Manufacturing SCADA Engineer, Optimus

Tesla is standing up Optimus manufacturing at Optimus Factory Texas (OFTX) in Austin. This role owns the factory's data path: from the PLC to the operator, from a live machine to a decision.

You will build Ignition SCADA and HMI that people can actually use under pressure, and design the real-time tag, alarm, and historian layer underneath it to stay fast and honest as the line scales. The bar, in order: reliability, performance, ease of use. If those three conflict, reliability wins.

This is an on-site role at OFTX. You will work on the floor with controls, manufacturing engineering, and operations as equipment lands and ramps. It is not a panel-design, robot-programming, or EPLAN role. You make sure the data reported is readily available, easy to understand, and broadcast to the right audiences.

- Design, build, and operate Ignition SCADA and HMI for Optimus manufacturing: line overview, equipment state, alarms, and operator workflows that stay simple when the line is not
- Own the tag architecture end to end — UDTs, naming, scan classes, deadbands, and scaling. Structured, documented, reusable. The next cell should inherit a pattern, not start over
- Set and enforce the HMI design standard: screen hierarchy, navigation, layout grid, color and symbol conventions, and alarm presentation. High-performance HMI principles — color means something, and most of the screen is grey because of it
- Own HMI at both tiers — the local panel at the machine and the plant-level SCADA client. Same state names, same alarm text, same colors, same navigation logic. An operator who walks from the cell to the line view should not have to translate
- Design alarm presentation that operators trust. Rationalize priorities, suppress the noise, and make the display answer “what do I do now” instead of “what happened”. An alarm that fires should mean someone moves
- Build screens that hold up on the floor: readable at distance, usable with gloves, legible under plant lighting, and fast on the panel hardware actually mounted at the station — not on your workstation
- Validate designs with the people who use them. Watch an operator work a screen during a real fault before calling it donem and change the screen rather than the training material
- Build the engineering and management views as well as the operator ones: downtime pareto, OEE, throughput, process traces. Different audience, same discipline
- Strong database design and querying skills across relational, non-relational, and time-series databases. A trend over a year of data should open as fast as a trend over an hour. Keep reads fast, keep writes honest, and do not paper over a bad contract with a view
- Write the queries behind every tag, UDT, screen, dashboard, and report. Named, parameterized, in version control, and reviewed like any other code

- Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, or equivalent experience
- 3-5 years building and supporting industrial software in a manufacturing environment (SCADA, HMI, PLC, or plant data systems)
- Demonstrated PLC programming (Siemens TIA Portal preferred) with structured, maintainable code and clean interfaces to higher-level systems
- Hands-on Ignition, or a comparable industrial SCADA/HMI platform you have actually deployed (WinCC, FactoryTalk, iFIX). Screenshots are not experience
- Production experience in Rust, or a systems language you have shipped (C, C++, or Go) and the discipline to write Rust as the service language. We care that you understand memory, concurrency, and failure
- Strong SQL: schema design, indexing, query performance. Time-series or historian experience is a plus
- Comfort on the shop floor: reading a live PLC, walking a line, talking to operators and technicians
- Able to work under competing deadlines without shipping fragile systems. A smaller reliable surface beats a large one that lies
- Clear written and verbal communication. You will write for operators, controls engineers, and software peers

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)