Tesla - Engineering Technician (Palo Alto, CA)

Job Title: Engineering Technician

Job Description

Join our Engineering Test Team as an Engineering Technician, where you will support component level testing from concept through program release, including characterization, reliability, and durability testing. Your primary objective will be to set up, maintain, and conduct component, system, and vehicle level tests following established procedures. Experience in fabrication, system level maintenance, troubleshooting, and testing is essential for success in this role.

Responsibilities

• Design, fabricate, and assemble test fixtures.
• Run tests, including setup, detailed inspections, maintenance, and retrofits.
• Identify root causes and report issues discovered during tests or inspections. Collaborate with engineering teams to resolve mechanical and electrical issues, and provide detailed written and verbal test status updates to key stakeholders.
• Support engineering teams in instrumentation and data acquisition setup and logging.
• Perform general test equipment maintenance.
• Maintain a clean and organized work environment.
• Mentor and support other technicians to help develop the team.

Essential Skills

• Proven experience in building, modifying, and maintaining test setups in an R&D or validation lab.
• Ability to work on multiple test setups in parallel, perform inspections, and keep work unblocked.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills and execution tracking, including attending Design and Test meetings, reporting progress clearly, and raising risks early.
• Discipline around documentation and execution tracking in Jira.
• Mechanical design and fabrication judgment, including drafting concepts and fixtures in CAD for design reviews and rapid prototyping.
• Understanding of GD&T and the ability to sanity-check mechanical drawings.
• Experience in building custom wiring harnesses and sourcing electrical components.
• Debug mindset with the ability to write or modify Python and perform first-level debugging of scripts and test setups.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience with CAD design for fixture drafting.
• Electrical experience for building harnesses and troubleshooting.
• Ability to debug and modify Python scripts to run tests.

Work Environment

The work environment includes a warm lab space, with some office space available for technicians and engineers to collaborate.

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Palo Alto, CA.

The pay range for this position is $35.00 - $35.00/hr.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: • Medical, dental & vision • Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital • 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available • Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) • Short and long-term disability • Health Spending Account (HSA) • Transportation benefits • Employee Assistance Program • Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

This is a fully onsite position in Palo Alto,CA.

This position is anticipated to close on Feb 25, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 30,000 consultants and more than 4,500 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.