Tesla

Makes electric cars, robotaxis and grid batteries

Balance of Plant Performance Engineer

Power Systems EngineeringConfirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-timePalo Alto, CA, USANo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

A degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Systems Engineering, or equivalent experience.
At least 3 years of experience in one or more of protection engineering, power-system or substation engineering, battery energy-storage commissioning, reliability engineering, or maintenance of medium-voltage generation or storage facilities.
Working knowledge of medium-voltage protection and Balance of Plant equipment, including industrial relays such as SEL or ABB, transformers, switchgear, breakers, trip circuits, IEC 61850 GOOSE, DNP3, and Modbus.
Ability to read schematics, protection settings, and event records and reason from first principles about relay trips, breaker failures to open, and site islanding.
Proficiency with Python, SQL, or equivalent tools for data analysis on large datasets.
Ability to work cross-functionally with design, manufacturing, commissioning, field service, and firmware teams.
Excellent written and verbal communication, including customer-facing root-cause reports, technical diagrams, and field procedures.
Ability to prioritize and execute multiple projects in parallel; self-directed, highly detail-oriented, and organized.
Willingness to travel domestically up to 15% of the time, occasionally on short notice, and provide periodic 24/7 on-call support of external customers.

Responsibilities

Own fleet reliability for low- and medium-voltage Balance of Plant equipment, including protection relays, ring-main units, switchgear, transformers, circuit breakers, safety interlocks, and the path from field instrumentation through the relay into the plant controller.
Lead fleet-wide investigations of relay operations, misoperations, nuisance trips, and equipment failures. Trace root causes using single-line diagrams, control wiring, relay settings, sequential event records, protection event files, IEC 61850 GOOSE captures, fleet telemetry, oscillography, substation SCADA data, and first-principles engineering; quantify impact and drive permanent hardware, firmware, or process fixes across the global fleet.
Lead product and design changes with partner teams on switchgear design, integration and monitoring, safety interlocks, and isolation compliance; translate multi-system issues into requirements for hardware, manufacturing, firmware, networking, and field teams.
Design fleet relay settings that meet compliance, safety, and protection requirements.
Define and execute fault-injection and integration tests across relays, switchgear, power supplies, trip circuits, GOOSE messaging, time synchronization, and control wiring; feed results into commissioning automation, automated detection, and regression coverage.
Drive proven solutions into automated ticketing, documentation, and technical support for field and support teams. Communicate root cause and resolution to commercial and utility customers, and lead testing at critical operating sites.
Build tools and write software using Python, SQL, configuration profiles, and analysis notebooks to accelerate diagnosis, detection, and fleet-impact analysis of Balance of Plant and microgrid failures.

Category	Energy Engineering
Location	Palo Alto, California
Requisition ID	287808
Type	Full-time

Job Description

<p>Tesla’s industrial energy fleet is one of the largest and most actively operated battery fleets in the world. When these assets underperform, renewable generation is curtailed, customers can lose thousands of dollars an hour, fossil fuels are used to fill the gap, and grids face higher blackout risk. As a member of the Industrial Product Engineering team, you will own the uptime of this critical infrastructure, specifically the low- and medium-voltage Balance of Plant outside the battery enclosure: protection relays, transformers, switchgear, breakers, and the control and communications circuits that keep sites safe and online.</p><p>In this cross-functional role, you will work closely with design, manufacturing, project engineering, field service, technical support, firmware, system test, and SCADA/network operations to ensure Tesla Energy customers receive industry-leading service and system availability worldwide. If you enjoy solving real-world protection and power-system problems from first principles, working with a close-knit team, and making a tangible impact on the clean energy transition, this is the role for you.</p>

Job Responsibilities

Own fleet reliability for low- and medium-voltage Balance of Plant: protection relays, ring-main units, switchgear, transformers, circuit breakers, safety interlocks, and the path from field instrumentation through the relay into the plant controller
Lead fleet-wide investigations of relay operations, misoperations, nuisance trips, and equipment failures. Trace root cause using single-line diagrams, control wiring, relay settings, sequential event records, protection event files, IEC 61850 GOOSE captures, fleet telemetry, oscillography, substation SCADA data, and first-principles engineering; quantify impact and drive permanent hardware, firmware, or process fixes across the global fleet
Lead product and design changes with partner teams on switchgear design, integration and monitoring, safety interlocks, and isolation compliance, distilling multi-system issues into clear requirements for hardware, manufacturing, firmware, networking, and field teams
Design relay settings for the fleet that meet compliance, safety, and protection requirements
Define and execute fault-injection and integration tests across relays, switchgear, power supplies, trip circuits, GOOSE messaging, time synchronization, and control wiring; feed results into commissioning automation, automated detection, and regression coverage
Drive proven solutions into automated ticketing, documentation, and technical support for field and support teams. Communicate root cause and resolution clearly to commercial and utility customers, and lead testing at critical operating sites
Build tools and write software (Python, SQL, configuration profiles, and analysis notebooks) that accelerate diagnosis, detection, and fleet-impact analysis of Balance of Plant and microgrid failures

Job Requirements

Degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Systems Engineering, or equivalent experience
3+ years in one or more of: protection engineering, power-system or substation engineering, battery energy-storage commissioning, reliability engineering, or maintenance of medium-voltage generation or storage facilities
Working knowledge of medium-voltage protection and Balance of Plant equipment: industrial relays (SEL, ABB, or equivalent), transformers, switchgear, breakers, and trip circuits, as well as IEC 61850 GOOSE, DNP3, and Modbus
Ability to read schematics, protection settings, and event records, and to reason from first principles about why a relay tripped, a breaker failed to open, or a site islanded
Proficiency with Python, SQL, or equivalent tools for data analysis on large datasets
Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with design, manufacturing, commissioning, field service, and firmware teams
Excellent written and verbal communication, including customer-facing root-cause reports, technical diagrams, and field procedures
Ability to prioritize and execute multiple projects in parallel; self-directed, highly detail-oriented, and organized
Willingness to travel domestically up to 15% of the time, occasionally on short notice, including work at operating sites and periodic on-call 24/7 support of external customers

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

Recently Posted Jobs

Explore more opportunities at Tesla

See more jobs