Staff Program Manager, Vehicle Test

Rivian Rivian · Auto · Irvine, CA · Test and Development

This role is for a Staff Program Manager focused on the operational and financial health of the Vehicle Test and Development department at Rivian. The responsibilities include designing tracking frameworks for the test fleet, coordinating software release readiness with engineering, managing the department's budget, integrating operational tools, and defining KPIs and metrics for leadership reporting. The role requires a Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field and typically 8+ years of experience in automotive or complex electro-mechanical products, with a strong understanding of vehicle development and validation processes.

What you'd actually do

  1. Design and implement comprehensive tracking and reporting frameworks for the Engineering Vehicle Test Fleet, effectively monitoring fleet health, utilization, and deployment.
  2. Partner with Program Management, Product Development, and Software Engineering teams to formulate and execute a robust strategy for assessing software release readiness.
  3. Coordinate budget planning, forecasting, and financial tracking for the Vehicle Test and Development department.
  4. Act as the primary system integrator for cross-functional operational tools (e.g., Jira, Hex, Confluence), driving their configuration, continuous improvement, and strict data integrity to optimize workflows for feedback management and issue triage.
  5. Define and generate actionable KPIs and development metrics to evaluate team progress and operational readiness. Consolidate this data to report on program deliverables and critical gateways, ensuring all reporting is accurate and highly consumable for leadership.

Skills

Required

  • Program Management
  • Vehicle Development
  • Systems Engineering
  • Validation
  • Budget Planning
  • Financial Tracking
  • System Integration
  • KPI Definition
  • Data Analysis
  • Reporting
  • Jira
  • Confluence
  • Jama

Nice to have

  • Automotive industry experience
  • Electro-mechanical product experience
  • Cross-functional leadership

What the JD emphasized

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field
  • 8+ years of experience in automotive or complex electro-mechanical products
  • Deep understanding of vehicle development milestones, systems engineering, and how DVPs, DFMEAs, requirements, and build phases support validation and launch decisions
  • Demonstrated experience planning and orchestrating validation at the vehicle or major subsystem level, including DVP creation, asset planning, schedule integration, and test or issue closure
  • Strong fluency with tools such as Jira, Confluence, Jama, dashboards, and related data systems to drive decisions, not just reporting