Software Engineer, Robotaxi Simulation, Vehicle Software

About the role

Software Engineer, Robotaxi Simulation, Vehicle Software | Tesla (Vehicle Software)

Location: PALO ALTO, California | Req ID: 263372 | Job Type: Full-time

What to Expect

Tesla is revolutionizing transportation with our Robotaxi fleet, delivering seamless autonomous ride-hailing experiences powered by rapid software iterations. As a Simulation Tooling Engineer on the Robotaxi Validation team, you'll be at the forefront of ensuring every update to our vehicles and Robotaxi Mobile App is rigorously tested for safety, reliability, and innovation. Your work will build the simulation infrastructure that accelerates validation, mitigates risks, and empowers our engineers to push the boundaries of autonomous mobility.

Join a high-impact team of elite Software Development, Integration, and Validation Engineers dedicated to elevating the Robotaxi experience. In this role, you'll design and implement automation and simulation tools to replicate fleet dynamics, vehicle responses, rider interactions, and edge-case faults—drastically reducing test cycles while maximizing coverage. You'll also architect data pipelines to process and visualize simulation outputs, providing actionable insights that inform software sign-offs and drive continuous improvements toward an industry-leading autonomous ride-hailing experience.

The ideal candidate is a self-driven, hands-on engineer with strong engineering fundamentals and prior expertise in simulation systems, and the drive to innovate across diverse technologies. If you're excited to shape the future of Robotaxi, this opportunity offers the chance to make a lasting impact at Tesla.

What You'll Do

• Build simulation frameworks that emulate the Robotaxi fleet, vehicle behaviors, rider interactions, and adversarial/systematic fault scenarios at scale
• Contribute to data pipelines that ingest, process, and store simulation results, enabling clear visualizations to drive data-informed improvements
• Orchestrate and scale simulations across distributed compute environments to maximize test coverage and accelerate validation cycles
• Implement and iterate on internal tools to speed up feature experimentation, debugging, and overall development workflows
• Collaborate with validation, software development, and integration engineers to model real-world edge cases and translate field data into reproducible simulation scenarios

What You'll Bring

• 1+ years of professional software development experience
• Strong proficiency in at least one of the following: Python, C/C++, or Golang
• Direct experience building simulation or emulation systems, particularly for distributed or multi-agent environments
• Hands-on experience designing and maintaining data pipelines for large-scale data processing, querying, and visualization
• Familiarity with distributed compute orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes or similar frameworks)
• Strong problem-solving skills with a drive to diagnose issues by pinpointing root causes
• Enthusiasm for building reliable, scalable tooling that accelerates engineering workflows

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$140,000 - $396,000/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.