Entry Level Autonomous Systems Engineer Jobs in California

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.
Role Summary
The Autonomy Software Systems team's deliverables include owning a feature from the definition stage to the development and production stage and designing the system from system architecture to subsystem requirements.
In this role, you will lead the systems engineering, architecture design, and function development of various Automated driving features as well as safety-monitoring subsystems that gate these features. Your work will have a direct impact on the daily experience and safety of our customers, which is critical to the mission at Rivian.
Responsibilities

• Define features' operational design domain, functional, performance and safety requirements for the feature based on the vision for the feature and desired user experience.
• Architect solutions to meet features' functional and performance requirements
• Define interfaces and identify cross functional dependencies.
• Collaborate within Autonomy development teams such as pose, perception, planning, motion control, software infrastructure for end-to-end feature development, integration, and testing.
• Define and develop metrics for feature evaluation and collaborate with logging, simulation, data analytics and cloud teams to deploy the required infrastructure/methods.
• Drive cross functional collaboration between chassis, vehicle dynamics, UI/UX and vehicle SW teams to satisfy feature and system requirements.
• Work across development, triage, integration, and test teams to identify, root cause, and resolve or mitigate feature issues. Lead process improvements to achieve First-Time-Right design.
• Coordinate with program teams on feasibility, development status, risks, limitations to effectively set up and meet program schedules.
• Participate and represent the autonomy team in the architecture and design reviews, feasibility studies, timeline reviews, FMEAs and impact analysis hosted by various stakeholders.
• Execute cross functional discussions by fostering consensus, even during challenging technical discussions.
• Own the system definition of the subsystems that detect sensor obstruction/blindness and driver attention, and how those states gate the availability, degradation, and safe hand-back of automated driving features.
• Define the requirements and interfaces between these subsystems and their consumers (feature-availability arbitration, driver warning/escalation and takeover, minimum-risk maneuvers) and their inputs (perception, sensor health, pose), explicitly balancing detection robustness against false-alarm / nuisance rate.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace, Electrical, Mechatronics, Computer Science, Robotics or a related field.
• 4+ years (Bachelor's)/2+ years (Master's) professional experience in systems engineering or software development, building autonomous systems or similarly complex robotics systems.
• Track record of deploying software in production environments, carrying one or more of listed responsibilities or developing software for autonomy stack.
• Working knowledge of Automotive standards, regulations, and test protocols (ECE, USNCAP, IIHS, EUNCAP, UNECE) related to automated driving.
• Strong problem solving skills in a highly cross functional and fast paced environment.
• Moderate programming skills (C/C++, Python/SQL) for rapid prototyping, data analysis, and software development and integration.
• Excellent team player with strong communication and presentation skills.
• Preferred - Familiarity with driver monitoring (attention/drowsiness/eyes-off), sensor blockage/blindness or availability monitoring, or other safety-monitor/degradation subsystems and the fail-operational / MRM behavior they trigger.

Pay Disclosure
The salary range for this role is $162,800-$203,500 for San Francisco Bay Area 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.
We offer a comprehensive package of benefits for full-time and part-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26, including but not limited to paid vacation, paid sick leave, and a competitive portfolio of insurance benefits including life, medical, dental, vision, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance to eligible employees. You may also have the opportunity to participate in Rivian's 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program if you meet certain eligibility requirements. Full-time employee coverage is effective on their first day of employment. Part-time employee coverage is effective the first of the month following 90 days of employment. More information about benefits is available at rivianbenefits.com.
Equal Opportunity
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, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at
Candidate Data Privacy and Technology
Rivian may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes ("Candidate Personal Data"). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Rivian may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian affiliates; and (iii) Rivian's service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
How We Use AI in Our Hiring Process: To ensure transparency, we want candidates to know that Rivian uses iCIMS Talent Cloud Artificial Intelligence (TCAI) and AI-enabled tools to assist with screening, reviewing, organizing and highlighting profiles and applications that match the key requirements for each role.
AI does not make hiring decisions: Qualified candidate applications are reviewed by a member of our team, and all decisions throughout the process are made by humans. We use AI to support efficiency and consistency, not to replace human judgment. We are committed to a fair, thoughtful, and equitable experience for every candidate.
Participation in AI profile matching is entirely voluntary. If you prefer that your profile not be used in this process, you can opt out at any time. Opting out means your profile will be excluded from automated matching and will not be surfaced for additional roles through this system. Your current application remains active and will not be affected in any way.
Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.