Senior Manager of Verification & Validation

Rivian•Irvine, CA

12h

About The Position

Vehicle Validation at Rivian ensures every product delivers exceptional function, quality, reliability, and real-world performance. We perform both verification and validation against data-driven requirements that reflect how our customers use our vehicles — connecting DFMEAs, requirements, and validation plans into a cohesive, decision-oriented process. As Senior Manager, Vehicle Validation, you will lead the team responsible for vehicle-level validation across Rivian's Stanton Springs North (SSN) programs. Your Program Leads own day-to-day validation execution for their individual programs; your role is to set the strategy they plan against, hold them to a consistent execution standard, resolve the cross-program conflicts they can't resolve on their own, and give leadership a trustworthy picture of validation status, risk, and readiness across the full SSN portfolio. This is a Senior Manager role: you lead multiple TPM’s within the platform, are accountable for their collective performance and results, and are expected to raise the bar on how Rivian plans, governs, and executes vehicle validation as SSN scales — including how the team adopts AI-enabled validation methods as they mature.

Requirements

Typically 10+ years of experience in automotive or complex electro-mechanical products, including experience in technical program management, systems engineering, validation, or similar cross-functional leadership roles.
Deep understanding of vehicle development milestones, systems engineering, and how DVPs, DFMEAs, requirements, and build phases connect to program delivery and launch decisions, with working knowledge of automotive safety and quality standards (e.g., ISO 26262, SOTIF) as they apply to validation readiness.
Demonstrated experience planning and orchestrating validation across multiple programs simultaneously, including asset planning, schedule integration, and issue closure at a portfolio level.
Demonstrated experience directly managing and developing people leaders and/or senior individual contributors, setting a consistent execution standard across the team and holding people to it through coaching rather than doing the work yourself.
Strong fluency with tools such as Jira, Confluence, Jama, and dashboards to drive decisions rather than just reporting, with working knowledge of AI-assisted validation methods (GenAI for requirements/test review, AI-based coverage analysis, data-driven defect prioritization) and interest in scaling them within a team's practice.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to synthesize complex technical issues into clear decisions and actions.
Proven ability to influence across functions and levels, secure buy-in from senior stakeholders, and make a compelling case for change.
Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent combination of education, training, and hands-on experience.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop a team of Program Leads TPM’s, each accountable for validation execution on their assigned SSN program.
Set clear performance expectations and provide ongoing feedback and coaching to elevate team execution and decision-making.
Translate SSN's functional goals into an actionable validation strategy and operating plan, directed through your Program Leads.
Partner with Program, VHE, EEHW, Propulsion, Thermal, Attributes, Homologation, Autonomy, Test & Development, Manufacturing, Launch, OPD, Service, and Quality to align DVP coverage, asset plans, and long-lead test timing across programs.
Orchestrate vehicle-level test usage and asset allocation across programs, and re-plan at the portfolio level when content churn, software slips, or build re-phasing put competing programs at risk.
Serve as the escalation point when a Program Lead cannot resolve a validation gap, risk, or cross-functional conflict on their own.
Establish systems to proactively monitor program progress against validation goals, and use them to give directors and VPs crisp, data-backed updates on status, risk, and tradeoffs — shaping deviation and "proceed at risk" decisions with quantified impact.
Pilot and adopt AI-enabled validation methods, and push the team's use of dashboards and data systems (Jira, Confluence, Jama) beyond status reporting toward faster, more consistent decisions — in partnership with Rivian's broader V&V governance and tooling teams.
Guide Program Leads in setting challenging, meaningful development goals, and publicize team wins to build the SSN validation team's reputation as a place people want to grow into.
Champion your team's perspective in cross-functional forums, even when it's the unpopular one, without damaging working relationships.