Materials Engineer Internship

Job Description

Time Type: Full Time

Duration: 6 months

Start Date: September 2026

The purpose of the Tesla Materials Engineering organization is the Global Mission to deliver new materials and manufacturing processes that revolutionize Tesla's products. We select, quantify, standardize, qualify, and design new materials. We work with mechanical design engineers, manufacturing, and process to deliver the right material solution for any metal, ceramic or glass that is used in our products. Products range from stamped sheet metal, castings, extrusions, welds, electrical connections, electromagnetic metals, and many more. We are seeking engineers eager to apply fundamental materials science to atomistic problems up to hands on the manufacturing. 

As part of our Materials Engineering team, you will develop a particle-level simulation model for compaction of metallic powders. The goal is to predict density distribution, compaction behavior, and process parameter sensitivity — enabling data-driven process optimization that reduces development cycles and prototype costs. 

You, as an intern, don't have to make the coffee here, it comes out of the machine (for free) and copiers are as rare as phone booths on the street, what you will find here is a lot of experience, new stuff, and fun. You are here on an equal footing with all employees.

Job Responsibilities

• Build and validate a simulation model for uniaxial pressing of metallic powders using ANSYS or comparable tools
• Define particle size distributions, material properties, and process parameters; validate against experimental data
• Perform parameter sensitivity studies (pressing temperature, pressure profiles, powder characteristics, die geometry) and identify optimal pressing conditions
• Analyze and effectively present simulation results
• Document methodology, deliver reusable simulation templates/scripts, and present findings to the engineering team 
• Establish requirements for deliverables you own (autonomy is expected and respected)
  

Job Requirements

• Enrolled in MSc or advanced BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or Computational Engineering
• Coursework or hands-on experience in at least one of: FEM, DEM, computational mechanics, or powder metallurgy
• Proficiency in simulation software (ANSYS, COMSOL, Abaqus, EDEM, LIGGGHTS, or similar)
• Programming skills (Python, MATLAB, or C++) for pre/post-processing and scripting
• Strong fundamental understanding of mechanical, thermal, and physical properties of materials
• Prior exposure to powder metallurgy, sintering, or pressing processes
• Experience with HPC / parallel computing environments
• Knowledge of coupled multi-physics simulation (thermal-mechanical)
• Self-motivated, comfortable working independently on open-ended research problems