Sr. Radar Antenna Design Engineer

About Rivian

Rivianis 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.

Rivian is seeking a Senior Staff Radar Antenna Design Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and production maturation of advanced waveguide antennas for high-performance imaging radar systems. This role is for a technical leader with deep expertise in electromagnetic design who can translate demanding radar performance requirements into robust, manufacturable antenna solutions.

You will own antenna design from concept through vehicle integration, working across radar architecture, RF hardware, mechanical engineering, signal processing, manufacturing, validation, and suppliers. The ideal candidate combines first-principles electromagnetic insight with strong judgment in system tradeoffs, design-for-manufacturing, and execution of complex hardware programs.

• Define antenna architectures and performance targets for next-generation imaging radar systems, including field of view, angular resolution, gain, sidelobe levels, polarization, efficiency, bandwidth, scan performance, and calibration stability.
• Lead the design and optimization of advanced waveguide antenna technologies, including slotted-waveguide arrays, waveguide feeds, corporate and series-fed networks, apertures, transitions, radomes, and RF packaging interfaces.
• Develop electromagnetic models and design methods for complex antenna structures, accounting for mutual coupling, fabrication tolerances, thermal effects, dielectric loading, surface roughness, leakage, losses, and integration constraints.
• Drive antenna concepts through electromagnetic simulation, prototype design, fabrication, near-field and far-field measurement, correlation, root-cause analysis, and design iteration.
• Establish antenna-level budgets, verification plans, acceptance criteria, and correlation methodologies aligned with radar system performance.
• Partner with radar architects and RF engineers to optimize antenna, transceiver, packaging, calibration, and signal-processing tradeoffs at the system level.
• Lead integration of the antenna into automotive packaging, including radome effects, bumper and fascia materials, mounting constraints, environmental sealing, thermal management, and vehicle-level electromagnetic compatibility.
• Own technical decisions and communicate tradeoffs clearly to senior leadership, cross-functional teams, and external suppliers.
• Mentor antenna engineers and raise the technical bar through design reviews, reusable analysis methods, modeling standards, and measurement best practices.
• Guide supplier technical development, including design reviews, process capability, tolerance analysis, test correlation, and corrective actions.
• Support design release, validation, production launch, and field issue resolution for radar antenna hardware.

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related technical field, with significant industry experience; advanced degree preferred.
• Typically 12+ years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated technical depth and impact.
• Extensive professional experience designing antennas or microwave components for demanding radar, sensing, communications, aerospace, or automotive applications.
• Deep expertise in waveguide antenna design, including aperture synthesis, slotted-waveguide arrays, feed networks, transitions, mode control, impedance matching, and broadband performance optimization.
• Demonstrated ownership of antenna products from electromagnetic concept through prototype, measurement correlation, design verification, and production release.
• Strong command of electromagnetic theory, antenna array theory, microwave engineering, scattering parameters, polarization, propagation, and RF measurement techniques.
• Expert-level experience with 3D full-wave electromagnetic simulation and optimization tools, such as Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience with antenna measurement systems, including near-field or far-field ranges, over-the-air…