Staff Software Engineer, Generative AI

What to Expect As a Software Engineer on the Bottlerocket team, you will drive the technical vision and architecture for Tesla's internal Generative AI platform. You will lead the design, optimization, and scaling of LLM-powered products and serving infrastructure that empower teams across the entire company.

You will translate cutting-edge LLM capabilities into robust, scalable data products. As a technical expert on the team, you will establish engineering best practices and build secure, optimized AI infrastructure that operates at Tesla's scale. This role is available in Fremont, CA and Palo Alto, CA. What You'll Do

• Define and own the architectural strategy for Tesla's GenAI infrastructure, ensuring unparalleled security, scalability, reliability, and high performance across complex distributed systems
• Architect and build the most critical backend services across the stack, from managing the Tesla inference service and internal chatbots to pioneering an end-to-end evaluation framework for our Agent-as-a-Service platform
• Partner strategically with ML researchers, product leaders, and hardware platform teams to identify organizational bottlenecks, shape the product roadmap, and architect scalable AI solutions from the ground up
• Serve as a technical anchor for the Bottlerocket team. Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, establish rigorous engineering best practices, and raise the bar for code quality and system design
• Drive resource coordination and capacity planning with the cluster hardware team to maintain stringent high availability and performance for high-throughput, on-premise models

• Proven expertise in designing scalable, durable distributed systems
• Strong, production-level knowledge of Python, Go (preferred), and Linux environments
• Deep experience with diverse backend components (SQL/NoSQL databases, caching, message brokers, event streams, monitoring) and modern deployment tools (Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub CI/CD pipelines)
• Experience with Large Language Models, Agent Harnesses, and serving infrastructure. Highly proficient in leveraging AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) to accelerate development and set workflows for the team
• Strong product sense with practical knowledge of front-end development (React) to guide and review end-to-end system architectures
• Proven ability to navigate extreme technical ambiguity, pioneering solutions for novel GenAI challenges where industry standards do not yet exist
• A problem-solving mindset, with strong attention to detail and a true follower of Occam's razor when designing and implementing solutions

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

Expected Compensation $200,000 - $300,000/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. Tesla is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.