Process Engineer, Drive Unit/Battery Pack (m/f/d) - Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg

Process Engineer, Drive Unit/Battery Pack (m/f/d) - Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg

Join Tesla as a self‑motivated Process Engineer to ensure continuous production quality and enable world‑class manufacturing of Tesla’s cutting‑edge battery packs.

Tesla is seeking a self‑motivated Process Engineer to ensure continuous production quality and enable world‑class manufacturing of Tesla’s cutting‑edge battery packs. The Battery Pack provides energy storage for every Tesla vehicle. This is an exciting opportunity to develop world‑class process standards for Tesla’s next‑generation battery packs. Tesla is a demanding and fast‑paced environment where you will work on a critical subsystem in world‑changing products.

The Battery Process Engineer will also work with cross‑functional teams to aggressively ramp newly launched products to full‑scale production and beyond. The Battery Process Engineer’s primary responsibilities are: eliminate waste in the manufacturing system, identify trends and signals in process data, create game plans and maintenance work orders in response to these trends, and drive long‑term line improvements to yield, cycle time, and process capability.

Responsibilities

• Drive commissioning and ramp of manufacturing equipment systems, in custom high‑speed automated manufacturing equipment, and qualify them using statistically valid data sets and workflows.
• Work collaboratively as the equipment expert to ensure production lines run safely, efficiently, and produce high‑quality parts.
• Become the owner/subject matter expert to drive equipment‑related process improvements, including detailed troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
• Drive manufacturing ramp by characterizing baseline performance and improving equipment with laser weld systems; ensure manufacturing lines meet OEE goals.
• Review critical process metrics daily for statistical shifts from nominal and develop action plans to address issues.
• Identify and/or develop critical process monitors and metrics for battery module and pack manufacturing to diagnose issues, efficiently identify root causes, and implement both reactive and proactive solutions.
• Guide and develop roadmaps for aggressive improvement to OEE metrics: Yield, Cycle Time, Availability, and Cost. Report metrics to upper management.
• Troubleshoot and recover processes using PLC, HMI, or tool management software, and implement changes or improvements.
• Build training materials, maintenance routines, and related documentation for equipment life cycle management.
• Lead safety and ergonomic improvements to production equipment that meet or exceed regulations and best practices.
• Identify equipment critical spare parts and ensure sufficient coverage to prevent extended downtime.
• Provide direction and mentorship to third‑party machine/automation suppliers and internal machine building teams; participate in supplier/internal equipment FAT and SAT.
• Develop and manage FMEA/risk assessments to prioritize equipment improvement projects and ensure effective repair strategies.
• Manage workload with a positive attitude as a team player in a collaborative work environment.
• Drive continuous improvement and support activities for engineering and manufacturing, including 5S, Lean manufacturing activities, material handling improvements, production line configuration, and safety procedures.

Qualifications

• Degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics, or another Engineering discipline (or equivalent experience) with 3 to 5 years of relevant experience in a high‑volume manufacturing environment.
• Experience with equipment using vision systems, with strong hands‑on experience in pilot and high‑volume manufacturing, including hardware and software selection.
• Demonstrated experience in ramping high‑volume, automated, and semi‑automated manufacturing lines, with creative capacity for developing new, faster, and cost‑effective production methods.
• Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals and the ability to apply them toward manufacturing process development.
• Ability to derive data‑supported root causes and propose strong countermeasures using statistical tools (e.g., Minitab) and SQL for data extraction.
• Structured thinking and exceptional problem‑solving skills, proven through root cause analysis and process improvement projects.
• 3D CAD design experience (SolidWorks, CATIA, AutoCAD) for production equipment, including creating/validating layouts, tooling drawings, pneumatic, and electrical schematics.
• Hands‑on experience with mechanical/electrical work on production lines and capability to maintain process and equipment documentation (e.g., spare parts lists, PM plans, control plans, PFMEAs).
• Familiarity with manufacturing systems like Ignition Automation, two‑part adhesives, fastener rundown traces (Atlas‑Copco), and vision inspection systems (e.g., Keyence 2D image inspection and profilometry).
• Fanuc robot programming (nice to have).
• Availability for domestic and international travel as required.
• Passion for making high‑quality products with a continuous improvement mindset and a capacity for managing simultaneous activities and competing priorities.
• Knowledge and understanding of battery module technology (a plus).