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Tesla Perception Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Chef Robotics

Senior Perception Engineer

San Francisco, CA

$123K - $169K/yr

... Tesla, and Amazon Robotics, Chef is rapidly scaling with multiple multi-year contracts and a ... As a Perception Engineer, you will own the full stack of how our robots see and understand the ...

Chef Robotics

Senior Perception Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$170K - $240K/yr

... Tesla, and Amazon Robotics, Chef is rapidly scaling with multiple multi-year contracts and a ... As a Perception Engineer, you will own the full stack of how our robots see and understand the ...

The Bot Company

3D Vision

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$200K - $350K/yr

Our team comes from Tesla, Cruise, OpenAI, Google, Pixar, and many other great companies. In the ... What You'll Do * Design and build end-to-end 3D perception systems for real-world robotic ...

NOVARES

Operator - 3rd Shift (11pm-7am)

Grand Rapids, MI

$15.75 - $19/hr

... like Ford, BMW, Tesla, and Stellantis. We specialize in multi-functional parts using complex ... perception capability * Ability to take direction from others, communication skills to work ...

Chef Robotics

Staff Autonomy Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$160K - $240K/yr

... Tesla, and Amazon Robotics, Chef is rapidly scaling with multiple multi-year contracts and a ... Own the end-to-end architecture and hands-on development of Chef's autonomy stack - perception ...

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All JobsTesla Perception Jobs

Tesla Perception information

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$26K

$52.1K

$78.5K

How much do tesla perception jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 24, 2026, the average yearly pay for tesla perception in the United States is $52,105.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $40,000.00 and $60,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

Is it difficult to get hired at Tesla?

Getting hired at Tesla can be competitive due to high application volumes and the company's emphasis on technical skills, relevant experience, and a strong work ethic. Candidates often undergo multiple interview rounds, including technical assessments and behavioral interviews, to demonstrate their qualifications for roles such as engineering, manufacturing, or software development.

Does Tesla hire people with no experience?

Tesla hires individuals with varying levels of experience, including those new to the industry. Entry-level positions may require basic skills or training, and some roles offer on-the-job training for candidates without prior experience.

Why are employees leaving Tesla?

Employees leaving Tesla often cite factors such as demanding work schedules, high performance expectations, and workplace stress. Turnover can also be influenced by job satisfaction, compensation, and opportunities for advancement within the company. The company emphasizes innovation and fast-paced environments, which can impact employee retention.

What is the difference between Tesla Perception vs Tesla Perception Engineer?

AspectTesla PerceptionTesla Perception Engineer
Required CredentialsTypically requires a bachelor's or master's in computer science, electrical engineering, or related fieldsRequires similar degrees, often with additional experience in perception algorithms and software development
Work EnvironmentInvolves data annotation, testing perception systems, and collaborating with engineering teamsFocuses on designing, developing, and optimizing perception algorithms and systems
Industry UsageUsed across Tesla's autonomous vehicle projects for data labeling and validationApplied in developing perception models for Tesla's self-driving features

In summary, Tesla Perception roles often involve data annotation and validation tasks, while Tesla Perception Engineers focus on creating and refining perception algorithms. Both roles are essential in Tesla's autonomous vehicle development but differ in responsibilities and technical depth.

What is the highest paying job at Tesla?

The highest paying job at Tesla is typically executive roles such as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Chief Financial Officer (CFO), which can offer compensation packages including high base salaries, stock options, and bonuses. Senior engineering and specialized technical roles, like Lead Battery Engineer or Autopilot Software Director, can also command high salaries depending on experience and responsibilities.
Infographic showing various Tesla Perception job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 15% As Needed, 39% Full Time, 23% Contract, and 23% Nights. Highlights an 93% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 5% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $52,105 per year, or $25.1 per hour.
Senior Perception Engineer

Senior Perception Engineer

Chef Robotics

San Francisco, CA

$123K - $169K/yr

Full-time

Posted 13 days ago

Job description

Chef Robotics is accelerating the deployment of intelligent machines in the physical world, starting with food production — the sector facing the largest labor shortage in the U.S., with 1.14M unfilled jobs today and 3.1M projected by 2030. These roles can't be offshored, making robotics essential to keeping production onshore and strengthening America's manufacturing base.

Our AI-powered robots automate food prep and assembly in commercial kitchens and food manufacturing, and have already produced over 110 million meals in production — generating the world's largest proprietary dataset for deformable food manipulation. Backed by investors including Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg Beta, and Promus Ventures, and built by a team from Cruise, Zoox, Google, Tesla, and Amazon Robotics, Chef is rapidly scaling with multiple multi-year contracts and a mission to put an intelligent robot in every commercial kitchen.


About the Role

Chef Robotics is building autonomous robots that work alongside humans in commercial food preparation environments — and perception is at the heart of what makes them reliable. As a Perception Engineer, you will own the full stack of how our robots see and understand the world: from integrating cutting-edge camera hardware, to training production-grade deep learning models, to ensuring those models perform accurately and efficiently in real-time on the factory floor.
 
You will work on some of the most technically rich problems in applied robotics — dense instance segmentation of deformable food items, real-time inference under tight latency constraints, sensor fusion, and robust tracking in cluttered, dynamic environments. You will not just train models; you will design the pipelines that gather and curate data, define the architectures that balance accuracy and speed, and own the deployment and field troubleshooting of what you build.
 
We are a small, high-ownership team. We work onsite five days a week and move with startup urgency — you will be expected to go deep technically while staying pragmatic about what ships.
In this role, you will:
  • Design, train, and optimize deep learning models for detection, segmentation, segmentation, pose estimation, and classification — with a focus on real-world robustness over benchmark performance.
  • Build low-latency inference pipelines that approach real-time performance; profile and optimize models for deployment on embedded and edge hardware.
  • Develop and improve multi-object tracking algorithms for reliable identification and motion prediction of items across frames.
  • Solve challenging perception problems specific to food robotics: deformable objects, occlusions, varying lighting, and high visual similarity between categories.
  • Own the end-to-end ML lifecycle: data collection strategy, annotation tooling, dataset curation, augmentation pipelines, model training, evaluation, deployment, and field debugging.
  • Develop tooling to monitor model performance in production and drive continuous improvement cycles.
  • Partner closely with robotics, hardware, and software engineers to translate perception capabilities into reliable end-to-end robot behaviors.
  • Help define the perception roadmap and influence technical direction as the team grows.
  • Assist in integrating new cameras and sensors for enhanced robotic vision.
What You Bring:
  • BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field.
  • 5+ years of combined research and industry experience in computer vision and machine learning, with a track record of shipping perception systems to production.
  • Deep expertise in at least two of: instance/semantic segmentation, object detection, 3D perception, or multi-object tracking.
  • Strong Python skills; experience building production-quality, maintainable code — not just research prototypes.
  • Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch strongly preferred) and the full training pipeline from data to deployed model.
  • Experience working with RGBD sensors, depth cameras, and point cloud data.
  • Proven ability to build and optimize models for low-latency, real-time inference.
  • Familiarity with ROS or similar robotics middleware.
Nice-to-have:
  • Experience using simulation environments (e.g. Isaac Sim, Gazebo) for synthetic data generation, domain randomization, and sim-to-real transfer of perception models.
  • C++ proficiency for performance-critical modules and embedded deployment.
  • Experience with cloud ML infrastructure (GCP, AWS) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
  • Background in autonomous vehicles, warehouse robotics, or other perception-heavy robotics applications.
  • Contributions to open-source CV/ML projects or publications in top-tier venues (CVPR, ECCV, NeurIPS, etc.).
Chef is an early-stage startup where equity is a major part of the compensation package. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
 
In addition to salary and early-stage equity, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, commuter benefits, flexible paid time off (PTO), catered lunch, and 401(k) matching.

Chef Robotics is solving one of the hardest problems in AI and robotics — and we ship. Our robots are in production today, generating real data that trains the next generation of food AI. Backed by Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg Beta, and Promus Ventures, and built by a team from Cruise, Zoox, Google, Tesla, and Amazon Robotics, we're scaling fast with multiple multi-year enterprise contracts. If you want to build physical AI with real-world deployments and real impact, Chef is the place.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.