Embedded Software Engineer – Thermal Systems Software

Job Description

Internship, Embedded Software Engineer, Thermal Systems (Fall 2026) | Tesla

The Tone:
This is an internship at Tesla, where the company designs and builds electric vehicles and energy products. This role is crucial for accelerating the delivery and refinement of Tesla-designed thermal systems for all vehicles. Your contributions will directly impact the efficiency of electric vehicles and influence how the world perceives them by managing the temperature of critical powertrain systems and the vehicle cabin interior.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship
• Type: Full-time
• Location: In-person, on-site
• Pay: $42.07–$58.89 hourly
• Team: Embedded Software Engineer on the Thermal Systems Software team
• Mission: Deliver high-quality embedded code that runs on Tesla controllers and production lines to improve vehicle efficiency.
• Tech Stack: C, Python

What You’ll Actually Do
• Develop and debug new and existing behaviors for the coolant, refrigerant, and cabin HVAC systems.
• Drive firmware development in C within a real-time embedded environment to ensure performance, scalability, robustness, and tight integration with hardware.
• Perform hands-on hardware bring-up and enforce component validation to deliver robust and functional code.
• Collaborate across disciplines with electrical, mechanical, and controls engineering teams to produce integrated software-hardware solutions.
• Work with various cross-functional teams to develop comprehensive requirements for new thermal system features, diagnostics, and algorithms.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Student currently pursuing a degree in Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field of study, with a graduation date between December 2026 – December 2027.
• Experience: Working with microcontroller peripherals such as timers, ADC, GPIO, PWM, SPI, UART, LIN, and I2C; hands-on experience with various motor types (brushed, brushless, steppers) and sensor types (analog, digital encoders); familiarity with reading electrical schematics and understanding circuit behavior.
• Skills: Proficiency in C and real-time embedded environments; proficiency in Python; strong software fundamentals including firmware architecture, algorithm development, data structures, code modularity, and maintainability.