Staff Systems Engineer Autonomy

Rivian•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

The Autonomy Software Systems team's deliverables include owning a feature - from the definition stage to the production stage, designing the system - from system architecture to subsystem requirements. In this role you will own the architecture and specification of platform services on Rivian's autonomy compute platform. Platform services are the foundational software components that manage application lifecycle, system state, health monitoring, inter-process communication, and fault management — the layer between the operating system/middleware and the autonomous driving applications.

Requirements

Bachelors, Masters, or PhD in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related field
10+ years of experience in embedded systems, automotive software platforms, or autonomous vehicle compute systems
Deep understanding of platform software concepts: process/application lifecycle management, system state machines, health monitoring, inter-process communication, fault detection and response
Experience with real-time operating systems (QNX, Linux with RT extensions) in automotive or safety-critical contexts
Strong familiarity with service-oriented communication (SOME/IP, DDS) and automotive networking (Ethernet, CAN/CAN-FD)
Experience writing system or software architecture documents, requirements specifications, and interface definitions
Proficiency in C++ (sufficient to read and evaluate platform implementations, write reference or prototype code, and author verification tools)
Proficiency in Python (for tooling, automation, data analysis)
Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with implementation teams, translating architecture into actionable specifications
Experience with Adaptive AUTOSAR concepts (execution management, state management, platform health management, communication management)
Experience with automotive functional safety processes (ISO 26262) at the platform or system level
Experience with requirements management tools (DOORS, Polarion, Jama, or similar)
Background in performance analysis, timing analysis, or scheduling for real-time embedded systems
Experience evaluating or integrating third-party middleware or AUTOSAR stacks
Prior work at an OEM, Tier 1, or autonomy technology company on production vehicle compute platform

Responsibilities

Own the architectural definition of platform services for the autonomy compute platform, including but not limited to: execution management, system state management, platform health and fault management, and communication management
Author and maintain platform service specifications that serve as the authoritative source of truth for the software infrastructure implementation team
Define interface contracts (service interfaces, configuration schemas) between platform services, between platform services and applications, and between ECUs
Make and document architectural trade-off decisions with clear rationale, considering real-time performance, safety, and scalability
Define system-level requirements for platform services, derived from vehicle-level needs, safety goals, and hardware constraints
Establish and maintain traceability between requirements, architecture decisions, implementation artifacts, and verification evidence
Collaborate with the team to improve requirements management practices and tooling
Define acceptance criteria and verification strategies for platform services
Author test specifications that can be executed at the device, bench, or HIL level to validate platform service behavior
Work with the team to build automated verification capabilities for platform-level requirements
Serve as the primary technical interface between the systems engineering team and the software infrastructure team for platform service topics
Collaborate with the hardware engineering team on compute architecture, resource allocation, and platform topology decisions
Support the diagnostics and sensor integration systems engineers by providing platform-level context and ensuring platform services meet their domain-specific needs
Participate in design reviews for platform software implementations, providing architectural feedback grounded in the specifications you own