Post Silicon Validation Engineer, SI Hardware

The Tesla SI Hardware team is at the forefront of revolutionizing artificial intelligence through cutting-edge hardware innovation. Comprising brilliant engineers and visionaries, the team designs and develops advanced SI inference chips tailored to accelerate Tesla’s machine learning capabilities. A key part of this effort is Dojo, Tesla's custom supercomputer system built to efficiently train massive neural networks on vast video data from the fleet. The work of Tesla's SI Hardware team powers the neural networks behind Full Self-Driving (FSD), and Tesla humanoid robot, Optimus, pushing the boundaries of computational efficiency and performance. By creating custom silicon and optimized architectures, the team ensures Tesla remains a leader in SI-driven automotive and energy solutions, shaping a future where intelligent machines enhance human life.

The role will focus on developing post-silicon validation plans, tools, and infrastructure for Tesla’s custom SoCs and platform designs. As a Post-Silicon Validation Engineer, the candidate will take on challenges like validating the neural-network inference and vision compute pipeline, performing system level power characterization, and troubleshooting complex hardware bugs and field returns. The candidate will regularly take part in hardware design and schematics review, firmware development, and building automated test infrastructures for running large volume of post-silicon system level tests. The role also extends into pre-silicon validation on hardware emulation platforms and into developing production test content for system level test (SLT).

Create and execute synthetic workloads that stress the various functional blocks inside the silicon platforms, such as the inference compute pipeline, vision/camera interface, fabric, and memory subsystem  Analyze how machine learning workloads execute on the inference compute pipeline, identifying bottlenecks and gaps to improve test coverage  Bring up and characterize Autopilot Custom Silicon and PCBA, with a focus on the neural-network inference compute pipeline  Develop and run validation content on hardware emulation platforms ahead of tapeout  Review RTL and microarchitecture with the design team, raising issues and feedback before tapeout  Collaborate with diverse teams — hardware design, system/microarchitecture, ML model design, compiler engineering, and firmware — on schematic reviews, co-design decisions, and automated test infrastructure  Write test plans, develop test cases, and catch design bugs before production, assisting in root-causing and fixing issues as they’re found  Contribute to code reviews for test infrastructure and automation to maintain code quality and reliability  Develop production test content for system level test (SLT), partnering with SLT and ATE engineers  Characterize and improve power and performance consumption at a system level

Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience Deep knowledge of computer architecture Ability to read RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog) well enough to review designs and raise issues Microcontroller & Embedded Systems Programming Experience in C/C++ Python and bash scripting Familiarity with git and version control systems Design, verification or validation disciplines, system/platform level debug and root cause isolation, methodology and tools Experience with Test Automation Framework Development Familiarity with neural network / ML inference concepts — including LLM and transformer architectures, training, and inference optimization — and awareness of broader trends in ML workloads and simulation methodologies, useful for keeping test coverage relevant as silicon and workloads evolve

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

- Medical plans > 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 Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible 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 (90 day waiting period)
- Employee Assistance Program
- Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly 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
- Earned Wage Access: Real-time pay access paid daily, subject to eligibility and schedule (applicable for below Sr. Managers levels)
Expected Compensation $128,000 - $354,000/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.