Senior Mechanical Design Engineer - Electrical Safety Devices

Job Description

As a Mechanical Design Engineer in Tesla's HV (Safety) Devices team, you will design cutting edge High Voltage & High Current electrical safety devices for use across the entirety of Tesla, from Vehicle and Energy Storage to Charging and Manufacturing. You will be joining an elite team of driven engineers with a huge scope, reach, and potential impact. The work is fast-paced and challenging. Tesla’s mission and vision must excite you. The HV Devices team designs beyond traditional actuating devices like sealed contactors and Pyrotechnic breakers, improving integration, efficiency, safety/performance, and cost. To design new mechanisms, you will be required to know and apply statics, mechanics, thermals, dynamics, and more. Our work is highly multi-disciplinary and you will be expected to know or learn basic electrical and magnetic physics, material science, and advanced manufacturing techniques.  Strong design skills, a first-principles approach to problem solving, curiosity to learn and drive to develop/grow are must-haves. 

At Tesla, our design work doesn't only exist on a computer screen and we don’t waste time on products that we don’t see a future in. Your designs will come to life and exist in the real world within industry record time. Design engineers will scope the requirements, create designs, model mechanisms, drive prototype builds, conduct engineering testing, develop reliability validation plans, and conduct root-cause analysis for our products. An example might be detailed design of a flexible busbar system capable of switching states and conducting high currents, actuating reliably for thousands of cycles – search for the Cybertruck DPDT to learn more about this example.  You will own the design from conception through its full evolution to mass-production. 

Roles available at multiple seniority levels i.e. Sr, Staff, etc. for those with more experience. 

Job Responsibilities

• Modeling and design of electromechanically actuated parts and assemblies including plastics, sheet metal, castings / extrusions, springs, high voltage connectors, fasteners, seals, and others 

• Mechanical design analysis including kinematic, structural, thermal, and design for manufacturability 

• Collaborate with program stakeholders to integrate designs into vehicles, energy products, and more 

• Solve packaging issues: electrical isolation, sealing, thermal management, interconnection, shock and vibration management, etc. 

• Develop engineering and reliability test plans for designs, including detailed analysis of results 

• Create drawing packages and manufacturing instructions for parts and assemblies 

• Assist in engineering prototype builds and component fabrication 

• Collaborate with other mechanical, electrical, control systems, manufacturing, industrial design, and test engineers to take designs from concept through prototype to mass production 

Job Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in mechanical design/related field OR demonstrated technical excellence in product design & analysis 

• Robust foundation in mechanical engineering fundamentals & physics first-principles 

• Proficiency in 3D CAD & PLM systems, engineering changes, deviations, BOM structuring, etc. 

• Solid grasp of GD&T, tolerance stacks, design for manufacturing/automation (DFM/DFA) 

• Background in modeling, finite element analysis (FEA), & multi-physics simulations 

• Familiarity with high volume manufacturing and automated assembly processes such as injection molding, stamping, castings/extrusions, fastening, welding, dispensing, etc. 

• Understanding of basic electrical design fundamentals. Familiarity with battery management systems, relays, fuses, contactors, switchgear, solenoids, and/or electric motors a plus 

• Experience with CATIA 3D CAD software, Ansys, Matlab, and Python a plus 

• Exposure to environmental, reliability, safety, and industry standards for automotive, industrial, and/or residential products 

• Experience with DFMEA and PFMEA. Design for automotive functional safety a plus