Sr. Manager, Test & Development Engineering

Rivian•Wittmann, AZ

1d•Onsite

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. As a Senior Manager for Test and Development, you will manage a team that performs full vehicle and sub-system development and validation testing, both on-site at Rivian’s Arizona Proving Grounds, and at other remote sites worldwide. Your team supports multiple focused development, support and validation testing areas; including Dynamics, Benchmarking, Powertrain, NVH, Body Controls, Chassis Durability, Homologation and others from the beginning of a program through production launch.

Requirements

Team first mentality - as a multi-team manager in a highly cross-functional support role, you must be able to balance conflicting customer requests with team capabilities, develop and articulate timing plans and progress to stakeholders, all while growing a positive team culture.
Hands-on engineering capability across multiple vehicle systems, electrical integration, prototype hardware, and software-enabled development work, testing methods and instrumentation methodologies.
Experience and proven success operating within dynamic development timeline environments where rapid problem solving, self-direction, and results-driven flexibility are paramount.
Familiarity with Jira / Confluence workflows and documenting technical work clearly enough for cross-functional follow-through.
Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Mechatronics, Aerospace, or similar engineering discipline.
10+ years of automotive prototype, vehicle integration, validation testing and/or development engineering experience required.

Responsibilities

Manage team workload, scheduling and budget; including resource allocations covering vehicles, staff, instrumentation, track scheduling and offsite logistics.
Coordinate with facility and on-site staff to ensure available resources (surfaces, facilities, etc.) are aligned to team needs and are meeting usability requirements.
Collaborate with Program, Fleet and domain / department teams to plan and optimize vehicle usage across limited assets. Advocate for priority where required to meet test timing.
Manage team resources to support early program system and vehicle integration bring-up, development and troubleshooting across multiple concurrent vehicle model lines and maturity timelines, for both the T&D team and other end-users.
Supervise team planning, preparation, execution and documentation of specific portions of the vehicle and component DVP&R using JIRA, FLOW, and Rivian proprietary tool sets.
Support asynchronous onsite and offsite test and validation activities, including field quality investigations, pre-production and post-production software quality testing, supplier and VIP visits and demonstrations, among others.
Develop and refine reporting and tracking tools to continually improve overall department and team efficiency; focusing on integration of emerging AI applications and in-vehicle utilities.
Create and modify documentation including test work instructions, Rivian test specifications, and summary reports from vehicle testing projects.
Perform subjective and objective evaluations in one or more areas of personal expertise for remote design and engineering teams.
Travel as needed (up to 25%) to support prototype vehicles, remote validation events, environmental testing, proving-ground activity, and other high-urgency support work