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.
Role Summary
We are looking for a technically driven Embedded Lead Engineer to join our Vehicle Access team, acting as a Staff‑level technical leader for our vehicle access domain across multiple vehicle lines and programs. You will be responsible for end‑to‑end system‑level development of security‑critical capabilities such as UWB, NFC, and phone‑as‑key.
This is a key position within Senior Staff Engineering, where you will lead and develop embedded solutions that are central to vehicle security and user experience and are used across Rivian and Volkswagen‑brand vehicles.
You will work on modern embedded systems using C/C++ (and optionally Rust), with a strong focus on safety, reliability, and robust security.
The role includes full ownership of the design, implementation, and integration of vehicle access architecture and protocols at both hardware and system levels, in alignment with CCC and related industry standards.
Responsibilities
Lead the development of embedded systems for Vehicle Access with focus on security, reliability, and performance, owning the technical direction for digital key and access across multiple vehicles and programs.
Design and implement system-level features within vehicle access areas like phone-as-key, defining and evolving the architecture, interfaces, and patterns used by multiple ECUs and services (vehicle, mobile, and cloud) for secure access.
Lead cross‑functional technical work with security, mobile, cloud, UX, hardware, and manufacturing teams to balance security, usability, and serviceability for vehicle access.
Develop and maintain embedded C/C++ (and optionally Rust) code for safety-critical applications, while guiding other engineers on design and implementation best practices.
Work with UWB, NFC, networking, and security protocols to ensure secure and reliable vehicle access, owning fleet‑level reliability and mitigating systemic issues across markets and programs.
Drive the technical roadmap and make key architectural decisions for the vehicle access domain, influencing how multiple teams design, implement, and integrate access‑related functionality.
Ensure high quality through automated testing, code reviews, and CI/CD pipelines, and define quality, security, and testing standards adopted by multiple teams working on vehicle access.
Mentor and support senior and junior engineers, fostering knowledge sharing and best practices, and acting as the go‑to technical reference for vehicle access.
Operate independently and take ownership of complex, ambiguous, cross‑functional engineering challenges that span multiple systems and teams.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of professional experience in embedded system development, including leading architecture and delivery of complex, cross‑team systems.
- Strong expertise in C/C++; Rust experience is a strong plus.
- Experience with security-critical systems, networking, and protocol development.
- Strong understanding of system-level development, vehicle security and related standards.
- Self-sufficient, highly independent, and able to take ownership of complex, cross-functional projects from early definition through launch, influencing stakeholders across teams and organizations.
- Excellent command of English, both written and spoken, for international collaboration.
Nice to have
Experience in automotive access systems and security protocols.
Previous experience leading technical teams in embedded development, including setting technical direction and standards at a domain or platform level.
Equal Opportunity
Rivian is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Rivian is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com.
Candidate Data Privacy
Rivian may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Rivian may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian affiliates; and (iii) Rivian’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.