Sensor Electronic Design Engineer

About the role

Sensor Electronic Design Engineer | Tesla (Engineering & Information Technology)

Location: PALO ALTO, California | Req ID: 280412 | Job Type: Full-time

What to Expect

Autonomy begins with sensing. Tesla's vehicles depend on a diverse array of sensing systems, from spatial perception (vision, radar) and motion sensing (IMU) to user interaction, environmental monitoring, and chassis sensing, to perceive and interact with the world. At the core of every one of these systems is a circuit board that must be engineered to the highest standard.

This role owns that foundation. As part of the Sensing team, you will design, validate, and industrialize circuit boards, rigid, flexible, rigid-flex, and beyond, that enable Tesla's autonomous driving and intelligent vehicle features. You'll translate high-level system requirements into board-level designs that meet aggressive cost, size, and reliability targets across a uniquely broad portfolio of sensor technologies.

The scope is rare: few roles touch this many sensing domains, form factors, and production scales in one seat. If you want to see your boards ship in millions of vehicles and directly advance Tesla's autonomy mission, this is the place.

What You'll Do

• Own board-level electronic design end to end, from concept through prototype, DVT, and mass production
• Translate system-level sensing requirements into board-level design specifications and architecture
• Drive key component selection, power tree design, and signal chain definition for diverse sensor modalities
• Design schematics and supervise PCB layout across rigid, flexible, and rigid-flex substrates
• Develop and execute test plans for engineering validation and production-line verification
• Run design simulations (SPICE, SI/PI) to de-risk designs before fabrication
• Collaborate with supply chain to ensure component availability, cost targets, and second-source strategies
• Lead DFM and DFT efforts with internal manufacturing teams and contract manufacturers
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for board-level failures with internal teams and vendors
• Partner with reliability, EMC, software, and manufacturing teams to deliver production-ready sensor modules

What You'll Bring

• Degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience
• Strong EE fundamentals in mixed-signal PCB design, including analog front-ends, power conversion, and digital interfaces
• Hands-on schematic capture and PCB layout experience across rigid, flex, and rigid-flex technologies (Altium preferred)
• Solid understanding of EMC, signal integrity, and power integrity design practices
• Proficiency with design simulation tools (SPICE, impedance/crosstalk analysis) to validate designs before fabrication
• Experience designing and debugging embedded systems including microcontrollers, communication interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, etc.), and power management ICs
• Competence with lab instruments (oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers) for board bring-up and validation
• Ability to write test automation and data analysis scripts, and to distill results into clear, actionable conclusions
• First-principles thinking: you ground your designs in fundamental physics and verify assumptions through analysis and measurement
• Effective use of AI-assisted design and analysis tools to accelerate development without sacrificing quality

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 > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
• 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 to include: 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
• Earned Wage Access: Real-time pay access paid daily, subject to eligibility and schedule (applicable for below Sr. Managers levels)

Expected Compensation$100,000 - $282,000/annual salary + cash and stock awards + 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.