Internship, Thermal Controls Engineer, Vehicle Controls (Winter/Spring 2026)
About this internship
Tesla is hiring an Internship, Thermal Controls Engineer, Vehicle Controls for Winter/Spring 2026 in Palo Alto, CA, and the role is on-site. You’ll likely support vehicle thermal controls work that involves heat transfer and thermodynamics across components such as pumps, radiators, and refrigerant systems. Candidates are expected to be pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical, or a related field, with a foundation in dynamic system modeling and control systems analysis.
Qualifications
Required
- Pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical, or related field
- Strong fundamentals of heat-transfer and thermodynamics, devices like pumps, radiators, refrigerant systems, etc.
- Background in dynamic system modeling, linear systems analysis, observers and state-estimation, and first principles design and analysis of control systems
Nice to have
- Comfort applying first-principles reasoning to thermal and fluid systems when evaluating control behavior.
- Exposure to building and interpreting dynamic models to inform control design decisions.
- Familiarity with linear systems concepts such as stability, feedback, and state-space representations.
- Understanding of observers and state-estimation concepts and when they may be useful in a controls context.
- Ability to clearly document assumptions, units, and results when working through thermodynamics and heat-transfer problems.
How to stand out (TUN tip)
Before applying, prepare 2–3 brief examples from coursework or projects that show heat-transfer/thermodynamics work and a separate example that highlights dynamic system modeling or control analysis. In your resume, name the specific thermal devices you’ve analyzed (e.g., pumps, radiators, refrigerant systems) and summarize what you modeled or estimated and what outcome it supported.