Staff Technical Program Manager Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California

INTRODUCTION

Rivian is seeking a Staff Technical Program Manager to electronics product development across the vehicle portfolio. This role owns complex, cross-functional hardware programs from early concept and development through vehicle integration, validation, and production readiness.

You will connect Electrical Hardware, systems engineering, ADAS/Autonomy, firmware and software, vehicle integration, validation, quality, manufacturing, supply chain, and external partners. You will establish clear plans and decision paths across custom sensor development, PCBAs, suppliers, and contract manufacturers, helping teams deliver robust technology to vehicle milestones.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

- Own integrated program plans for both in-house and vendor electronics for sensor modules including scope, requirements, schedules, milestones, dependencies, risks, and production-readiness criteria.
- Lead cross-functional execution of in-house and vendor hardware development, coordinating electrical, RF, mechanical, systems, firmware, software, validation, and vehicle-integration workstreams.
- Translate system and vehicle needs into clear program deliverables, interfaces, milestones, and readiness gates; align teams on verification and validation plans.
- Drive technical reviews and decision-making, track actions to closure, and surface tradeoffs across performance, quality, cost, schedule, and product integration.
- Coordinate PCBA, ECU, sensor-module, and other electronics development with internal teams and external engineering partners.
- Plan and track prototype, development, and validation builds; align hardware availability, configuration, issue resolution, and vehicle-level dependencies.
- Lead supplier and contract-manufacturer engagements, including technical deliverables, design reviews, build plans, issue resolution, change control, escalations, and readiness tracking.
- Partner with manufacturing, quality, and supply chain teams to support manufacturability, build readiness, and transition from development to production.
- Maintain clear program health reporting for stakeholders and leadership, including risks, assumptions, decisions, dependencies, recovery plans, and status against milestones.
- Improve program operating cadence and execution practices across multiple concurrent workstreams.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

- 8+ years of experience in technical program management, systems engineering, or hardware development in a complex product environment.
- Familiarity with automotive radar systems and radar sensor or module development.
- Experience in automotive product development, ideally with an OEM, Tier 1 supplier, ADAS, or vehicle-electronics program.
- Demonstrated success leading cross-functional hardware or electronics programs from development through production.
- Strong program-management fundamentals, including integrated planning, milestone tracking, risk and dependency management, issue escalation, and change control.
- Experience coordinating engineering, validation, manufacturing, and other partners across multiple workstreams.
- Ability to interpret engineering and program artifacts such as requirements, block diagrams, schematics, test plans, validation reports, and engineering changes.
- Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills, including the ability to align technical teams and brief leadership.
- Comfort operating in ambiguity, building structure, and driving decisions without complete information.
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, systems engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Familiarity with PCBA development, including schematic and layout reviews, board bring-up, BOM maturity, validation, and manufacturing release.
- Experience leading custom development efforts from requirements and design through prototype builds, validation, and production release.
- Experience with contract-manufacturer (CM) engagements for electronics development, builds, manufacturing readiness, quality, and production ramp.
- Experience in vendor management, including oversight of technical deliverables, schedule, cost, quality, issue resolution, and escalations.
- Familiarity with other custom sensor technologies and their integration into vehicle electrical, software, and systems architectures.
- Familiarity with automotive validation and production-readiness processes, such as DVP&R, APQP, or PPAP.
- Familiarity with program-tracking tools such as JIRA and Confluence and with Agile or hybrid development environments.
- Master's degree in a relevant technical discipline.