Rivian

Senior Software Engineer, Motion Planning, Autonomy

Rivian$164K — $205K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, Engineering, or related field.
  • 3+ years as a Software Engineer, Data Analytics Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, or Motion Planning Engineer.
  • Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL, with a proven track record of production-grade data products.
  • Hands-on experience with distributed data processing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Ray) and cloud infrastructure.
  • Strong understanding of data-centric AI, dataset curation strategies, and model evaluation methodologies.
  • Experience with large-scale sensor data or complex robotics telemetry.
  • Demonstrated autonomous project leadership from concept to verified product.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain scalable data mining pipelines for rare driving scenarios.
  • Lead curation and analysis of large-scale training sets for LDM enhancement.
  • Design and implement evaluation frameworks to assess model performance against baselines.
  • Provide technical guidance and conduct code reviews for junior engineers.
  • Collaborate with modeling engineers to define data needs and refine experimental processes.
  • Identify trends and data distribution shifts affecting model training.
  • Contribute to data infrastructure design, balancing quality, scale, and efficiency.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families.
  • Paid vacation and sick leave.
  • 401(k) Plan participation for eligible employees.
  • Performance bonus and equity awards potential.
  • Life insurance and short/long-term disability insurance coverage.
  • Immediate benefits activation for full-time employees.
Full Job Description
Role Summary

We are seeking Senior Software Engineers to play a pivotal role in the development of our Large Driving Model (LDM). In this role, you will take ownership of the data pipelines and curation strategies that fuel our models. You will be responsible for building miners that surface high-value examples, refining evaluation benchmarks, and collaborating directly with modeling teams to accelerate performance. If you are a strong individual contributor with a deep background in Python, a passion for autonomous systems, and the ability to navigate complex data challenges independently, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain scalable data mining pipelines to extract rare and critical driving
    scenarios from massive fleet datasets.
  • Lead the curation and analysis of large-scale training sets to improve the robustness and
    generalization of the LDM.
  • Design and implement rigorous evaluation frameworks to measure model performance against real-world baselines.
  • Provide technical guidance and code reviews for junior and mid-level engineers,
    ensuring high standards for code quality and system design.
  • Partner closely with modeling engineers to define data requirements and iterate on rapid experimental loops.
  • Identify trends, anomalies, and data distribution shifts that impact model training and validation.
  • Contribute to the design of data infrastructure, making informed decisions on tradeoffs between data quality, scale, and compute efficiency.
  • Transition experimental data strategies

Qualifications

  • B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, Engineering, or a related field.
  • 3+ years of experience as a Software Engineer, Data Analytics Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, or Motion Planning Engineer.
  • Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL is required, with a proven track record of building production-grade data products.
  • Hands-on experience with distributed data processing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Ray) and cloud infrastructure.
  • Solid understanding of data-centric AI, dataset curation strategies, and model evaluation methodologies.
  • Experience handling large-scale sensor data or complex robotics telemetry.
  • Demonstrated ability to work autonomously, taking projects from a vague concept to a verified, high performing product.
  • Strong ability to communicate technical trade-offs and collaborate effectively within a fast-paced team environment.

Pay Disclosure

The salary range for this role is $164,700.00- $205,900.00 for 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). This job is not expected to be closed any sooner than September 20, 2026.

About Rivian

Rivian is an American automaker and automotive technology company. Founded in 2009, the company develops vehicles, products and services related to sustainable transportation. Rivian has raised over $10.5 billion since 2019, with investments from Amazon, Ford, and Cox Automotive. The company's first two vehicles, the R1T and R1S, are electric vehicles that are expected to be released in 2021. Rivian has also announced plans to produce electric delivery vans for Amazon. The company has received praise for its focus on sustainability and its commitment to using recycled materials in its vehicles.
Learn more about Rivian
Size
10,000 employees
Market Cap
$16.8 billion
Industry
Founded
2009
NASDAQ

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