Sr. Technical Program Manager, Packaging

What to Expect

This role is built for someone who enjoys creative problem-solving, continuous improvement, and engineering design at the intersection of multiple functions. You will partner with packaging engineers to diagnose issues, develop scalable, practical solutions, and implement changes that protect the product, integrate with automated material flow and manufacturing lines, and deliver financially viable savings.

You will collaborate with supply chain, design, planning, manufacturing, and material flow stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and execute packaging projects, turning factory issues and cost opportunities into a clear backlog. Success requires a manufacturing mindset, structured problem-solving, strong drive for continuous improvement, and strategic thinking—connecting technical design decisions to schedule, risk, and measurable savings, and high-level objectives to granular deliverables.

What You’ll Do

• Own the sustaining packaging backlog and cost-down pipeline: intake requests, define the problem, prioritize by cost, quality, line impact, and material-flow disruption, and assign work to the right packaging engineers
• Lead creative problem solving with packaging engineers—from root cause through concept, design trade-offs, validation, and implementation on the line
• Drive cost-down projects that reduce packaging and supply-chain cost without compromising product protection, manufacturability, or operational feasibility
• Manage schedule, risks, and bottlenecks to close sustaining issues and cost projects on time, and hold owners accountable to milestones
• Partner with manufacturing, production, material flow, operations, and quality to understand real factory constraints and help design solutions that work in production
• Ensure project tracking compliance in JIRA and report status, risks, and savings to management and factory leadership; identify data and process gaps; support leadership with dashboards, KPIs, and adhoc analyses on cost, quality, and cycle time
• Drive continuous improvement of packaging workflows, problem-solving methods, and program tools; publish periodic and ad-hoc updates on sustaining actions, cost-down plans, and results to factory leadership

What You’ll Bring

• Degree in Industrial Engineering, Packaging Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, Engineering Management, or equivalent experience and evidence of exceptional ability
• Strong interest in creative problem solving and engineering design, and comfort going deep on technical trade-offs with engineers
• Structured, data-driven, and quantitative problem-solving approach; experience with root-cause methods such as 8D, A3, or similar is a plus
• Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent work streams with competing priorities, set expectations, manage deadlines and hold individuals and teams accountable to critical milestones
• Working knowledge of manufacturing, material flow, supply chain, purchasing, and factory operations. Working knowledge of packaging design and manufacturing is a plus but not required
• Ability to drive cross-functional discussions and convert problems into clear actions; proven track record of complex cross functional problem solving is a plus; ability to drive strategic discussions and convert strategy to action
• Experience or exposure to quality in automotive or other high-volume manufacturing is preferred

Compensation and Benefits

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits at day 1 of hire:

• Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
• Company Paid (Health Savings Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
• Company paid Basic Life, AD&D
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly positions), and Paid Holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
• Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs
• Tesla Babies program
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program