Staff Software Engineer, Data, Autonomy

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

The Autonomy organization at Rivian is seeking a highly skilled and hands-on Staff Data Engineer to join our Cloud and Data team. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives at the intersection of data architecture, distributed systems, and scalable engineering.

You will be responsible for designing and evolving critical data infrastructure to support the next generation of autonomous vehicle development. You will lead the technical direction for scalable, reliable, and secure data pipelines, while staying deeply involved in hands-on development. The ideal candidate is a self-starter who can work independently, lead complex projects end-to-end, and proactively drive cross-functional initiatives. You will also collaborate closely with engineering and product teams, mentor fellow engineers, and influence architectural decisions that support long-term platform growth.


Responsibilities

• Architect and build scalable, high-throughput data pipelines to process vehicle telemetry, sensor logs, and simulation outputs using Spark, Databricks, and AWS services.
• Design and evolve distributed data architecture across batch, streaming, and hybrid processing frameworks to support real-time and offline autonomy use cases.
• Independently lead the design, development, and delivery of complex data engineering projects, from requirements gathering to deployment.
• Partner with cross-functional teams including Perception, Simulation, QA, and Safety to deliver reliable and performant data infrastructure aligned with autonomy goals.
• Implement engineering best practices for CI/CD, monitoring, testing, and observability across all data workflows.
• Mentor and guide team members, providing technical leadership and growing expertise across the team in areas such as system design, software development, and distributed computing.
• Establish frameworks for privacy-aware data collection, geospatial enrichment, and high-volume data ingest and transformation.
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies and frameworks to optimize pipeline performance, reduce costs, improve reliability and increase reliability.
• Take ownership of ambiguous problems, drive them to clarity, and implement practical, scalable solutions.
• Stay current with the evolving data engineering ecosystem and apply the latest tools and practices where appropriate.

Qualifications

• Architect and build scalable, high-throughput data pipelines to process vehicle telemetry, sensor logs, and simulation outputs using Spark, Databricks, and AWS services.
• Design and evolve distributed data architecture across batch, streaming, and hybrid processing frameworks to support real-time and offline autonomy use cases.
• Independently lead the design, development, and delivery of complex data engineering projects, from requirements gathering to deployment.
• Partner with cross-functional teams including Perception, Simulation, QA, and Safety to deliver reliable and performant data infrastructure aligned with autonomy goals.
• Implement engineering best practices for CI/CD, monitoring, testing, and observability across all data workflows.
• Mentor and guide team members, providing technical leadership and growing expertise across the team in areas such as system design, software development, and distributed computing.
• Establish frameworks for privacy-aware data collection, geospatial enrichment, and high-volume data ingest and transformation.
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies and frameworks to optimize pipeline performance, reduce costs, improve reliability and increase reliability.
• Take ownership of ambiguous problems, drive them to clarity, and implement practical, scalable solutions.
• Stay current with the evolving data engineering ecosystem and apply the latest tools and practices where appropriate.

Pay Disclosure

The salary range for this role is $206,500-$258,100 for San Francisco Bay Area based applicants. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, shift, and organizational needs.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits for full-time and part-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26, including but not limited to paid vacation, paid sick leave, and a competitive portfolio of insurance benefits including life, medical, dental, vision, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance to eligible employees. You may also have the opportunity to participate in Rivian's 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program if you meet certain eligibility requirements. Full-time employee coverage is effective on their first day of employment. Part-time employee coverage is effective the first of the month following 90 days of employment. More information about benefits is available at rivianbenefits.com.

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

Candidate Data Privacy and Technology

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.

How We Use AI in Our Hiring Process: To ensure transparency, we want candidates to know that Rivian uses iCIMS Talent Cloud Artificial Intelligence (TCAI) and AI-enabled tools to assist with screening, reviewing, organizing and highlighting profiles and applications that match the key requirements for each role.

AI does not make hiring decisions: Qualified candidate applications are reviewed by a member of our team, and all decisions throughout the process are made by humans. We use AI to support efficiency and consistency, not to replace human judgment. We are committed to a fair, thoughtful, and equitable experience for every candidate.

Participation in AI profile matching is entirely voluntary. If you prefer that your profile not be used in this process, you can opt out at any time. Opting out means your profile will be excluded from automated matching and will not be surfaced for additional roles through this system. Your current application remains active and will not be affected in any way.

Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.