Principal, Service Technical Intelligence

Rivian • Irvine, CA

4d

About The Position

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

This is a senior, high-impact individual contributor role for a deeply technical leader, acting as the primary bridge between our Field Service operations, Technical Service Operations, and RV Tech (Diagnostic, Firmware, Vehicle SW) engineering teams. Technicians are the main customer of our Diagnostic tools and this individual will understand the end-to-end difficulties they face in their roles while translating feedback with technical nuance to our cross-functional teams.
This position was created to establish a robust feedback loop from the Field, ensuring that complex diagnostic issues are not just logged, but are synthesized, translated, and driven back to Diagnostic and supporting engineering teams in partnership with Technical Service Operations. This role will drive iteration of diagnostic tools and the technical knowledge base in the Field with a heavy emphasis on automation via AI, ultimately enabling long term technician Productivity growth.

Requirements

• Minimum 10 years of progressive, hands-on experience in a senior or principal-level role within vehicle engineering, firmware/software systems, vehicle diagnostics, or highly technical service engineering.
• A background as a senior engineering manager, principal engineer, or systems architect is strongly preferred.
• Expert-level, hands-on mastery of complex integrated systems (e.g., vehicle systems, avionics, robotics) and a deep understanding of firmware architecture, software, and vehicle-level diagnostics.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex, disparate technical information (logs, field reports, data) into clear, concise, and actionable engineering problem statements.
• Proven experience in architecting, building, or scaling a technical documentation framework or engineering-level knowledgebase.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the proven ability to command respect and drive consensus with senior engineering leaders (Directors, VPs) and field technicians alike.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field is required; a Master’s or PhD is highly preferred.
• A Technical Synthesizer: You find the signal in the noise. You are uniquely skilled at taking a large volume of complex, raw technical data and distilling it into a core principle or root cause.
• A Systems Thinker: You instinctively understand the connections between a firmware change, a diagnostic procedure, a technician's action, and a vehicle's behavior. You see the entire ecosystem.
• A Credible Engineering Leader: You do not derive influence from a title, but from your deep technical knowledge and credibility. Engineers and technicians trust your analysis. You can build bridges and deliver critical feedback in a way that inspires collaboration and action.

Responsibilities

• Drive The Technical Feedback Loop From The Field To Internal And External Stakeholders: Design and operate the process for intaking complex, ambiguous, and high-impact diagnostic technical Field issues. Use your deep engineering expertise to diagnose systemic patterns, translate them into precise engineering-level problem statements, and present synthesized findings and recommendations directly to RV Tech (Diagnostic, Firmware, Vehicle SW), and supporting engineering teams in partnership with stakeholders in Technical Service Operations (TSO), Programs (Service Support). Develop impactful, stable, and user friendly diagnostic tools for our technicians, be the bridge between the Field, TSO, and our key engineering teams and drive KPI performance around time-to-diagnose and adjacent diagnostic efficiency metrics.
• Develop And Scale The Engineering Knowledge Framework: Lead the creation of a sophisticated, scalable internal knowledgebase. This is not a simple "wiki" role; you will define the architecture for how we codify the engineering principles and deep system behaviors behind complex issues, turning core engineering knowledge into reusable, teachable content that provides high-level context for technicians.
• Identify and Translate Systemic Failure Patterns: Go beyond individual repair cases to identify broader patterns in field data. You will analyze diagnostic data, technician feedback, and vehicle data to find the "signal in the noise," flagging issues for Service Engineering. Ensure data including input from technicians, structure, and consolidation enables accurate and high impact AI and automated diagnostic tools.
• Address Critical Field Issues And Support Prioritization: Partner with Program Managers, TSO to ensure the most critical field-discovered issues are accurately represented and prioritized in the Service-to-Engineering feedback loop. Ensure failure and diagnostic data are appropriately organized, structured, and most importantly, analyzed to drive this feedback. Likewise, partner with and ensure TSO and internal stakeholders to rapidly and effectively respond to critical issues including repair procedures, technician knowledge base, and Fixed-Right-First-Time.

Benefits

• The successful candidate may be eligible for annual performance bonus and equity awards.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits for full-time and part-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26, including but not limited to paid vacation, paid sick leave, and a competitive portfolio of insurance benefits including life, medical, dental, vision, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance to eligible employees. You may also have the opportunity to participate in Rivian’s 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program if you meet certain eligibility requirements. Full-time employee coverage is effective on their first day of employment. Part-time employee coverage is effective the first of the month following 90 days of employment. More information about benefits is available at rivianbenefits.com.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior