Firmware & Validation Intern – Power Electronics PIL/SIL (m/f/d) - #998908

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

, Tesla