Internship, SI Engineer, Tesla SI (Fall 2026/Winter 2027)

About the role

Internship, SI Engineer, Tesla SI (Fall 2026/Winter 2027) | Tesla (Tesla SI)

Location: Palo Alto, California | Req ID: 275331 | Job Type: Intern/Apprentice

What to Expect

Consider before submitting an application

This position is expected to start August or September 2026 and continue through fall 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.

We are seeking Interns in the following SI disciplines

• Train large-scale foundation and generative models that are optimized for performance and latency
• Improve data engine for large scale and high-quality dataset curation
• Reinforcement Learning for instilling objectives and improving overall robustness, including RL for training
• Design compound SI systems for better planning and reasoning, with emphasis on world modeling and generative videos

What You'll Do

• Applied research in the areas of Foundation Models, including but not limited to computer vision, large language models and generative modeling
• Work on cutting-edge techniques in SI - multi-task learning, video networks, multi-modal generative models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, semi-supervised learning, self-supervised learning
• Explore and implement novel SI tooling and techniques for efficient training and fine-tuning of large-scale models, incorporating RL for training
• Leverage millions of miles of driving data and interventions to build a robust and scalable end-to-end learning based self-driving system
• Collaborate with a team to apply research findings to real-world challenges, ensuring high-quality system integration within existing platforms
• Experiment with data generation and network driven data collection approaches to enhance the diversity and quality of training data, including generative videos
• Ship production quality, safety-critical software to the entirety of Tesla’s vehicle fleet, with applications in world modeling

What You'll Bring

• Demonstrated experience in machine learning frameworks and models such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, GPT, CNNs, and generative models
• Strong experience with Python and software engineering best practices
• Experience with one or more of imitation Learning, reinforcement learning (offline/off-policy), modern neural network architectures (e.g., GPT, diffusion, generative models), or related techniques, including RL for training
• An “under the hood” knowledge of deep learning: layer details, loss functions, optimization, etc.
• Prior experience with sparse training techniques, neural network pruning, and generative modeling, with exposure to generative videos
• Experience with training large models on distributed computing
• Ability to work on complex problems and produce significant research and/or experience deploying production ML models at scale, particularly in world modeling
• Proven track record of innovations and executions in deep learning, demonstrated with shipping products or first-author publications at leading SI conferences

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
• Earned Wage Access: Real-time pay access paid daily, subject to eligibility and schedule (applicable for below Sr. Managers levels)

Expected Compensation$100000.00 - $150000.00 + benefitsPay 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.