Senior Mechanical Design Engineer H-1B salary at Tesla — 139 certified filings (FY2017–FY2026)
- 7
- Filings · FY2025
- $158k
- Median base · FY2025
- $156k–$159k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- +4%
- vs market median · all years
Tesla filed 7 certified H-1B LCAs for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $158k and the middle 50% of offers between $156k and $159k. Across all years its $130k median is 4% above the $125k market median for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer. It has filed 139 Senior Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs since FY2017, most often in Fremont, CA.
How much does Tesla pay a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer?
Certified base salary for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $158k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Tesla pay Senior Mechanical Design Engineers above the market?
Tesla's all-years median against every employer's certified Senior Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs — 4% above the market. Same cleaned DOL title, same base-salary definition, so the two rows compare like for like.
| Base salary for this title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Tesla | 139 | $130k |
| All employers · Senior Mechanical Design Engineer | 280 | $125k |
How has Tesla's Senior Mechanical Design Engineer hiring changed by year?
6 certified Senior Mechanical Design Engineer filings in FY2017 → 1 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 1 | −86% | $148k |
| FY2025 | 7 | 0% | $158k |
| FY2024 | 7 | −74% | $137k |
| FY2023 | 27 | −25% | $138k |
| FY2022 | 36 | −3% | $131k |
| FY2021 | 37 | +429% | $126k |
| FY2020 | 7 | +40% | $120k |
| FY2019 | 5 | −17% | $124k |
| FY2018 | 6 | 0% | $120k |
| FY2017 | 6 | — | $113k |
Which wage levels does Tesla file for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 98% of Tesla's Senior Mechanical Design Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 104 Senior Mechanical Design Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level II1.9%2
- Level III98.1%102
Where does Tesla hire H-1B Senior Mechanical Design Engineers?
Worksite states and cities on the certified filings for this title, all years, with the median base salary at each.
| State | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| California | 123 | $132k |
| Texas | 11 | $122k |
| Nevada | 3 | $117k |
| Illinois | 1 | $109k |
| Minnesota | 1 | $119k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Fremont, CA | 68 | $135k |
| Palo Alto, CA | 40 | $128k |
| Austin, TX | 10 | $121k |
| Hawthorne, CA | 9 | $126k |
| Hayward, CA | 3 | $150k |
| Sparks, NV | 3 | $117k |
| Bastrop, TX | 1 | $158k |
| Brooklyn Park, MN | 1 | $119k |
Also filed as
Tesla's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Senior Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Tesla
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Software Development Engineer | 437 | $140k |
| Mechanical Design Engineer | 354 | $122k |
| Process Engineer | 300 | $103k |
| Manufacturing Engineer | 284 | $114k |
| Senior Software Development Engineer | 274 | $157k |
| Manufacturing Equipment Engineer | 245 | $108k |
| Staff Software Development Engineer | 229 | $197k |
| Software Engineer | 154 | $130k |
| Sr Software Development Engineer | 139 | $183k |
| Sourcing Engineer | 137 | $123k |
Top Senior Mechanical Design Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Universal Lighting Technologies | 6 | $79k |
| Medtronic | 5 | $92k |
| Ler Techforce | 5 | $93k |
| Covidien | 4 | $100k |
| Trane Technologies | 4 | $111k |
| Weg Transformers USA | 4 | $80k |
| Rivian Automotive | 3 | $140k |
| Mavenir Networks | 3 | $126k |
| A Epstein and Sons International | 3 | $86k |
Common questions about Senior Mechanical Design Engineer H-1B pay at Tesla
- How much does Tesla pay a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer on an H-1B?
- Tesla's median certified H-1B base salary for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer is $158k in FY2025, from 7 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $156k and $159k. Across all years the median is $130k.
- How many Senior Mechanical Design Engineer H-1B LCAs has Tesla filed?
- Tesla has 139 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer on record (FY2017–FY2026), 1 of them in FY2026. That is 1% of its 13,893 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Tesla pay Senior Mechanical Design Engineers above the market?
- Tesla's all-years median of $130k is 4% above the $125k median for Senior Mechanical Design Engineer across all H-1B employers (280 certified filings).
- Where does Tesla hire H-1B Senior Mechanical Design Engineers?
- Tesla's Senior Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in California, Texas, Nevada; the top cities are Fremont, CA, Palo Alto, CA, Austin, TX.
- Does a certified LCA mean an H-1B visa was approved?
- No. A Labor Condition Application (LCA) is the Department of Labor attestation an employer must have certified before filing an H-1B petition with USCIS. It records the job, worksite and offered wage, but not whether the petition was filed, selected in the lottery, or approved. Filing counts measure intent to sponsor, not headcount.
- What salary do these figures show?
- The base annual wage offered on the certified LCA, converted to a yearly amount. Bonus, equity, overtime and benefits are not included, so total compensation is typically higher. Figures are medians and percentiles over certified filings; wages above $5,000,000 a year are excluded as data-entry errors.
- What do prevailing-wage levels I–IV mean?
- The Department of Labor assigns each LCA an OES wage level from I (entry) to IV (fully competent) for the occupation and area. Under the FY2027 wage-weighted H-1B lottery rule, a higher level earns more selection entries, so an employer's level mix is a proxy for how senior its sponsored roles are.
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification — certified LCA disclosure data through June 2026 (FY2017–FY2026). An LCA is not an approved visa; pay figures are base salary and exclude bonus and equity. Methodology →