Sr. Software Engineer – Test Infrastructure & Tooling

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.

We are seeking a highly experienced senior Software Engineer to join our team to own test infrastructure, internal tooling, CI/CD, and automation for our Consumer Applications test organization in Palo Alto.

In this role, you will be the primary engineering owner for building and evolving the systems that power our test teams: from lab and bench tooling, to automation frameworks, to pipelines that keep our releases safe and fast. You will partner closely with test engineers, developers, and program leads to define strategy, implement scalable solutions, and continuously improve how we validate software across mobile, cloud, and in‑vehicle systems.

If you love building reliable platforms and tools that unblock others, and you’re excited to shape how we test complex, distributed systems, this role is for you.

Palo Alto, CA (onsite, with hands‑on access to lab equipment, benches, and test infrastructure)

• Own and evolve test infrastructure
  • Design, implement, and maintain shared test infrastructure for the test team, including automation harnesses, runners, lab/bench tooling, and execution services.
  • Build reliable services and libraries that make it easy for test engineers to create, run, and debug automated tests (e.g., SDKs/CLIs, job orchestration, logging, reporting and artifact handling).
  • Partner with hardware/lab/automation teams (HIL/SIL/benches, devices, vehicles) to integrate physical test assets into a cohesive, software‑driven test platform.
• Lead CI/CD and automation for testing
  • Own CI/CD pipelines that run unit, integration, system, and end‑to‑end tests for Consumer Applications (mobile, cloud, infotainment, and related services).
  • Define and implement strategies for test selection, parallelization, flakiness reduction, reporting, and reliability, keeping pipelines fast and trustworthy.
  • Integrate automated testing into pre‑merge and post‑merge workflows (gating rules, quality signals, dashboards, notifications).
• Build internal tools and developer experience
  • Develop internal tools and dashboards for infotainment testing, vehicle access testing, cloud services, and mobile app testing that improve visibility into test runs, coverage, lab utilization, and release readiness.
  • Improve current self‑service interfaces (APIs, CLIs, web UIs) that allow test engineers and developers to schedule, configure, and debug tests on shared infrastructure.
  • Standardize test project structure, templates, and best practices so teams can adopt automation quickly and consistently.
  • Proactively identify gaps in test infrastructure and internal tools and design, build, and roll out new tools that the team is missing, driving adoption and ongoing improvements.
• Drive quality and collaboration across teams
  • Work closely with test engineers, SDETs, and product/feature teams to understand their scenarios and translate them into robust infrastructure and tooling.
  • Help establish test strategy and test‑pyramid‑aligned approaches (unit, SIL, HIL, system, and end‑to‑end) that leverage your infrastructure.
  • Participate in technical design reviews, provide feedback on testability, and promote shift‑left testing and automation across the org.
• Operate, measure, and continuously improve
  • Own monitoring, alerting, and SLOs for key pieces of test infrastructure and pipelines.
  • Analyze results from test runs and pipelines to identify bottlenecks, flaky areas, and high‑value automation investments.
  • Proactively prioritize and deliver improvements that increase stability, reliability, while reducing manual work, and accelerate release cycles.
  • Ensure the reliability and stability of test assets to support both manual and automated testing activities across teams.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software/Computer Engineering,…