Consider before submitting an application
This position is expected to start May 2026 and continue through summer term ending approximately August 2026 or later if available. We ask for a minimum of 12 weeks full-time 40 hours/week and on-site for most internships. Our internship program is for students who are actively enrolled in an academic program. Recent graduates seeking employment after graduation and not returning to school should apply for full-time positions not internships.
International Students
If your work authorization is through CPT, please consult your school on your ability to work 40 hours per week before applying. You must be able to work 40 hours per week on-site. Many students will be limited to part-time during the academic year.
The Performance Optimization team takes research models and makes them run efficiently on Teslas AI-ASICs powering Autopilot and Optimus. This role sits at the intersection of AI research compiler development kernel optimization and hardware design. Youll collaborate with AI researchers on novel quantization techniques precision improvements and non-standard architectures. Youll develop optimized kernels using our MLIR-based compiler stack to achieve real-time latency for self-driving and humanoid robots. Youll work directly with hardware teams to shape our next-generation AI and Dojo chips.
Implement, optimize, and profile highly performant kernels for inference and training on Teslas AI and Dojo ASICs.
Work on a variety of edge and datacenter workloads from small encoders/decoders to distributed LLM inference.
Work with hardware teams to shape the next generation of Tesla hardware, evaluating architectural tradeoffs and balancing performance with versatility.
Research and implement state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to achieve high performance on our hardware.
Collaborate with the compiler team on programmability and performance.
Pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computer Engineering, or relevant field of study with a graduation date between December 2026 - August 2027.
Hands-on experience with kernel optimization, distributed systems, inference runtimes, or serving frameworks.
Experience with LLMs, transformers, state space models, diffusion models, CNNs, and their performance characteristics.
Familiarity with performance modeling and roofline analysis.
Understanding of computer and GPU architecture, SIMD, multithreading, and/or other accelerators with vectorized instructions.
Strong analytical and debugging skills.
Ability to work across team boundaries with compiler, hardware, and ML teams.
Bonus contributions to ML serving frameworks, compilers, and frameworks (e.g., SGLang, LLVM, PyTorch, MLIR).
Benefits
As a full-time Tesla Intern, you will be eligible for:
Expected Compensation
$100,000.00 - $150,000.00
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.