Controls & Software Automation Engineer Intern - Cell Manufacturing

Job Description

Consider before submitting an application:

This position is expected to start around January 2027 and continue through the entire Spring term (i.e. through May 2027) or into Summer 2027 if available. We ask for a minimum of 12 weeks, full-time and on-site, for most internships.

International Students: If your work authorization is through CPT, please consult your school on your ability to work 40 hours per week before applying. You must be able to work 40 hours per week on-site. Many students will be limited to part-time during the academic year.

The Internship Recruiting Team is driven by the passion to recognize and develop emerging talent. Our year-round program places the best students in positions where they will grow technically, professionally, and personally through their experience working closely with their Manager, Mentor, and team. We are dedicated to providing an experience that allows the intern to experience life at Tesla by including them in projects that are critical to their team’s success.

Locations: Palo Alto, CA; Fremont, CA; Austin, TX; Robstown, TX; Reno, NV; Toronto, ON

Job Responsibilities

Qualified applicants may be reviewed by one or more of the following teams: 

Automation - Electrical Engineering Controls

• This role owns review of vendor electrical controls designs and against in-house Tesla electrical and safety standards, best practices and requirements. Engineers are regularly in the field troubleshooting and problem solving and implementing continuous improvement and optimization projects. Electrical Controls Engineers collaborate closely with cross functional teams to ensure controls system meets the functional and regulatory Standard. Experience selecting appropriate circuit protectors, wire and cable, sensors, safety hardware, PLC hardware, remote I/O, variable frequency drives (VFDs), servo systems, and key electrical control components. Knowledge of Electrical Standards (NFPA 79, IEC 60204-1, UL508A). Familiarity with Allen Bradley, Beckhoff, Omron, Siemens, B&R, and/or Mitsubishi. Human Machine Interface (HMI / GUI - AB Panelview, Ignition, TIA/WinCC, B&R, etc.). Field bus Networks (EtherCAT, ProfiNet, ProfiBus, Modbus, Powerlink, RS232, etc.) and OPC UA . Experience with Vision systems (Cognex, Keyence, etc.).

Automation - Software Controls

• The intern will work with a cross functional engineering team supporting critical Cell Manufacturing development projects and will be responsible for software and electrical scope. Develop code that is structured, documented, maintainable, and reusable. Interface equipment with Tesla production databases. The intern will work with our controls development team on spearheading and proving, developing, integrating and automating the overall process of Virtual Commissioning, allowing controls engineers to save time in the overall process of automation controls design, development and validation.

Virtual Commissioning Engineering

• Virtual Commissioning Engineers are responsible for developing 3D/2D simulation models of automated manufacturing processes and equipment. These models are used to validate PLC (porgrammable logic controller), HMI (human machine interface) programs, robot programs and Tesla Manufacturing Execution System (MES) that collect data into production databases.

Industrial Machine Vision Software Development 

• In this role, you will assist in maintaining and developming new features for our production critical industrial vision processing software. This production critical software designed to capture, analyze, and store images of battery cells within miliseconds operates 24/7 and controls hundreds of industrial cameras over the entirety of the cell manufacturing production line.

Job Requirements

• Currently pursuing a degree in Engineering, preferably Mechatronics, Computer Science, Electrical or a related field
• Basic understanding designing electrical control panels, controls system wiring and instrumentation
• Experience with software development: GitHub, Splunk & Jira and working with industiral machine vision cameras
• Experience with tools for virtual commissioning (iPhyics, Process Simulate, WinMOD, Maplesim, EMulate3D, EKS, etc.) is preferred
• Familiarity coding Microcontrollers or PLCs in major programming language such as C/C++, C#, Go, Cpp, Java, Python, Swift, Structured Text, and/or Ladder Logic
• Experience in web development languages and frameworks with JavaScript, React, Node, HTML5, CSS3, and JSON best-practices
• Experience with 3D CAD design software such as CATIA or SOLIDWORKS is preferred
• Robust understanding of software fundamentals including software design, Git, scripting, CI/CD, algorithms, basic data structures, code modularity, and maintainability 
• Demonstrate a good understanding of testing concepts including white box and black box testing, regression testing, unit testing, and performance testing