Senior Electronics Materials Reliability Engineer

Senior Electronics Materials Reliability Engineer

As a Senior Engineer in the Reliability Characterization Lab at Tesla, you will play a key role in enabling robust hardware development. This involves leading advanced characterization, inspection, and root cause analysis activities across Tesla Energy and Charging products. Your work will inform engineering decisions throughout the product lifecycle.

This role is strongly lab-centric, spanning material-, component-, and sub-system-level characterization. You will understand hardware behavior, degradation, and failure mechanisms observed during design validation and reliability testing.

You will apply deep experimental expertise in materials characterization, thermal analysis, microscopy, and non-destructive & destructive analysis for targeted characterization workflows. Your responsibilities include diagnosing complex issues and translating physical evidence into defensible technical conclusions and risk insights that inform design decisions and mitigation strategies.

What You'll Do

• 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 product designs during the development phase.
• Correlate electrical, mechanical, thermal, and materials data to observed behaviors and failure signatures; and 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.

What You'll Bring

• Degree in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, Chemistry, 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); Partial discharge phenomena, electrical treeing, surface tracking, and breakdown behavior; Environmental and thermo-mechanical effects on electrically stressed materials.
• Knowledge of materials and processes in one or more adjacent domains: PCBA assemblies, thermo-mechanical behavior of materials and interfaces, battery and electromechanical hardware materials, etc.
• Hands-on experience with advanced characterization and inspection techniques, including: Materials and thermal characterization; Microscopy (optical, 3D/profilometry, SEM); Elemental and compositional analysis (e.g., EDX, XRF); Non-destructive inspection (X-ray radiography, X-ray CT).
• Ability to collaborate effectively across multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• Detail-oriented, mechanism-driven mindset with a strong drive to understand how and why materials behave under electrical, thermal, and mechanical stress.
• Strong technical documentation and communication skills, including reports, presentations, and cross-functional technical discussions.

Benefits

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits at day 1 of hire:

• Medical plans with options for $0 payroll deduction.
• Family-building, fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits.
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, with $0 paycheck contribution options.
• Company-Paid (Health Savings Accounts) 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.

Expected Compensation

$91,600 - $234,000/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. 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 an employee receives an offer of employment.

Key skills/competency

• Materials Reliability Engineering
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
• Advanced Materials Characterization
• Failure Mechanism Investigation
• Dielectric Material Properties
• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
• X-ray Computed Tomography (CT)
• Thermal and Electrical Analysis
• Data Correlation and Interpretation
• Laboratory Safety and 5S