Role Summary

In this role, you lead the business and technical execution for a major vehicle zone (Upperbody or Underbody). Collaborating with the Vehicle Line Director (VLD), you will decompose overarching product vision and targets into actionable technical and financial deliverables while overseeing the end-to-end execution of your domain. You are responsible for the cross-functional orchestration of your zone to guarantee the zone successfully meets all program objectives.

Responsibilities

• VLD Partnership & Strategy Decomposition: Operationalize the VLD's program strategy by translating high-level product vision into actionable technical and business roadmaps.
• Unit Economic Ownership: Own your zone's Unit Economics (COGS) and Total Investment (CAPEX/ED&D); ensure zone-level decisions align with the VLD's total program margin targets.
• Commercial Stewardship: Lead technical cost-down initiatives and value engineering; identify financial risks early and present technical counter-proposals to protect the program's target margin.
• Strategic Sourcing Leadership: Partner with Global Supply Chain to define sourcing strategies that align with technical requirements; oversee tooling maturity and supplier capacity to de-risk the master schedule.
• Product Vision & Feature Mapping: Convert high-level business objectives into tangible feature goals; leverage benchmarking to drive innovation and ensure zone features contribute to the total vehicle value proposition.
• Technical & Operational Excellence: Direct the zone through Design Maturity (DM1-5) and Manufacturing Readiness; ensure engineering excellence is maintained from initial design to final assembly.
• Validation & Asset Strategy: Oversee the planning, budgeting, and procurement of validation assets relevant to your zone; ensure the full scope of testing is rigorous and synchronized with build phases.

Qualifications

• Expertise: 12+ years in automotive program management or engineering leadership, with a proven track record of delivering large-scale vehicle programs from concept through launch.
• Strategic Autonomy: Demonstrated ability to operate in highly ambiguous environments, making high-stakes decisions with incomplete data.
• Financial Acumen: Comprehensive knowledge of automotive cost structures, with direct experience managing total landed cost, BOM/Non-BOM COGS, and large-scale CAPEX budgets.
• Technical Breadth: Strong "first principles" engineering approach; prior Design & Release (D&R) experience in complex systems (e.g., Battery, Chassis, Body, or EE) is highly preferred.
• Influential Leadership: Proven ability to influence VP-level stakeholders and build cross-functional consensus on high-level strategic decisions

Pay Disclosure

The salary range for this role is $201,300-287,500 for Southern 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.

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.

You can apply for this role through careers.rivian.com (or through internal-careers-rivian.icims.com if you are a current employee).