Senior Lead, Perception, Autonomy

Role Summary

The Perception Adaptation and Integration Lead will oversee the deployment of our core Perception system into new global markets, products, and hardware platforms. The immediate priority for this position is adapting autonomous features for the European market, followed by supporting any future market expansion and integration of our ADAS/Autonomy technology in other platforms and products. Serving as the primary interface for the Perception team, you will collaborate broadly with the autonomy organization and manage a team of individual contributors dedicated to these scaling efforts.

• Define, document, and communicate the technical challenges and requirements for each new market expansion, factoring in regional feature variations, local regulations, and diverse hardware constraints.
• Contribute to the strategic roadmap for addressing internationalization and platform integration challenges.
• Execute software modifications and system improvements to meet deployment requirements, with a heavy emphasis on driving data‑driven enhancements to machine learning models.
• Recruit, manage, and mentor individual contributors to support the team's expanding operational and technical scope.

• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Extensive experience leveraging data‑driven approaches to improve machine learning models specifically within perception or autonomy stacks.
• Solid software engineering fundamentals with proficiency in Python or C++.
• Deep expertise in core perception technologies, including machine learning, robotics, state estimation, and signal processing.
• Proven track record in the design, development, and integration of hardware and software systems for autonomy.
• Demonstrated experience managing engineering teams across software development, robotics, or machine learning domains.
• Comprehensive understanding of full‑stack perception systems, development tools, and validation pipelines.
• Strong capability to root‑cause complex issues across the software stack and implement reliable, real‑time solutions for safety‑critical systems.
• Ability to lead technical initiatives across complex, multi‑domain systems and effectively coordinate with diverse cross‑functional stakeholders in a fast‑paced environment.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with a collaborative, team‑oriented mindset.

The salary range for this role is $265,000 - $331,000 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.

• Paid vacation
• Paid sick leave
• Life, medical, dental, vision, short‑term disability, and long‑term disability insurance for full‑time and part‑time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26.
• Opportunity to participate in Rivian’s 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program if eligible.
• Full‑time employee coverage effective on the first day of employment; part‑time coverage effective on the first of the month following 90 days of employment.

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 that requires accommodations, please email us at candi