# Steve Markus > Mechanical Engineering @ Peak Energy | ex-Tesla Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/stevemarkus ## Work Experience ### Mechanical Engineering @ Peak Energy Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area ### Independent Advsior & Consultant @ Independent Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 Advising early-stage deep tech startups, climate tech startups, and a publicly-traded energy company on everything from company building to commercial and product strategy, fundraising, hiring, and product development ### Investor @ Voyager Ventures Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States • Sourced, led diligence for, and closed competitive early-stage deep tech/climate tech investments for the firm • Generated substantial deal flow with thorough diligence across all climate tech sectors, including energy, hardware, materials, transportation, agriculture, and biotech, in North America and Europe • Built financial models, cap table models, and exit models, and ran competitive landscape analysis, reference calls, and other supporting analyses to inform investment decisions • Provided portfolio company support ranging from hiring and product strategy to budgeting, financial modeling, technical deep dives, and fundraise preparation and support • Collaborated with team to support diligence, technical deep dives, portfolio support, recruiting, and other operations across the firm • Developed extensive network in climate and deep tech to improve quality of deal flow, diligence, and support network • Strengthened the firm’s brand and reputation by participating on panels and judging pitch competitions, and attending conferences, networking events, and Climate Weeks • Started and managed internal thesis development efforts to promote higher quality perspectives and proactive outbound deal flow ### Lead Mechanical Design Engineer & Associate Manager, Residential Energy Products @ Tesla Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | Palo Alto, California, United States • Led product design of new residential energy products with high executive visibility and company impact from concept through prototype phases - Responsible for conceptualizing, designing, and validating innovations that were novel to both Tesla and the industry at large - Optimized supply chain, manufacturing, and cost of wide variety of battery systems and components • Managing a team of mechanical engineers to execute both new programs and sustaining projects on Tesla's AC Charging products (Universal Mobile Connector and Wall Connector) at volumes of over 1 million per year - Sustaining programs ranged from pivots due to supply chain shortage, to cost reductions, to reliability improvements to exceed company reliability targets - Continuous improvement of technical process to improve engineers’ efficiency, effectiveness, and overall happiness and career satisfaction • Actively prioritize direct reports' projects and tasks by weighing organizational goals, technical risk, potential payoffs, and opportunity costs • Mentor direct reports to strengthen both technical and non-technical skills, provide career development, and in the end maximize happiness and satisfaction • Excelled in all facets of role with annual performance review scores of 5/5 in both positively impacting others and technical excellence (considered “top percentile” of Tesla, with executive notification) ### Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Residential Energy Products @ Tesla Jan 2016 – Jan 2021 | Palo Alto, CA • Lead engineer for several new programs from initial concept work through architectural tradeoff and feasibility studies, prototyping, and de-risking highest-risk systems and concepts • Led mechanical design of the Gateway line of products by designing critical components and leading peer engineers through: - Novel design of four next-generation products from conceptual and industrial design through architecture, prototype builds, testing and validation, and production implementation at rates of over 100k/year at Gigafactory 1 - Supervised transition of top-level product assembly from in-house production to a China-based contract manufacturer - Improved metrics of next-generation products by executing cost-downs totaling nearly 50% and improving assembly cycle time by over 400% compared to legacy products - Sustaining engineering of 4 legacy products including quality, manufacturability, and feature enhancements • Designed 33% of the components in Powerwall 2, including injection molded, over-molded, sheet metal, and die-cut parts, for production volumes over 100k/year • Contributed to Model 3 vehicle production through manufacturability improvement projects on battery module manufacturing line • Spearheaded and published high-level process upgrades to improve various phases of the product design process, including prototype build preparation, DFMEA’s, and hardware reliability testing • Led 3 peer engineers, mentored 7 interns (2 of which converted to full time), and presented next-generation products in two Employee All-Hands events ### Graduate Student @ Georgia Institute of Technology Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | Greater Atlanta Area • Focus on product design and development, manufacturing, and materials • Georgia Tech Invention Studio, Prototyping Instructor • 2014-2015 Georgia Tech Motorsports (Formula SAE), Composites Team member • 3.9 GPA ### Mechanical Engineering Intern @ Tesla Motors Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area • Applied mechanical design skills through the development of conceptual charging systems for the Tesla product line, such as a cable-actuated segmented continuum robot (see http://ow.ly/R1khI, also featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!) • Exercised rapid prototyping, design for manufacturing, and design for reliability skills on a wide variety of components involved in the automated charger product development process • Strengthened electrical and controls engineering skills through design and implementation of robotic control algorithms • Designed a linear actuator cycle tester for use in reliability testing, taking into account factors such as material wear and tolerance stack-ups, which is currently in use ### Systems Engineering Intern @ Lockheed Martin Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, FL • Strengthened complex and interdisciplinary problem solving skills through design, simulation, and testing of mechanical and electrical systems for “Next Generation Air Dominance” R&D project development • Designed and simulated laser and LED communication systems for UAV-to-ground operations • Established feasibility of systems through verification of functionality and performance ### Research Assistant @ Robotics and Intelligent Systems Engineering Lab Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Coral Gables, FL • Expanded product design engineering experience through designing and rapid prototyping of robotic vehicle components • Improved electrical engineering skills through research of intelligent unmanned aerial vehicles and their sensor systems ### Student @ University of Miami Jan 2010 – Jan 2014 • President's Honor Roll • Provost's Honor Roll • Dean's List • Major GPA: 3.67 ### Research Intern @ SPAWAR Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 • Designed, prototyped, and tested several systems that were deployed into military theater such as a power source shelter for an autonomous marine surveillance system and a high-performance battery enclosure for stealth watercraft • Developed and optimized several Naval systems according to the unique demands of military theater, such as marine environments and reliability demands • Pioneered several design projects from conception through design, prototyping, verification, and deployment ### Product Specialist @ Tesla Motors Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | Miami Beach, FL • Enhanced communication skills by conducting technical demonstrations on vehicles, educating customers on electric vehicles, and improving overall customer experience ### Research Intern @ Florida State University High Performance Materials Institute Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 • Developed cutting-edge in-situ structural characterization techniques for carbon nanotubes (soon to be published) • Exercised product development acuity by forming theoretical company around research, developing product, and winning an entrepreneurship competition judged by real entrepreneurs • Engineered auxiliary projects such as a custom carbon fiber longboard from design to fabrication ### Engineering Intern @ Modern Metal Works/Trenton Atelier Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 • Enriched creative problem solving skills by using recycled metal pieces to create functional mechanisms, sculptures, and memorial pieces • Exercised industrial design and hands-on manufacturing skills in commercial projects such as a low-income and recyclable housing structure and a September 11th memorial ## Education ### Master of Science (M.S.) in Mechanical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology ### Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Mechanical Engineering University of Miami ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/smarkus --- Source: https://flows.cv/stevemarkus JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/stevemarkus/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-08