Firmware & Validation Intern – Power Electronics PIL/SIL (m/f/d)

What to Expect
Disclaimer: We offer full-time (40h/week) internships for a minimum of 6 months. Please consider before submitting an application.

At Tesla Engineering Germany in Freiburg, we develop cutting-edge power electronics and firmware for energy storage and vehicle charging systems. Join our team to work at the intersection of control theory, embedded firmware, and hardware-in-the-loop validation.
This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the development of a modern Processor-in-the-Loop (PIL) and Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) validation infrastructure for power electronics controls. You will work closely with the Power Electronics Control firmware team and collaborate with cross-functional teams across Tesla to bring robust, scalable validation tooling to production-grade firmware.

What You’ll Do

• Set up and bring up FPGA-based PIL hardware at the TBF site, following existing PIL infrastructure developed for other Tesla power electronics programs
• Create and maintain a new FPGA project within the Tesla firmware repository, adapting existing PIL boilerplate (digital/analog I/O controllers, user model instantiation) for the target power electronics platform
• Develop and validate averaged models of resonant converters using generalized averaging techniques to enable faster-than-real-time SIL simulation of feedforward control algorithms
• Integrate feedforward control algorithms into the SIL test chain and validate their behavior against HIL and real hardware results
• Write and maintain embedded firmware in C targeting real-time control applications on an FPGA-based platform running Embedded Linux
• Collaborate with the validation team to define test cases and automate regression testing using Tesla's internal PIL framework
• Document hardware setup, firmware architecture, and test results on Confluence

What You’ll Bring

• At least 6 months of availability for a mandatory or voluntary internship
• Bachelor's or higher degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, or a related field
• Solid understanding of control systems theory, including averaged modeling of resonant power converters
• Hands-on experience with embedded firmware development in C for real-time systems
• Familiarity with FPGA development (VHDL/Verilog or MATLAB HDL Coder) is a strong plus
• Experience with MATLAB/Simulink for modeling and simulation of power electronic systems
• Basic knowledge of SIL/PIL/HIL validation methodologies
• Familiarity with Git and working in large firmware repositories
• Strong analytical mindset and ability to work independently in a cross-functional, international team