Internship, Sensor Hardware Design Engineer, Optimus (Fall 2026)

Consider before submitting an application:

This position is expected to start August or September 2026 and continue through summer term (ending approximately December 2026) or continuing into Winter/Spring 2027 if available and there is an opportunity to do so. We ask for a minimum of 12 weeks, full-time (40 hours/week) and on-site, for most internships. Our internship program is for students who are actively enrolled in an academic program. Recent graduates seeking employment after graduation and not returning to school should apply for full-time positions, not 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.

The Sensing Hardware Team is responsible for architecting, designing, validating and integrating state-of-the-art sensing technologies for the Tesla Bot. The sensors we develop for Tesla Bot support manipulation and locomotion. As a Sensor Hardware Engineerng Intern for Tesla Bot, you will be take part in the overall performance of the sensing system and its features at any point in the product life cycle, serve as the owner of a given sensing system to address any issues discovered from development through deployment, understand and debug hardware and software interactions from prototyping through product launch, and manage priorities and support a host of projects simultaneously.

• Drive the design and execution of sensing subsystems through specific generation, collaboration, architecture defintion, schematic design, PCB Layout, BOM definition, prototyping, validation, qualification and production
• Support cross-functional sensor design discussions with electrical, software, supply chain, manufacturing, thermal, and mechanical teams and translate sensor design discussions into design documents in the form of system block diagrams, functional and performance requirements
• Use EDA tools to define the electrical components and their connectivity and supervise the generation of board design files through all design phases
• Work with the supply chain team to ensure components will meet performance, cost & manufacturing requirements, support early sensor prototype development to de-risk new technologies and generate/execute the test plan that includes milestones that focus on de-risking product and/or feature deployment and align with the program timeline
• Ensure the hardware meets required design criteria across a host of environments and regulations while collaborating with the reliability, test and homologation teams and work with manufacturing/test teams and suppliers to achieve high-volume mass production with high yield
• Understand and debug hardware and software interactions from prototyping through product launch and manage priorities and support a host of projects simultaneously
• Currently pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics or a related field with a graduation date between 2026 - 2027
• Fundamental knowledge of analog & digital circuits (MOSFETs, op-amps, linear & switching regulators, microcontrollers, digital protocols like SPI & I2C), sensor physics, and statistics
• Experience with circuit board design (Altium preferred) involving specification, architecture, design, simulation, prototype, schematic, layout supervision, validation, and manufacturing
• Experience with PCB component selection
• Experience in MATLAB, Python, C/C++ or equivalent tools for modeling and analysis
• Experience in data visualization and statistical analysis
• Understanding of hardware development process
• Strong understanding with lab equipment (including oscilloscopes, signal generators, power supplies)

Benefits

As a full-time Tesla Intern, you will be eligible for:

• Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans. Both have an option with a $0 payroll 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), Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
• Company Paid Basic Life, AD&D, and short-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions), and Paid Holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program

Expected Compensation

$20.00 - $55.00 + benefits

Pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.