AI Engineer, Model Distillation, Tesla AI - Palo Alto [278759]
- Tesla
- Palo Alto, CA
- Aug 30, 2026
Job Description
At Tesla AI, we are solving real-world autonomy at a scale that does not exist anywhere else. We are building the brains for millions of robots and to achieve this, we train frontier-scale foundation models on the world’s richest, most diverse dataset of multimodal telemetry, vision, language, and robotic action. You will have access to unparalleled resources that set us apart from other companies in the AI industry. You will work with one of the richest real-world driving, robotics and human-interaction datasets available, spanning vision, language, action, and on-robot telemetry providing a unique environment to study how capability transfers from large teacher models into compact students that must run under strict latency, power, and reliability constraints. Tesla also offers one of the highest GPU resources per engineer in the industry, giving you the computational budget to train frontier-scale teachers, generate high-quality distillation corpora at volume, and iterate on student architectures far beyond typical research environments.
These resources enable you to run distillation experiments across language, multimodal, and policy models at a fidelity and scale unmatched elsewhere, and to close the loop by deploying distilled models onto FSD / Optimus in the real world.
The Role
- Design and execute state-of-the-art distillation pipelines that transfer complex reasoning, vision-language understanding, and action policies from massive teacher models to ultra-efficient student models for FSD (Full Self-Driving), Optimus, and Digital Optimus
- Develop and iterate on advanced distillation methodologies, including logit-level, sequence-level, and trajectory-level distillation. You will pioneer novel recipes combining synthetic data generation, soft-label training, supervised fine-tuning (SFT), and Reinforcement Learning (RL)
Qualifications
Immediate Fill
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers who wanted to prove that people didn’t need to compromise to drive electric – that electric vehicles can be better, quicker and more fun to drive than gasoline cars. Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.
Launched in 2008, the Roadster unveiled Tesla’s cutting-edge battery technology and electric powertrain. From there, Tesla designed the world’s first ever premium all-electric sedan from the ground up – Model S – which has become the best car in its class in every category. Combining safety, performance, and efficiency, Model S has reset the world’s expectations for the car of the 21st century with the longest range of any electric vehicle, over-the-air software updates that make it better over time, and a record 0-60 mph acceleration time of 2.28 seconds as measured by Motor Trend. In 2015, Tesla expanded its product line with Model X, the safest, quickest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history that holds 5-star safety ratings across every category from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Completing CEO Elon Musk’s “Secret Master Plan,” in 2016, Tesla introduced Model 3, a low-priced, high-volume electric vehicle that began production in 2017. Soon after, Tesla unveiled the safest, most comfortable truck ever – Tesla Semi – which is designed to save owners at least $200,000 over a million miles based on fuel costs alone. In 2019, Tesla unveiled Model Y, a mid-size SUV, with seating for up to seven, and Cybertruck, which will have better utility than a traditional truck and more performance than a sports car.
Tesla vehicles are produced at its factory in Fremont, California, and Gigafactory Shanghai. To achieve our goal of having the safest factories in the world, Tesla is taking a proactive approach to safety, requiring production employees to participate in a multi-day training program before ever setting foot on the factory floor. From there, Tesla continues to provide on-the-job training and track performance daily so that improvements can be made quickly. The result is that Tesla’s safety rate continues to improve while production ramps.
To create an entire sustainable energy ecosystem, Tesla also manufactures a unique set of energy solutions, Powerwall, Powerpack and Solar Roof, enabling homeowners, businesses, and utilities to manage renewable energy generation, storage, and consumption. Supporting Tesla’s automotive and energy products is Gigafactory 1 – a facility designed to significantly reduce battery cell costs. By bringing cell production in-house, Tesla manufactures batteries at the volumes required to meet production goals, while creating thousands of jobs.
And this is just the beginning. With Tesla building its most affordable car yet, Tesla continues to make products accessible and affordable to more and more people, ultimately accelerating the advent of clean transport and clean energy production. Electric cars, batteries, and renewable energy generation and storage already exist independently, but when combined, they become even more powerful – that’s the future we want.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits starting on Day
1 of hire:
• Healthcare Coverage: Medical plans with $0 payroll deduction options, Dental (including orthodontic coverage), Vision
plans ($0 paycheck contribution options), and company-paid Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions.
• Family & Support: Family-building, fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits; back-up childcare; parenting support
resources; and the Tesla Babies program.
• Financial Security: 401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), Flexible Spending Accounts
(Healthcare & Dependent Care FSA), and company-paid Basic Life & AD&D insurance.
• Disability & Assistance: Short-term and long-term disability insurance, and 24/7 confidential Employee Assistance
Program (EAP).
• Time Off: Flexible paid time off for salaried roles / accrued paid hours for hourly roles, plus paid company
holidays.
• Perks & Voluntary Benefits: Critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, legal/identity theft services,
pet insurance, commuter benefits, and employee discounts.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY & AFFIRMATIVE ACTION STATEMENT
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.
Tesla is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If
you need a reasonable accommodation at any point in the interview process, please let your recruiter know.
E-VERIFY PARTICIPATION
Tesla participates in the E-Verify Program in certain locations as required by law to confirm work authorization.