MES Project Manager

Rivian•Normal, IL

4d•Onsite

About The Position

As the MES Technical Project Manager, you will support the orchestration and execution of Manufacturing Execution System (MES) initiatives across Rivian’s production lines. You will be a key coordination point for the deployment of MARS (Manufacturing Automation & Reporting System), SpinalX, and FTPC Rockwell, helping ensure that project timelines are met and that technical requirements are clearly understood and aligned between Software Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and the Shop Floor. You will leverage strong soft skills to facilitate conversations, manage documentation, and lead focused meetings with cross-functional teams and business leaders in a high-stakes manufacturing environment. This role contributes to maintaining the “digital brain” of our factory as we scale production for the R1 and R2 platforms.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Project Management, or a related technical field; or equivalent practical experience.
2–3+ years of experience in project coordination or project management within a manufacturing, automation, or high-tech environment.
Familiarity with MES systems and their role in automotive or high-volume manufacturing.
Understanding of Agile or Waterfall project management methodologies.
Experience with project management and collaboration tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet).
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust quickly with operators, engineers, and leaders across shifts.
Demonstrated ability to manage conflict on the shop floor, keeping discussions focused on facts, safety, and solutions when priorities between operations, engineering, and vendors collide.
Executive-ready communication skills, with the ability to translate complex MES and automation issues into clear, concise updates and recommendations for senior leaders.
Proven ability to influence without formal authority, driving alignment and follow-through from cross-functional teams and external partners.
Strong facilitation skills: runs focused meetings with clear agendas, drives decisions, and ensures owners and due dates are captured and followed through.
Remains calm and structured in high-pressure or line-down scenarios, providing clarity on status, risks, and next steps.
Demonstrated ability to create, manage, and maintain high-quality technical and process documentation (e.g., SOPs, playbooks, runbooks, test plans, meeting notes).
Strong organizational skills with attention to detail in tracking action items, decisions, and follow-ups.
Proactive mindset with the ability to identify systemic issues and patterns in escalations, propose process or tooling improvements, and drive follow-through with appropriate teams.

Responsibilities

Assist in developing and maintaining detailed project plans for MES rollouts across specific shops (Body, Paint, GA, Battery, Drive Unit, and EOL), ensuring tasks, owners, and timelines are clearly documented.
Help coordinate the “2-hour downtime windows” and “buffer days” for system validations and PROD pushes, supporting zero impact to production throughput.
Track project health and prepare concise, bi-weekly updates on line readiness, BOP (Bill of Process) enrichments, and technical blockers for leadership review.
Create, organize, and maintain project documentation, including implementation plans, runbooks, change logs, post-deployment summaries and end user facing support documentation.
Coordinate between PLC/Automation teams and Software Engineering to surface and resolve data mismatches (e.g., Joining Matrix Weld IDs vs. Robot Programs), reducing late-discovered issues and rework through well documented decisions.
Partner with Manufacturing Engineers (ME) to keep digital BOP enrichments and system line rebalances aligned with physical shop floor changes, minimizing disruption to throughput and operator workflows.
Track and drive deliverables from external partners, including Rockwell Automation, to ensure on-time delivery against Rivian’s technical standards and integration requirements.
Work closely with the Staff Program Manager to align on processes, templates, and governance so that project management, communication, and documentation standards are consistently followed across MES initiatives.
Plan, facilitate, and document recurring meetings (e.g., status reviews, issue triage, go/no-go meetings) with cross-functional teams and business leaders, driving clear agendas, decisions, and accountable action items.
Coordinate planning activities for pre-deployment application testing and post-deployment validation cycles, ensuring test plans, outcomes, and defects are clearly recorded.
Help manage the Level 3 escalation ticket queue by documenting issues, priorities, and owners, and following up with integration engineering teams to drive resolution of technical debt and system bugs.
Maintain and update dashboards and summary reports that reflect system health, deployment progress, and performance metrics across the R1 and R2 platforms, making them accessible to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Assist in documenting and continuously improving standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the ‘Square Group’ model to ensure consistent support and handoffs across all shifts.
Develop and maintain clear, versioned documentation for MES workflows, standard work, incident response, and lessons learned to support onboarding and ongoing operations.
Support the MSI Manager in tracking contingent worker (CW) assignments and onboarding new team members for Shopify or site-specific initiatives, ensuring role expectations and processes are well-documented.