Senior Software Engineer

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world. The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone. We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer in Test to join our Consumer Applications Test Team and own testing strategy, execution, and quality outcomes for consumer app products and platforms. This role builds on the existing scope of owning testing for new features, test infrastructure, internal tooling, CI/CD, and automation across Consumer Applications, while adding senior-level expectations for technical leadership, strategy, and domain ownership. As a senior member of the team, you will define test strategy, lead and mentor junior engineers, and act as a force multiplier across the organization. You will be expected to bring strong technical depth in one or more key product domains such as vehicle access, mapping, mobile applications, or cloud services, and to take end-to-end ownership for the quality of products released to customers.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
5+ years in software test engineering, including automation, test infrastructure, and CI/CD systems.
Proven ability to develop and execute test strategies across unit, integration, SIL, HIL, and end-to-end layers.
Experience leading projects or mentoring junior engineers to improve team effectiveness.
Proficiency in Python, C/C++, Java, Shell, or Rust for building backend services and automation.
Expertise in CI/CD (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Buildkite) and modern build systems.
Background in designing automation frameworks for cloud, mobile, or embedded environments.
Strong knowledge of testing best practices, including the test pyramid, mocking, and test data management.
Proficient in Linux, Git, and standard developer workflows.
Excellent cross-functional communication and collaboration skills.
Self-motivated with an ownership mindset and a focus on continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

Experience with HIL, SIL, or lab bench setups is preferred.

Responsibilities

Own product quality and release confidence for your assigned domain, ensuring high-quality releases are delivered on schedule through effective manual and automated testing.
Define and drive end-to-end test strategy for new features, systems, and releases, including risk assessment, coverage planning, release-readiness criteria, and quality signals.
Act with a customer-centric mindset to proactively identify, break, and resolve issues before products ship.
Take clear ownership of the products and test outcomes that release from your domain, driving accountability across the full development lifecycle.
Design, implement, and evolve scalable test infrastructure, automation frameworks, runners, lab or bench tooling, and execution services used by the broader test organization.
Build reliable services, libraries, and internal tools that make it easy for engineers to create, run, debug, and scale automated testing.
Own and improve CI/CD pipelines for unit, SIL, HIL, integration, system, and end-to-end test coverage across mobile, cloud, infotainment, vehicle access systems, and related services.
Lead technical decisions for test architecture, test selection, parallelization, flakiness reduction, reporting, and reliability improvements.
Apply deep domain expertise in areas such as vehicle access, mapping, mobile app, or cloud to drive high-quality test coverage and infrastructure.
Lead junior team members through technical guidance, mentoring, reviews, and day-to-day collaboration.
Raise the effectiveness of the broader team by standardizing best practices, improving tooling, removing blockers, and sharing expertise broadly.
Be a multiplier for the organization by improving systems and processes in ways that enable other engineers to move faster with higher quality.
Own monitoring, alerting, and service-level expectations for key test infrastructure and pipelines.
Analyze test results and pipeline behavior to identify bottlenecks, flaky areas, coverage gaps, and high-value automation investments.
Continuously improve the reliability and stability of test assets supporting both manual and automated testing across teams.