Process Design Engineer, Recycling & Battery Materials

Join the onsite Materials Engineering team in Hutto, Texas, to help design and deploy breakthrough chemical production processes for battery recycling. This role offers hands-on piloting experience, end-to-end project ownership from concept to handover, and collaboration with R&D, suppliers, and operations to turn innovative ideas into scalable, real-world solutions. Tesla emphasizes practical impact, cross-functional teamwork, and opportunities for growth within a fast-moving energy storage ecosystem.

Benefits

• Medical plans with $0 payroll deduction
• Dental and vision plans with $0 paycheck contribution, including orthodontic coverage
• Company-paid Health Savings Account contributions
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• 401(k) with employer match
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Company-paid basic life and AD&D insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90-day waiting period)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick and vacation time, flexible time for salaried roles, accrued hours for hourly roles, paid holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Critical illness insurance
• Hospital indemnity insurance
• Accident insurance
• Theft and legal services
• Pet insurance
• Weight loss and tobacco cessation programs
• Tesla Babies program
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits

Responsibilities

• Operate pilot plants to validate processes and concepts
• Oversee and deploy demonstration-scale facilities through the full project lifecycle from concept to operation
• Support commercial scale design efforts
• Develop operating procedures, safety protocols, and maintenance plans for large-scale chemical equipment
• Support operations teams in achieving productivity and material quality targets on pilot and commercial systems
• Interface with equipment suppliers through concept development, system design, detailed design, procurement, installation, and acceptance testing
• Collaborate with the battery materials R&D team to introduce novel materials and new process methods at commercial scale
• Assess problem statements, brainstorm and downselect solutions while maintaining time, quality, and cost targets; gain stakeholder buy-in; design and purchase equipment; create installation instructions; lead commissioning
• Lead design for a major capital scope (> $5MM) with a cross-functional team (P&ID, M&EB, line/equipment sizing, modeling); drive consensus, manage FRQ submissions, and oversee FAT, installation, and commissioning; maintain process flow diagrams, design criteria, stream tables, and P&IDs

Requirements

• Proven ability to apply engineering fundamentals to solve challenging problems
• Degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Ceramics Engineering or related field, or equivalent experience
• Experience with powder handling, hydrometallurgy, or chemical processing
• Knowledge of liquid/gas fluid calculations, heat transfer, thermal equipment (dryers or kilns), powder mixing and conveying, powder loading and dosing, solid-liquid separation equipment, reactors, evaporators, and crystallizers
• 1 to 5 years of process design experience using the listed skills
• Experience participating in engineering projects from concept development to commissioning
• Brownfield project experience in existing plants