Staff Vehicle Test Engineer

About Rivian Rivian is on a mission to keep the world adventurous forever. This goes for the emissions-free Electric Adventure Vehicles we build, and the curious, courageous souls we seek to attract. As a company, we constantly challenge what’s possible, never simply accepting what has always been done. We reframe old problems, seek new solutions and operate comfortably in areas that are unknown. Our backgrounds are diverse, but our team shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it for future generations.

Summary As a Staff Vehicle Test Engineer , you will perform full vehicle and sub-system development and validation testing, both on-site at Rivian’s Arizona Proving Grounds, and at other remote sites worldwide. The team supports multiple focused development, support and validation testing areas; including Dynamics, Benchmarking, Powertrain, NVH, Body Controls, Chassis Durability, Homologation and others from the beginning of a program through production launch.

Plan, track, lead, and report on results from field tests across multiple vehicle line programs; in local and remote locations in support of the vehicle Design Validation Plan (DVP) Perform as a Subject Matter Expert on the Test Team in one or more technical focus areas: AI, Durability, Quality, Thermal, Dynamics, Energy Storage, Soiling / Sealing, Efficiency, NVH, etc. Develop high level timing plans, budget for vehicle resources, staff and logistics to maximize the efficiency of test operations. Coordinate quotations and purchase orders with external vendors and internal accounting. Create test documentation including test instructions, specifications, drawings, inspection intervals and verification plans. Prepare and update test vehicles (hardware, software) and document condition and performance pre / during / post test for multiple attributes. Execution and documentation of full vehicle, sub-systems and component level testing within the DVP&R. Drive vehicles at Proving Grounds and other off-sites locations including public drive routes, under varied conditions such as cold/hot weather, off-road, remote urban, overseas, etc. Perform subjective and objective evaluations to identify system failure modes and potential attribute target risks. Lead initial root cause analysis for failures and issues, including hardware failure and software bug tracking; document and track using JIRA. Lead regular and on-demand high priority meetings with stakeholders in Software, Vehicle Design, Quality, Attributes and other teams to ensure validity of test results, recommended modifications or countermeasures, and rapid issue resolution.

Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related science from an accredited university with 5+ years of applicable experience in the automotive or a related industry. Master’s degree or higher in a related field with 7+ years of applicable experience in the automotive or a related industry preferred. Thorough understanding of primary vehicle systems, with experience running and maintaining a variety of vehicle level and component level tests Team first mentality Innate curiosity about all things automotive Ability to work autonomously Proven experience conducting tests at both proving grounds and remote public road test sites with the ability to develop and implement fleet vehicle level validation protocols and procedures Familiarity with work management systems similar to JIRA, JAMA, or Confluence for test planning, coordination, execution and issue tracking Experience with software related to CAD, vehicle level instrumentation, calibration, data logging and data acquisition systems Pay Disclosure The salary range for this role is $125,000 - $156,200 for Irvine, CA based applicants. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors