Sr. Reliability Engineer, Energy Products

About the role

As a Senior Engineer in the Reliability Lab, you will play a key role in enabling robust hardware development by leading advanced characterization, inspection, and root cause analysis activities across Tesla Energy and Charging products to inform engineering decisions throughout the product lifecycle. This role is strongly lab-centric and spans material-, component-, and sub-system-level characterization to understand hardware behavior, degradation, and failure mechanisms observed during design validation and reliability testing.

Responsibilities

• Lead material, component, and system-level characterization, inspection, and root cause analysis activities for energy, charging, and battery-related hardware
• Design and execute characterization and inspection workflows to identify signs of degradation for diagnostics and prognostics of new products during the development phase
• Correlate electrical, mechanical, thermal, and materials data to observed behaviors and failure signatures; provide clear, evidence-based conclusions and actionable insights to cross-functional teams to support material selection, design iterations, and process improvements
• Develop innovative investigation methods, refine, and standardize lab characterization and inspection procedures
• Maintain a safe, organized, and efficient laboratory environment following safety and 5S best practices

Requirements

• Degree in Materials Science, Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, Chemistry, or a closely related field; or equivalent experience
• Strong hands-on laboratory background with ownership of materials characterization, inspection, and investigation activities
• Demonstrated depth in materials used in HV/MV electrical applications, such as:
  • Dielectric and insulation materials (polymers, ceramics, coatings, encapsulants, composites) and semi-conductive materials (e.g., shields, field-grading, interface-matching layers)
  • Structure–process–property relationships linking formulation, cure/crosslink state, morphology, fillers/additives, and processing history to electrical, thermal, and mechanical performance
  • Polymer phase/state behavior (Tg, Tm, crystallinity, crosslinking, viscoelasticity) and its impact on insulation integrity
  • Temperature- and frequency-dependent dielectric response (permittivity, loss, polarization, conductivity)
  • Electrical degradation and failure mechanisms of insulating materials and interfaces including conduction, polarization, dielectric loss, partial discharge, electrical treeing, surface tracking, flashover, and breakdown
  • Heterogeneous interfaces (polymer–metal, polymer–ceramic, insulation–semi-conductive, multilayer stacks)
  • Environmental and thermo-mechanical effects on electrically stressed insulating materials
• Knowledge of materials and processes in one or more adjacent domains: PCBA assemblies, materials, contamination, and process-related issues; thermo-mechanical behavior of materials and interfaces; battery and electrochemical hardware materials and interfaces
• Hands-on experience with advanced characterization and inspection techniques, including:
  • Materials and thermo-mechanical characterization (e.g., DSC, TGA, DMA, UTM)
  • Microscopy (optical, 3D/profilometry, SEM)
  • Elemental and compositional analysis (e.g., EDX, XRF, FTIR/Raman as applicable)
  • Non-destructive techniques (X-ray radiography, X-ray CT)
• Strong technical documentation and communication skills, including reports, presentations, and cross-functional technical discussions
• Detail-oriented, mechanism-driven mindset with a strong drive to understand how and why materials behave under electrical, thermal, and mechanical stress
• Ability to collaborate effectively across multi-disciplinary engineering teams

Benefits

• Competitive pay and full-time Tesla employee benefits starting on day 1 of hire
• Medical plans with plan options including $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both with options for $0 paycheck contribution
• Company-paid Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
• Company-paid Basic Life, AD&D, short-term, and long-term disability insurance (90-day waiting period)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick and vacation time (flex time for salary positions, accrued hours for hourly positions), and paid holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Voluntary benefits including critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
• Weight loss and tobacco cessation programs
• Tesla Babies program
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program

Pay

Expected compensation: $91,600 - $195,600/annual salary + cash and stock awards + benefits. Pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.