Lead Software Engineer, Embedded, 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.

In this position, you will be a Lead Staff Engineer developing embedded software for Rivian’s next‑generation autonomy driving platform. You will architect, design, develop, and test platform software to support Rivian’s cutting‑edge autonomy stack. You will lead feature development involving cross‑functional teams and oversee features from concept to deployment. Focus areas will include application development, driver development, hardware bring‑up, and simulation.

• Architect, design, develop, and maintain applications, drivers, and frameworks on high compute embedded platforms.
• Lead feature development involving cross‑functional teams through multiple phases of the SDLC.
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to bring‑up hardware and integrate software with various vehicle components and systems.
• Identify and implement optimizations to enhance system performance, memory utilization, and power efficiency.
• Participate in and conduct code reviews to maintain code quality, adherence to coding standards, and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for software designs, interfaces, and testing procedures.
• Develop and execute test plans to validate software functionality, safety, and reliability in compliance with automotive standards.
• Keep up with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices to contribute to continuous improvement within the team.
• Mentor and coach junior and senior engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and potentially overseeing a dedicated sub‑team of embedded developers.
• Drive the technical roadmap for the Autonomy platform and assist in resource planning, hiring, and team growth strategy.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 8+ years of related work experience.
• Experience programming with C and C++ languages.
• Experience with bleeding‑edge embedded software development and hardware bring‑up.
• Experience developing, profiling, and optimizing code running on a multi‑core embedded Linux target.
• Experience with Linux device drivers for hardware blocks such as Camera Serial Interface (CSI), Image Signal Processor (ISP), Ethernet, I2C, SPI, UART, UFS, or PCIe.
• Proven track record of mentoring engineers or leading small‑to‑medium technical teams.
• Experience in project management, sprint planning, or defining engineering processes within a high‑growth environment.
• Experience working with embedded development tools and debuggers.
• Experience working with version control systems (e.g., Git) and issue tracking tools.
• Strong understanding of modern SoC architectures, operating system fundamentals, hardware/software interfaces, and abstractions.
• Strong communication, debugging, problem‑solving, and teamwork abilities.
• Experience with automotive communication protocols such as CAN, UDS, and DOIP is a plus.
• Experience with any RTOS (e.g., FreeRTOS, QNX, Green Hills, etc.) is a plus.

The salary range for this role is $ – $ for California‑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.

The successful candidate may be eligible for annual performance bonus and equity awards.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits for full‑time and part‑time employees, their…