Sr. Manager - Closures

Rivian•Irvine, CA

About The Position

About Rivian 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 As Sr. Manager, Closures Engineering, you will lead the strategy, organization, and execution of Rivian’s Closures Engineering function across current and future consumer and commercial vehicle programs. This role owns closures engineering delivery for timeline, resources, milestones, technical direction, and key performance indicators across hoods, fenders, side doors, liftgates, cargo doors, bulkhead and commercial access closures, and related mechanisms, structures, and sealing interfaces. You will lead engineering teams to build robust closures systems and a high-performing organization that scales with Rivian’s roadmap.

Requirements

B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.
12+ (Preferred) years of experience in automotive closures, body systems, or closely related hardware engineering.
4+ (Preferred) years of experience leading managers, senior engineers, or multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
Deep technical expertise in closures systems including structures, mechanisms, integration, sealing, dimensional control, and production execution.
Demonstrated experience leading teams through at least one full vehicle development cycle from concept through production.
Proven ability to own engineering execution against program timing, milestones, resource constraints, and cross-functional deliverables.
Experience building and managing KPI-driven engineering organizations with clear reporting, prioritization, and escalation discipline.
Strong capability in future architecture planning, standards development, and translating lessons learned into scalable technical strategy.
Experience leading complex issue resolution across engineering, manufacturing, suppliers, quality, and service.
Strong people leadership skills including hiring, org design, succession planning, performance management, and talent development.
Strong business judgment and ability to make clear tradeoff decisions across customer experience, timing, quality, cost, and mass.
Experience with CAD and PLM tools such as CATIA V5/V6 and Enovia or equivalent.
Working knowledge of automotive regulatory and certification requirements relevant to closure systems.
Ability to travel to plants, suppliers, and test locations as needed to support builds, launches, and organizational priorities.

Responsibilities

Own closures engineering roadmaps across current and future vehicle programs, aligning technical direction with product strategy, program timing, and business priorities.
Lead the organization responsible for closures system engineering delivery across consumer and commercial vehicles from concept architecture through production.
Define and maintain closure engineering priorities, resource plans, hiring plans, and organization structure to support program milestones and future platform needs.
Own closures delivery against timing, quality, cost, mass, validation, and launch readiness targets.
Establish and track closures KPIs, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms to provide clear visibility into program health, technical risk, and organizational execution.
Provide structured status, recovery, and escalation updates to leadership on closures engineering milestones, risks, resource needs, and cross-functional dependencies.
Drive future closures architecture strategy, including design rules, carryover strategy, lessons learned, technical standards, and scalable subsystem approaches.
Lead the organization in balancing short-term program execution with long-term technical capability building and architectural improvement.
Drive closures system excellence in craftsmanship, durability, sealing, water management, NVH, serviceability, safety, and customer experience.
Oversee technical decisions and cross-functional tradeoffs involving packaging, structures, sealing, exteriors, manufacturing, service, quality, and supply chain partners.
Ensure strong engineering rigor across the function through robust use of requirements, design reviews, DFMEA, DVP, CAE, dimensional strategies, and issue management.
Lead resolution of major closure-related plant, supplier, and field issues, ensuring strong ownership, rapid containment, durable root cause, and recurrence prevention.
Build and mature closures engineering processes, standards, and work products to improve execution quality, consistency, and launch performance.
Lead through managers and senior engineers to create a culture of accountability, urgency, technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Own workforce planning, succession planning, hiring, retention, and capability development across the closures organization.
Develop leaders within the team through calibration, coaching, performance management, and intentional growth assignments.
Partner with senior leaders across Design, Product Development, Manufacturing, Quality, Program Management, and Service to align closure strategies and resolve multi-function risks.
Represent Closures Engineering in senior leadership forums and serve as the primary escalation point for cross-program closure system issues and decisions.