Staff Vehicle Test Engineer

Rivian•Tustin, CA

14h•Onsite

About The Position

As a Staff Vehicle Test Engineer, you will perform full vehicle and sub-system development and validation testing, both on-site at Rivian’s Arizona Proving Grounds, and at other remote sites worldwide. The 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

Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related science from an accredited university with 5+ years of applicable experience in the automotive or a related industry.
Thorough understanding of primary vehicle systems, with experience running and maintaining a variety of vehicle level and component level tests
Team first mentality
Innate curiosity about all things automotive
Ability to work autonomously
Proven experience conducting tests at both proving grounds and remote public road test sites with the ability to develop and implement fleet vehicle level validation protocols and procedures
Familiarity with work management systems similar to JIRA, JAMA, or Confluence for test planning, coordination, execution and issue tracking
Experience with software related to CAD, vehicle level instrumentation, calibration, data logging and data acquisition systems

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or higher in a related field with 7+ years of applicable experience in the automotive or a related industry preferred.

Responsibilities

Plan, track, lead, and report on results from field tests across multiple vehicle line programs; in local and remote locations in support of the vehicle Design Validation Plan (DVP)
Perform as a Subject Matter Expert on the Test Team in one or more technical focus areas: AI, Durability, Quality, Thermal, Dynamics, Energy Storage, Soiling / Sealing, Efficiency, NVH, etc.
Develop high level timing plans, budget for vehicle resources, staff and logistics to maximize the efficiency of test operations.
Coordinate quotations and purchase orders with external vendors and internal accounting.
Create test documentation including test instructions, specifications, drawings, inspection intervals and verification plans.
Prepare and update test vehicles (hardware, software) and document condition and performance pre / during / post test for multiple attributes.
Execution and documentation of full vehicle, sub-systems and component level testing within the DVP&R.
Drive vehicles at Proving Grounds and other off-sites locations including public drive routes, under varied conditions such as cold/hot weather, off-road, remote urban, overseas, etc.
Perform subjective and objective evaluations to identify system failure modes and potential attribute target risks.
Lead initial root cause analysis for failures and issues, including hardware failure and software bug tracking; document and track using JIRA.
Lead regular and on-demand high priority meetings with stakeholders in Software, Vehicle Design, Quality, Attributes and other teams to ensure validity of test results, recommended modifications or countermeasures, and rapid issue resolution.