Product Concept Lead Engineer

Rivian • Irvine, CA

14h

About The Position

The Product Concept Lead Engineer is part of Rivian’s Vehicle Architecture and concept team and helps shape vehicle programs and systems at the early stages of development. The role defines, evaluates, and refines vehicle and system concepts by balancing product attributes, manufacturability, cost efficiency, and strategic product positioning. It influences program profitability by guiding decisions that shape vehicle cost structure, investment, and long-term platform scalability and flexibility. The role ensures concepts are technically feasible, financially viable, and aligned with company strategy before significant investment.

The position develops vehicle architecture and platform concepts, sets product requirements, leads trade-off studies, integrates subsystem constraints, and defines technical specifications for downstream engineering. It partners with cross-functional teams to evaluate feasibility and business alignment, develops early cost and investment models, assesses platform commonality and carry-over opportunities, and supports decisions with technical and financial analysis. The role also conducts feasibility and risk assessments, supports concept validation, and presents recommendations to decision-makers.

For California-based applicants, the stated salary range is $137,800–$172,200. The successful candidate may be eligible for an annual performance bonus and equity awards. Rivian describes a benefits package for full-time and part-time employees that includes paid vacation, paid sick leave, and insurance benefits, with potential eligibility for its 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, systems engineering, or a related field.
• Experience in vehicle architecture, concept engineering, or advanced product development.
• Strong understanding of automotive systems integration and packaging.
• Experience in cost modeling and familiarity with design-to-cost methodologies and different manufacturing processes.
• Ability to perform technical trade studies and translate engineering decisions into financial impact.
• Working knowledge of regulatory and certification requirements.
• Proficiency in a CAD system and 3D experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate vehicle architecture concepts, including platform layout, packaging, structural strategy, and system integration.
• Establish product requirements, including range, performance, safety, cost targets, and customer experience, and translate them into feasible product concepts.
• Manage early-stage trade-off studies across multiple architecture scenarios.
• Define concept-level technical specifications and requirements for downstream engineering teams.
• Lead cross-functional alignment with the Advanced Studio team, functions, product planning, finance, manufacturing engineering, procurement, and attributes teams.
• Integrate subsystem constraints, including ergonomics, battery, thermal, chassis, electrical architecture, and manufacturing processes, into unified vehicle or system concepts.
• Organize vehicle concept workshops and decision reviews.
• Build and maintain early-stage cost models, including the Advanced Concept BOM, platform scalability and component carry-over opportunities, manufacturing processes, and investment cost estimates.
• Identify cost drivers embedded in architectural decisions, such as structural design complexity, part count, and manufacturing methods.
• Quantify the financial impact of design trade-offs and support executive decision-making with cost-benefit analysis.
• Ensure alignment on concept cost and investment targets before kick-off.
• Design concepts that enable platform commonality, modularity, and multi-model scalability.
• Assess the long-term benefits of architectural standardization across the vehicle line-up.
• Define architectural carry-over opportunities to support strategy roadmap planning and cost.
• Conduct concept feasibility analysis covering structural integrity, packaging, thermal performance, safety compliance, and manufacturability.
• Support concept validation through simulations and engineering studies.
• Prepare concept evaluation reports using Confluence, combining technical and financial analysis.
• Present architectural options with quantified trade-offs in cost, performance, investment, resources, and planning.
• Provide recommendations that optimize product competitiveness and company profit.

Benefits

• Paid vacation
• Paid sick leave
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Short-term disability insurance
• Long-term disability insurance
• Potential eligibility to participate in Rivian’s 401(k) Plan
• Potential eligibility to participate in Rivian’s Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Potential eligibility for annual performance bonus and equity awards

What This Job Offers

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