Process Engineer Laser

What To Expect
Tesla is seeking a self-motivated Process Engineer to ensure continuous production quality and enable world-class manufacturing of Tesla's cutting-edge battery packs.

The Battery Pack provides energy storage for every Tesla vehicle. This is an exciting opportunity to develop world-class process standards for Tesla's next-generation battery packs. Tesla is a demanding and fast-paced environment where you will work on a critical subsystem in world-changing products.

The Battery Process Engineer will also work with cross-functional teams to aggressively ramp newly launched products to full-scale production and beyond. The Battery Process Engineer's primary responsibilities are: Eliminate waste in the manufacturing system, identify trends and signals in process data, create game plans and maintenance work orders in response to these trends, and drive long-term line improvements to yield cycle time, and process capability.

What You'll Do- Drive commissioning and ramp of manufacturing equipment, including laser welding systems, in custom high-speed automated manufacturing equipment, and qualify them using statistically valid data sets and workflows.
- Work collaboratively as the equipment expert to ensure production lines run safely, efficiently, and produce high-quality parts.
- Become the owner/subject matter expert to drive equipment-related process improvements, including detailed troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
- Drive manufacturing ramp by characterizing baseline performance and improving equipment with laser weld systems; ensure manufacturing lines meet OEE goals.
- Review critical process metrics daily for statistical shifts from nominal and develop action plans to address issues.
- Identify and/or develop critical process monitors and metrics for battery module and pack manufacturing to diagnose issues, efficiently identify root causes, and implement both reactive and proactive solutions.
- Guide and develop roadmaps for aggressive improvement to OEE metrics: Yield, Cycle Time, Availability, and Cost. Report metrics to upper management.
- Troubleshoot and recover processes using PLC, HMI, or tool management software, and implement changes or improvements.
- Build training materials, maintenance routines, and related documentation for equipment life cycle management.
- Lead safety and ergonomic improvements to production equipment that meet or exceed regulations and best practices.
- Identify equipment critical spare parts and ensure sufficient coverage to prevent extended downtime.
- Provide direction and mentorship to third-party machine/automation suppliers and internal machine building teams; participate in supplier/internal equipment FAT and SAT.
- Develop and manage FMEA/risk assessments to prioritize equipment improvement projects and ensure effective repair strategies.
- Manage workload with a positive attitude as a team player in a collaborative work environment.
- Drive continuous improvement and support activities for engineering and manufacturing, including 5S, Lean manufacturing activities, material handling improvements, production line configuration, and safety procedures.
What You'll Bring- Degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics, or another Engineering discipline (or equivalent experience) with 3 to 5 years of relevant experience in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
- Experience with equipment using laser welding, materials, and vision systems, with strong hands-on experience in pilot and high-volume manufacturing, including hardware and software selection.
- Demonstrated experience in ramping high-volume, automated, and semi-automated manufacturing lines, with creative capacity for developing new, faster, and cost-effective production methods.
- Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals and the ability to apply them toward manufacturing process development.
- Ability to derive data-supported root causes and propose strong countermeasures using statistical tools (e.g., Minitab) and SQL for data extraction.
- Structured thinking and exceptional problem-solving skills, proven through root cause analysis and process improvement projects.
- 3D CAD design experience (SolidWorks, CATIA, AutoCAD) for production equipment, including creating/validating layouts, tooling drawings, pneumatic, and electrical schematics.
- Hands-on experience with mechanical/electrical work on production lines and capability to maintain process and equipment documentation (e.g., spare parts lists, PM plans, control plans, PFMEAs).
- Familiarity with manufacturing systems like Ignition Automation, two-part adhesives, fastener rundown traces (Atlas-Copco), and vision inspection systems (e.g., Keyence 2D image inspection and profilometry).
- Fanuc robot programming (nice to have).
- Availability for domestic and international travel as required.
- Passion for making high-quality products with a continuous improvement mindset and a capacity for managing simultaneous activities and competing priorities.
- Knowledge and understanding of battery module technology (a plus).
, Tesla