Manager Quality Engineering

Rivian•Irvine, CA

About The Position

The Manager of Perceived Quality owns customer-facing vehicle look, feel, and sound, ensuring the end-to-end experience aligns with Rivian’s brand promise from initial design concept through full-scale production. This person serves as the voice of the customer, translating subjective impressions into quantifiable engineering specifications and leading a team that maintains rigorous quality standards across vehicle programs. The role collaborates with Design, Engineering, Advanced Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, Purchasing, and Operations, and provides regular reporting to executive leadership. The manager sets perceived-quality targets and standards, benchmarks competitor vehicles, builds craftsmanship into designs, and establishes specifications for visible part interfaces. They lead interface maturation, virtual cosmetic risk assessments, component and assembly development, craftsmanship reviews, issue resolution, and prototype-build and launch support. The position also hires and develops a team of Perceived Quality engineers, plans resources and budget, and serves as the subject-matter expert and escalation point across programs.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering or a technical discipline.
5–7+ years of experience in Craftsmanship or Perceived Quality at a global automaker.
3+ years of experience leading people or cross-functional teams.
Deep knowledge of vehicle appearance and feel, including fit and finish, gap and flush, surface quality, paint, interior and exterior materials, haptics, and closing quality.
Working knowledge of tolerance stack analysis and GD&T.
Proficiency in CATIA or similar CAD.
Strong statistical awareness and a clear understanding of what high quality looks like.
Strong understanding of how materials affect craftsmanship and perceived quality.
Experience in a manufacturing or production environment.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree.
Experience writing cosmetic or craftsmanship standards and conducting competitive benchmarking.
Experience with statistical qualification of equipment and gauges.
Experience with vehicle launches, ideally at an EV maker or a fast-growing company.

Responsibilities

Set perceived-quality targets for crafted quality and material quality in alignment with attribute requirements and the Rivian brand.
Benchmark competitor vehicles to identify best-in-class examples and solutions, and use findings to establish Bill of Design criteria.
Review Bill of Design and design sketch documents to incorporate craftsmanship from the beginning of the design process.
Publish cosmetic quality standards for each vehicle program, covering areas such as seating, steering wheels, door trim, instrument panels, and consoles.
Own specifications for visible part interfaces and provide targets to Studio, Engineering, and suppliers.
Lead interface maturation and deliver proven interface characteristics into program master sections.
Conduct virtual cosmetic risk assessments in CAD, including dimensional variation analysis, to anticipate issues before hardware exists.
Work with Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing to confirm designs can be built to the required quality level.
Mature components and assemblies in collaboration with Component Engineers, suppliers, Design, Company Quality, and Purchasing.
Translate requirements into detailed build standards and hand them off to production teams.
Lead craftsmanship review meetings by vehicle zone and escalate issues that cannot be resolved in the meeting.
Lead issue discovery and resolution on prototype builds and support launch milestones.
Track performance against targets using metrics and data visualization, and report status and risks to leadership.
Hire, coach, and develop a team of Perceived Quality engineers, and plan resources and Rivian internal budget.
Serve as the Perceived Quality subject-matter expert and escalation route across programs.

Benefits

Paid vacation.
Paid sick leave.
Life insurance.
Medical insurance.
Dental insurance.
Vision insurance.
Short-term disability insurance.
Long-term disability insurance.
401(k) Plan, subject to eligibility requirements.
Employee Stock Purchase Program, subject to eligibility requirements.
Annual performance bonus and equity awards may be available to the successful candidate.