Electrical Engineering Intern – Automated Test Hardware Validation

Job Description

Internship, Electrical Engineer, Energy Engineering (Fall 2026) | Tesla

The Tone:
This is an internship at Tesla, located in Palo Alto, CA. Tesla is focused on accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy by developing a range of products including electric vehicles, battery storage, and solar solutions. This role is critical in ensuring the quality and reliability of new Energy products by validating their firmware requirements through the design and implementation of automated test hardware.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship, Electrical Engineer, Energy Engineering (Fall 2026)
• Type: Internship
• Location: In-person, Palo Alto, CA
• Pay: $20–$50 hourly
• Team: Energy Firmware organization’s Validation Infrastructure team
• Mission: Validate firmware requirements for all new Energy product components by building custom tools and hardware to automate test execution.
• Tech Stack: Altium, LTspice, Cadence, Python, Matlab, Labview, SPI, UART, I2C, CAN, Catia, Solidworks

What You’ll Actually Do
• Design and develop circuit boards and other electronics for low voltage test systems, managing the process from specification to fabrication.
• Build, bring-up, and debug new circuit boards and electronic components through hands-on work.
• Collaborate with mechanical, firmware, software, and electrical engineers to design robust and complex validation systems for new products.
• Analyze product schematics and design custom circuitry to emulate required physical signals and behaviors for testing.
• Integrate custom test hardware with validation software frameworks to deliver fully automated test systems.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Pursuing a Degree in Electrical Engineering or Mechatronics, or evidence of exceptional skills in related fields, at a student level.
• Experience: Strong electrical engineering fundamentals and circuit design experience, proficiency with basic EE tools and troubleshooting, comfort with common communication protocols (SPI, UART, I2C, CAN), some experience with Altium or similar PCB design software, some experience with circuit simulation tools, and proven record of excellence in hardware design or test infrastructure.
• Skills: Electrical engineering fundamentals, circuit design, troubleshooting with scopes and network analyzers, PCB design software, circuit simulation, debugging with microprocessors and software-controlled electrical devices, Python proficiency.
• Bonus: Experience with Catia or Solidworks, general familiarity with power semiconductors and their gate drive and protection circuitry, embedded programming of DSPs and FPGAs in real-time control applications.