AI Engineer, Embodied Intelligence, Optimus

Tesla•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

Tesla is building robust embodied intelligence through autonomous driving and humanoid robots. Core to reaching this goal is developing intelligent agents that see, move, and speak in the real world. In this role, you’ll architect and deploy models that allow our agents to listen, understand, and respond in real time powered by our custom AI chip on our embodied products. Your work will be central to making Optimus or our cars as seamless as talking to a friend. Most importantly, you will see your work repeatedly shipped to and utilized by thousands of Humanoid Robots in real world applications and millions of cars.

Requirements

Strong software engineering practices and is very comfortable with Python and Numpy programming, debugging/profiling, and version control
Experience with speech-related machine learning tasks: ASR, emotion detection, speaker diarization, or multimodal input processing
Experience training and fine-tuning large-scale speech models, LLMs, or VLMs
Familiarity with real-time audio processing and latency-constrained systems

Responsibilities

Define long-term architectural vision and key milestones for speech-powered, expressive character systems
Design and develop low-latency, streaming-friendly neural models that integrate audio, language, and non-verbal cues
Implement multimodal models for robust speech-to-speech, emotion recognition, and expressive response generation
Drive the character-building lifecycle from research prototypes to polished, production-grade experience
Test your models E2E on robotic platforms

Benefits

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