Tesla · 2 months ago
AI Engineer, ML Inference Optimization, Autonomy & Robotics
Palo Alto, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Mid, Senior Level
$124K/yr - $420K/yrTesla’s AI team is pushing the frontier of real-world machine learning, building models that reason, predict, and act with human-level physical intelligence. The AI Engineer will work on designing and optimizing advanced models for efficient inference across Tesla’s diverse compute stack, collaborating with hardware engineers and implementing algorithmic optimizations.
AutomotiveElectric VehicleEnergyManufacturingRenewable EnergyTransportation
Responsibilities
Design, train, and deploy large neural networks that run efficiently on heterogeneous hardware (GPU, CPU, Tesla’s in-house AI ASIC)
Develop and integrate quantization, sparsity, pruning, and distillation techniques to improve inference performance
Design inference algorithms that improve inference performance in terms of quantization and latency
Profile and improve latency, throughput, and memory efficiency for large ML models across edge and cloud environments
Collaborate with compiler and hardware engineers to co-design architectures for efficient real-time inference
Design and implement custom GPU kernels (CUDA / OpenCL) to accelerate model operations and post-processing pipelines
Conduct systematic benchmarking, scaling, and validation of inference performance across Tesla platforms
Qualification
Required
Proven experience in scaling and optimizing inference for large ML models, particularly transformers or similar architectures
Familiarity with quantization-aware training, model compression, and distillation for edge and real-time inference
Proficiency with Python and C++ (modern standards 14/17/20) and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX
Strong understanding of computer systems and architecture, with experience deploying ML models on GPUs, TPUs, or NPUs
Hands-on expertise with CUDA programming, low-level performance profiling, and compiler-level optimization (TensorRT, TVM, XLA)
Experience collaborating with compiler/hardware engineers to bridge model and system-level optimization
Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to debug and tune high-performance inference workloads
Benefits
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)
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
Company
Tesla
Tesla is an electric vehicle and clean energy company that provides electric cars, solar, and renewable energy solutions.
Founded in 2003
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Tesla has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (2796)
2024 (2113)
2023 (1304)
2022 (1227)
2021 (1102)
2020 (723)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$20.12BKey Investors
Societe GeneraleEuropean UnionPennDOT
2024-10-05Post Ipo Debt· $783M
2023-09-13Grant· $159.6M
2023-08-15Grant· $0.23M
Leadership Team
Vaibhav Taneja
Chief Financial Officer
Tom Zhu
SVP of Automotive
Recent News
2026-01-12
2026-01-12
2026-01-12
Company data provided by crunchbase