Location

Palo Alto, California

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Technology and Innovation

Compensation

• $116.3K – $145.4K • Offers Equity • Offers Bonus

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.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

Role Summary

We are seeking a highly skilled Backend Cloud Engineer proficient in Java and Kotlin to join the Connectivity team. The ideal candidate possesses a deep understanding of cloud-native architecture and the ability to write resilient, concurrent code. In this role, you will work on cutting-edge systems—managing a diverse ecosystem of both container-orchestrated workloads on Kubernetes and event-driven serverless functions—to build robust microservices that handle complex, high-throughput data streams at scale.

Responsibilities

• Build, optimize, and maintain highly reliable, scalable, and distributed microservices from prototype to production.

• Leverage automation to reduce roadblocks, streamline deployment pipelines, and achieve consistent deliverables.

• Design, implement, and maintain robust, secure, and performant APIs using REST and gRPC, optimizing for both internal microservice communication and external consumption.

• Work with data serialization technologies such as Protocol Buffers (Protobuf).

• Ensure backend technical feasibility, optimize applications for maximum performance, and handle high-throughput asynchronous processing.

• Implement and champion engineering best practices, including comprehensive code reviews, rigorous testing, and systematic root-cause analysis.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• 3+ years of professional experience in backend development, with a strong portfolio showcasing your work on complex, scalable cloud services.

• Experience deploying backend services across both serverless (AWS Lambda) and Kubernetes environments, including containerizing apps (Docker), familiarity with GitOps tools like ArgoCD and Helm is a strong plus.

• Strong proficiency in Java and Kotlin (experience with TypeScript for backend/serverless environments is a plus).

• Hands-on experience developing within the AWS Cloud platform (e.g., EC2, Lambda, MSK, ElastiCache, DynamoDB, Secrets Manager, Parameter Store) and a strong understanding of how backend applications interact with these managed services.

• Deep understanding of asynchronous programming, message queues (e.g., Kafka, SQS, NATS), and event-driven architecture.

• Experience with NoSQL (DynamoDB) and caching (ElastiCache); ability to evaluate trade-offs between relational (SQL) and non-relational solutions.

• Strong knowledge of Git for version control and collaboration.

• Experience in systematic troubleshooting and monitoring ( tools such as Datadog and Amazon CloudWatch) in production environments.

Total Rewards

Full-time positions include base salary, eligibility for an annual performance bonus, and eligibility for equity.

In addition to base salary, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies offers benefits tailored to the local market. For more information on the benefits available for full-time employees, check out our Global Benefits Site.

External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site (https://rivianvw.tech/#careers).

Equal Opportunity

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. 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. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies 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 candidateaccommodations@rivian.com.

Candidate Data Privacy

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies” 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 and Volkswagen Group Technologies 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) record keeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies 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 and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, 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.

If you provide a mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use that number to contact you via SMS text message for recruitment-related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.

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Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.