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 the Vehicle Verification and Validation Testing Lead at Rivian, you will spearhead vehicle-level testing efforts for a new line of lightweight electric vehicles. This role encompasses both developmental and validation testing across various components such as drive units, batteries, inverters, displays, and low-voltage electronics, with full ownership of the testing process from start to finish. You will play a key role in ensuring that all products meet strict performance and reliability standards by developing, executing, and overseeing verification and validation methods. This includes setting up and conducting rigorous durability and environmental testing campaigns, as well as managing the status and progress of these efforts. You will be responsible for establishing test strategies, determining sample sizes, and ensuring the necessary resources and materials are available. Additionally, you will oversee a fleet of test vehicles, ensuring proper software updates and data collection. As a leader, you will guide and support engineers and technicians, both internally and externally, ensuring test execution aligns with requirements and standards. You will also collaborate with development teams to provide insights and feedback, track and escalate issues, and maintain thorough traceability between requirements, test cases, and results. You will define the functional requirements for Special Test Equipment (STE) and data acquisition systems, as well as analyze and report on test data to drive product refinement and improve quality attributes. Strong communication skills are essential for collaborating with suppliers, vendors, and cross-functional teams in a fast-paced development environment. Responsibilities Lead vehicle level product testing, both developmental and validation, for a new line of very lightweight electric vehicles In this role you will support testing of drive units, batteries, inverters, displays, and various low voltage electronics Full ownership of end-to-end product validation testing at the vehicle level Setting up and executing durability and environmental testing campaigns Develop and write verification and validation test methods required to guarantee products meet product requirements and provide feedback to development teams Developing and maintaining status and dashboards to inform on the progress of testing efforts Determine strategy for testing product requirements, including how requirements will be tested, sample size, resource and material needs Setup and Supervise fleet of vehicles and their data collection and ensure their software is up to date Track, investigate and escalate issues by providing clear, well-structured, high-level updates Maintain traceability between requirements, test cases, and results Define the Special Test Equipment (STE) functional requirements and instrumentations, data acquisitions for test and validation efforts Provide directions to test engineers and technicians (at internal labs and at 3rd party test labs) setting up and executing tests Create summary reports for all tests conducted and provide data analytics of the data collected during testing Qualifications B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field Minimum of 5 years of experience leading light weight mobility and/or electro-mechanical system validations Experience in test planning and execution from program inception to final validation sign off Understanding of industry validation standards Expertise with environmental test set up and test error proofing Expertise in instrumentation (thermocouples, RTDs, strain gauges, accelerometers, pressure gauges, flow meters) Working knowledge of automotive communication protocols (CAN, CAN FD, SPI) and Vector tools Experience with collaboration tools like JIRA, Confluence & requirements management tools like JAMA High level of interpersonal and communication skills for relationships with suppliers and vendors Ability to work in a fast-paced development environment Help drive product refinement and quality characteristics and attributes Self-motivated: Demonstrated ability to set direction and guide the team towards it Hands-on approach: Proactively identifies and fills in gaps where needed Ability to travel as needed Experience with two wheeled vehicles such as mopeds, motorcycles, or e-bikes preferred Equal Opportunity Rivian is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. Rivian is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com. Candidate Data Privacy Rivian may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law. Rivian may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian affiliates; and (iii) Rivian’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services. Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions. Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.