Senior Software Engineer, Cloud Platform

About Us

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software‑defined vehicles around the world.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

Role Summary

Join the Connectivity team at the center of the new Rivian Volkswagen Technology Group. Our team is building the unified, end‑to‑end communication fabric that will connect the next generation of software‑defined vehicles from Rivian and the Volkswagen Group to a distributed cloud ecosystem.

We are seeking a Senior or Staff Software Engineer to build and scale the foundational cloud platform services that make this possible. You will be a key contributor to our modern, multilingual messaging framework and owner of horizontally‑scalable distributed services and gateways. This is a rare opportunity to define the core communication patterns for one of the most advanced connected vehicle platforms in the world.

Responsibilities

• Define the end‑to‑end communication framework for vehicles from Rivian and the Volkswagen Group.
• Design and implement critical cloud services in Go, Type Script, Java, and Python enabling secure, low‑latency, reliable communication with millions of connected vehicles.
• Own the full lifecycle of the services you build, from initial design and implementation to testing, observability, and deployment via modern CI/CD.
• Act as a key contributor to our team‑owned Domain Specific Language (DSL) for vehicle abstraction, extending it and its client libraries (Go, TS, Java, etc.) to support new cloud/vehicle features.
• Own the developer experience for hundreds of internal engineers by providing robust tooling, clear documentation, and support for the platform's core APIs and client libraries.
• Drive the technical roadmap and project planning in close collaboration with cross‑functional vehicle, cloud, and security teams.

Qualifications

Core Experience

• BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional software development experience.
• Proven experience building and operating large‑scale, distributed systems in a cloud‑native environment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Deep expertise with API design (gRPC/REST), building services on top of messaging systems (e.g., NATS, Kafka, MQTT), and utilizing in‑memory data stores (e.g., Redis, Memcached).
• Experience with common cloud security principles and patterns (e.g., JWT, mTLS, ACLs).

Languages & Tooling

• Expertise in one or more of our primary languages (Go, Type Script, Java, Python), with a willingness to work in a polyglot environment.
• Experience with build systems and package management for the respective languages.
• Deep experience with Protocol Buffers (proto3) and associated code generation workflows.
• Experience with service orchestration on Kubernetes, including deep knowledge of horizontal scaling and high‑availability patterns.
• Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Terragrunt), CI/CD systems (Git Lab CI), and advanced Git usage (monorepos, submodules, git-lfs).
• Proficiency with modern observability platforms (Datadog, Databricks).

Leadership & Collaboration

• Experience leading architecture discussions and driving technical decisions across multiple teams.
• Proven ability to mentor other engineers through thoughtful code reviews and constructive feedback.

Bonus

• Experience with Bazel.
• Experience with end‑to‑end system design spanning from edge devices to the cloud.

Pay Disclosure

Salary Range/Hourly Rate for California Based Applicants: $146,900 - $183,600 USD (actual compensation will be determined based on experience, location, and other factors permitted by law).

Benefits

Summary:

Rivian provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full‑time and part‑time…