with organic coatings, including acrylic, epoxy, urethane, silicone, and waterborne coating chemistries, is required.
Experience with pretreatment substrate interfaces, multilayer coating stacks, or functional coatings such as soft-touch, optical, low-friction and wear, or hydrophobic/oleophobic coatings is required.
Supplier or cross-functional technical leadership to bring new coating materials into production is required.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end materials science of organic coatings, including polymer chemistry, formulation, macromolecular architecture, structure-property relationships, application and cure behavior, and performance on metal, plastic, and multi-material stack substrates.
Serve as a subject matter expert in the organic chemistry of coatings, including binders, crosslinkers, resins, solvents and waterborne carriers, additives, pigments and fillers, and how chemistry affects adhesion, durability, appearance, haptics, and chemical and environmental resistance.
Lead development of qualification plans for coating stacks, including pretreatment interfaces, primers, basecoats and topcoats, and functional coatings; address film formation, rheology, wetting, cure kinetics, crosslink characteristics, and defect root-cause analysis.
Provide technical support to quality and manufacturing teams on materials root-cause analysis and downstream processing issues.
Lead efforts with suppliers and manufacturing teams to develop paint and coating processing technologies that reduce energy consumption, capital equipment expenses, and floor-space requirements.

Desired Qualifications

Experience with high-throughput experimentation, design of experiments (DOE), or structured materials exploration using experimental and computational methods.

Category	Engineering & Information Technology
Location	Fremont, California
Requisition ID	282274
Type	Full-time

Job Description

<p>The team is seeking a Sr. Materials Engineer, Coatings to own the fundamental, first principles materials science relationships between organic coating materials and processes across vehicle, energy, and robotics products. This position will lead the development of polymer coating systems from chemistry, and formulation through application and in-service performance, partnering with product design, industrial design, manufacturing, supply chain and external suppliers. This position will require onsite presence in both Fremont, CA and Palo Alto, CA locations.</p>

Job Responsibilities

Own the materials science of organic coatings end-to-end: polymer chemistry, formulation, macromolecular architecture, structure-property relationships, application/cure behavior and performance on metal, plastic and multi-material stack substrates
Act as subject matter expert of organic chemistry of coatings including binders, crosslinkers, resins, solvents/waterborne carriers, additives, pigments/fillers and how chemistry drives adhesion, durability, appearance, haptics and chemical/environmental resistance
Lead the development of qualification plans for coating stacks; pretreatment interfaces, primers, base/topcoats, functional coatings) including film formation, rheology, wetting, cure kinetics, crosslink characteristics and defects root cause analysis
Provide technical support to the quality and manufacturing teams with respect to materials root cause analysis and downstream processing issues
Lead our efforts with suppliers and Tesla manufacturing teams to develop new paint and coating processing technologies that reduce energy consumption, capital equipment expenses, and floor space requirements

Job Requirements

Strong foundation in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry and materials science as applied to coating systems
Degree in Chemistry, Polymer Science, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering or a closely related field, or equivalent experience
Hands-on experience with organic coatings including acrylic, epoxy, urethane, silicone, and waterborne coating chemistries
Experience with pretreatment substrate interfaces, multi-layer coating stacks or functional coatings (soft-touch, optical, low friction and wear, hydrophobic/oleophobic)
Supplier or cross-functional technical leadership to bring new coating materials into production
Preferred experience with high-throughput experimentation, DOE or structured materials exploration through experimental and computational methods

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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