Materials Engineer, Metals - Internship (m/w/d)

Overview

This role is based in Berlin and entails full-time commitment spanning six months starting September 2026. The mission of Tesla's Materials Engineering division is to innovate new materials and manufacturing processes to revolutionize Tesla's product offerings. The team collaborates closely with mechanical design engineers and manufacturing experts to select, evaluate, qualify, and design materials such as metals, ceramics, and glass, covering stamped sheet metals, castings, extrusions, welds, electromagnetic metals, and more.

Role Responsibilities

• Design and validate a particle-level simulation model focusing on uniaxial pressing of metallic powders using ANSYS or similar simulation platforms.
• Establish parameters including particle size distributions, material characteristics, and process variables, and confirm accuracy using experimental data.
• Conduct sensitivity analyses on parameters such as temperature, pressure profiles, powder attributes, and die geometry to determine optimal pressing conditions.
• Interpret and clearly communicate simulation outcomes.
• Document methods, develop reusable simulation templates or scripts, and present insights to the engineering team.
• Take ownership of deliverable requirements, fostering autonomy and accountability.

Qualifications and Skills

• Current enrollment in an MSc or advanced BSc program in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or Computational Engineering.
• Academic or practical experience with Finite Element Method (FEM), Discrete Element Method (DEM), computational mechanics, or powder metallurgy.
• Competency with simulation software such as ANSYS, COMSOL, Abaqus, EDEM, LIGGGHTS, or equivalent.
• Programming capabilities in Python, MATLAB, or C++ to support pre-processing and post-processing tasks.
• In-depth understanding of materials’ mechanical, thermal, and physical properties.
• Previous familiarity with powder metallurgy, sintering, or pressing methodologies.
• Experience working in high-performance computing or parallel computing environments.
• Knowledge of coupled multi-physics simulations involving thermal and mechanical phenomena.
• Proactive, self-driven mentality with aptitude for independently tackling complex research challenges.

Additional Information

The working environment is supportive and welcoming; interns enjoy equal standing with all staff, with access to free coffee and modern facilities. There is no expectation to perform menial tasks such as making coffee or handling outdated equipment.