Robotics CAE Engineer, Optimus

Role Overview

The Tesla Robotics Team is focused on creating humanoid bipedal robots called Optimus that undertake monotonous, repetitive, and hazardous tasks typically done by humans. As a CAE Engineer, you will play a pivotal role by directing the design of sensors and structural components via precise Finite Element (FE) models grounded in robust engineering fundamentals. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams — mechanical, electrical, controls, software, and manufacturing — to analyze and enhance designs, question conventional CAE methodologies, and develop more efficient and precise techniques. This position offers a unique opportunity to influence vital design and engineering decisions for an unprecedented humanoid robot.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and evaluate detailed FE models for the Optimus robot, covering everything from individual parts to entire assemblies.
• Perform static, dynamic, structural, and multi-body dynamic (MBD) simulations to assess compliance with essential criteria related to strength, stiffness, durability, and sensing capabilities.
• Develop and optimize simulation workflows that test performance across various operational scenarios, automate routine tasks, generate documentation, and enhance accuracy and repeatability.
• Offer design recommendations to expert engineering teams to facilitate product decisions backed by data.
• Collaborate with Test Engineering to devise and validate experimental setups, align test results with simulation data, and advance predictive modeling techniques.
• Define and uphold modeling standards, methodologies, and best practices relevant to existing and future initiatives.
• Characterize materials and perform advanced modeling of structural and sensing components.
• Plan and conduct comprehensive Design of Experiments (DOEs), using machine learning-driven surrogate models to derive insights that inform critical design choices.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong theoretical and practical knowledge in Engineering Mechanics, Computational Mechanics, Material Science, and Finite Element Analysis.
• Proven capability to lead structural, sensing, thermal, and mechanism design projects through CAE methodologies, from initial concept through to mass production across robotics, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors.
• Expertise in developing detailed FE models at the component, subsystem, and system levels.
• Experience with linear and nonlinear static, dynamic, and modal simulations, plus the creation of multi-physics simulation workflows such as thermal-mechanical and mechanical-electrical coupling.
• Advanced proficiency in material characterization and modeling addressing nonlinear elasticity, viscoelasticity, creep, and strain-rate-sensitive plasticity in a variety of materials including metals, plastics, polymers, and adhesives.
• Familiarity with CAE software, including but not limited to BETA CAE, LS-DYNA, Abaqus, ADAMS, COMSOL, OPTISTRUCT, Design Life, and FE Safe.
• Programming and data analysis skills in MATLAB, Python, or comparable environments.
• Excellent communication abilities, both oral and written in professional English, enabling productive collaboration across multiple teams.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally on a regular basis.