Production Engineer, Cell Materials & Manufacturing

What To Expect
Tesla’s Materials Engineering group is looking for a highly motivated Production Engineer to work on a critical challenge facing the world’s energy transition – Battery Cathode materials. This includes the development and scale-up of novel, high-energy, low-cost cathode materials and the development of first-of-a-kind processes that shorten the path from mine to battery cell. This is possibly the most critical chemical engineering challenge of our time, and success will unlock a diversified green energy ecosystem.
As a production engineer, you will study our novel manufacturing processes, assisting with their development at pilot scale, and eventually be the first on-the-ground, technical point of contact for the understanding of how to scale and sustain cathode production at our first manufacturing plant in Austin. As the manufacturing facility is being commissioned you will be responsible for transferring all gathered process knowledge to the operations team as we ramp up production. You will support commissioning and aid the team by troubleshooting product quality issues as optimum process conditions are discovered.
What You’ll Do

• Track and analyze root cause for process upsets, equipment failures, near misses and safety incidents to eliminate repeat failures and capture and communicate learnings in team training
• Support operations teams with achieving production and material quality targets on pilot and commercial scale systems.
• Develop operating procedures, safety protocols, and maintenance plans for large scale chemical process equipment.
• Initiate, develop, and lead the implementation of process improvement projects
• Planning and coordinating operations of various unit operations, ensuring consistent flow while minimizing quality variability
• Train, coach, develop, manage operator staff to ensure fidelity to standards developed by process engineers and encourage individual ownership towards reaching overall team goals
• Create sustainable data acquisition systems and monitor to present relevant high quality data visualization for team to accelerate development
• Collaborate with R&D teams to develop/refine tests for the materials that provide early indications of product quality
• Provide technical support to production teams on processing activities in a novel chemical plant

What You’ll Bring

• Experience with process monitoring, statistical process control, process dashboards and their use in improving the precision and rigor of chemical processing
• 2-3 years experience in chemical production environments, with demonstrated experience supporting production teams in root cause analysis and troubleshooting of production processes.
• Experience with some or all of the following industries and production environments:
• High temperature thermal processing/calcining systems
• Evidence of exceptional ability, including a strong understanding of engineering fundamentals and demonstrated ability to leverage this understanding to solve challenging technical problems.
• Bulk solids handling and powder processing systems, including powder blending, powder/spray coatings, crushing/milling, mechanical sorting/sieving/separation
• Washing, leaching, filtration, mechanical/thermal purification, precipitation, and crystallization processes
• Experience working with/developing process control narratives, and working closely with controls engineers to design and implement control systems to ensure safe and efficient operation of complex chemical process systems.
• High Purity production facilities (specialty chemicals, semiconductor, food, pharmaceuticals)
• Bachelors (or higher) degree in Chemical/Process Engineering, materials engineering, industrial engineering or similar

Benefits
Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits at day 1 of hire:

Aetna PPO and HSA plans > 2 medical plan options with $0 payroll deduction

Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits

Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution

Company Paid (Health Savings Account) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible Aetna medical plan with HSA

Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

LGBTQ+ care concierge services

401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits

Company paid Basic Life, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions), and Paid Holidays

Back-up childcare and parenting support resources

Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance

Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs

Tesla Babies program

Commuter benefits

Employee discounts and perks program

Expected Compensation
$76,000 - $240,000/annual salary + cash and stock awards + benefits
Pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.
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