Internship, Mechanical Design Engineer, Optimus (fall 2026)

Tesla Tesla · Auto · Palo Alto, CA · Tesla AI

Mechanical Design Engineer Intern focused on designing automated fixtures, calibration equipment, and test equipment for advanced robotics products. Responsibilities include CAD design, tolerance analysis, FEA, DFM reviews, and schematic interpretation.

What you'd actually do

  1. Develop designs in CAD for both detailed parts and master model assemblies
  2. Perform tolerance analysis, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and other simulations and analyses before releasing designs for production
  3. Create 2D drawings appropriate for high-volume production and inspection methods
  4. Conduct Design for Manufacturing (DFM) reviews with suppliers and support tooling bring up
  5. Design automated fixtures and calibration equipment for advanced robotics products
  6. Own the mechanical design of test equipment from concept to deployment
  7. Create, and interpret, electrical and pneumatic schematics

Skills

Required

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Robotics
  • Mechatronics
  • 3D modeling software (CATIA preferred)
  • engineering drawings
  • tolerance stack-up analysis
  • structural optimization
  • FEA
  • hand calculations
  • electrical foundation
  • gearbox design
  • motor design
  • inverter design
  • wire harness design
  • prototyping
  • fabrication
  • machining
  • basic electronics
  • basic coding

Nice to have

  • GD&T
  • MATLAB/Simulink
  • Python
  • SolidWorks
  • Altium
  • Golang
  • test systems
  • production machinery
  • hobbyist electronics
  • pogo-pins
  • industrial sensors
  • PLCs
  • pneumatics
  • Raspberry Pi
  • microcontrollers