Sr. Distributed Systems Engineer, Robotaxi & Optimus

About the role

Sr. Distributed Systems Engineer, Robotaxi & Optimus | Tesla (Vehicle Software)

Location: Palo Alto, California | Req ID: 285674 | Job Type: Full-time

What to Expect

Join a small team of experts to build and scale the platform that connects Tesla and its customers to every vehicle, Robotaxi, Optimus robot, and energy product. We own remote interactions used by millions of customers like vehicle commands, real-time telemetry, over-the-air updates, phone-as-key, rider profiles, and vehicle sharing. Engineering, service, sales, delivery, and manufacturing teams depend on our systems to move fast.

We are looking for a software engineer with distributed systems experience who wants to build and operate services at fleet scale and take strong ownership of what they ship.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and operate scalable backend services and APIs for vehicle connectivity, device commands, telemetry, and firmware delivery
• Build and scale the systems powering Robotaxi ride-hailing and fleet orchestration, and Optimus
• Contribute to authentication and the developer platform (developer.tesla.com)
• Own the systems you build end to end, from design through production and on-call
• Partner with Product, SRE, and Infrastructure to deliver on the roadmap

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 3+ years building and operating production distributed systems
• Strong Go experience, or deep experience in another systems language and ready to learn
• Track record of end-to-end system ownership and sound judgment about technology tradeoffs
• Experience with Kubernetes, Kafka, Redis, or similar infrastructure
• Web security fundamentals
• Bias for action: you see a problem, understand the context, and fix it
• Preference for consistency: shared patterns, tooling, and deployment across services

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$172,000 - $312,000/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.