Sr. Technical Program Manager, Diagnostics

Role Summary

The Diagnostics Team's mission is to be the industry trailblazer in ZEV diagnostics leveraging our smart vehicle ecosystem to delight our customers as they fearlessly (and faultlessly) enjoy their next adventure.

We achieve our mission by developing the most advanced integrated diagnostics system in the world, capable of proactively monitoring, analyzing, and learning from our fleets throughout their lifecycle.

This position is a critical one in achieving the mission. As the Senior Technical Program Manager for the Diagnostics Organization, you will be ultimately responsible for alignment of each of the individual teams' planning with the broader organization and company goals. You will have the opportunity to go deep into the different technical vectors of diagnostic system development, which will include exposure to and collaboration with many different teams across the software organization, and your role will touch every product developed by Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical program manager for Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies' Diagnostics Organization, which includes the Onboard Diagnostic System Development, Enhanced Diagnostic System Development, Diagnostic System Test and Integration, Diagnostic Software, Diagnostic Calibration, and Diagnostic Automation teams. In this, work with each team to properly understand their technical discipline as well as their needs, to facilitate holistic team planning.
• Stay on top of the program goals, priorities, objectives, and timing across all the ongoing programs and projects to convey and apply this information back to the team.
• Work with the team to define goals and map out detailed plans to obtain those on a quarterly basis.
• Specifically, work with all relevant external teams, in alignment with Diagnostics team leadership, to develop quarterly plans with detailed milestone schedules, mediate scope, participate in transforming requirements and specifications into achievable plans, manage inter-team dependencies in this planning, and identify and mitigate program risks.
• Lead quarterly and release-cycle planning for diagnostics initiatives across Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies programs. Translate program priorities and diagnostic maturity goals into scoped plans, milestones, deliverables, owners, and dependencies.
• Maintain program plans, Jira work tracking, milestone schedules, and diagnostic release/readout materials so teams and leadership have a clear view of planned work, progress, upcoming decisions, and delivery risks.
• Develop dashboards, plans, and other tracking and reporting tools to clearly represent the teams' tasks and progress in a simple, concise format. Use these to provide regular, metric-based project updates to management on state of diagnostics across the vehicle domains.
• Support smooth execution of programs, team efficiency, and effectiveness through the application of appropriate process and execution monitoring.
• Track diagnostic deliverables against software, factory, field, and OTA release milestones. Identify schedule or integration risks early, coordinate recovery plans with accountable owners, and communicate impacts to affected teams.
• Facilitate prioritization and scope decisions when program needs, team capacity, dependencies, or timing conflict. Ensure decisions and resulting plan changes are documented and communicated.
• Convert input from programs, service, vehicle domains, and internal stakeholders into prioritized diagnostic needs, clear work items, owners, and appropriate cross-team handoffs.
• Surface and drive resolution of blockers affecting diagnostic delivery, including coordinating technical owners and partner teams, documenting the decision or support required, and escalating when commitments or milestones are at risk.
• Prepare concise, metric-based status updates and leadership readouts covering milestone progress, risks, dependencies, decisions, and support needed. Represent Diagnostics in program and domain planning forums.
• Support continuous improvement in Diagnostics program execution by identifying recurring planning, tracking, communication, or integration bottlenecks and coordinating improvements with the teams that own the processes.
• Serve as the external main point of contact, in understanding detailed team scheduling and prioritization, to shield teams from outside distractions and interferences.
• Understand cross-team effects of project initiatives, and own dependency management and risk mitigation to avoid hurdles to execution.
• Effectively communicate execution status of initiatives and program milestone work to all stakeholders. Summarize reporting, raise and resolve risks, and celebrate wins.
• Organize feedback from stakeholders (e.g., Service, Manufacturing, Reliability, Quality) to facilitate continuous improvement within Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies' diagnostic ecosystem.

Qualifications

• BS in Engineering (preferably Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, or Software related discipline), or a similar technical discipline
• 5+ years experience serving in a technical program manager capacity.
• Enthusiastic about working on the Diagnostic System at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies.
• Experience in the fields of OBD and Diagnostics.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical program planning and delivery across multiple engineering or software teams.
• Experience translating technical and business priorities into milestones, deliverables, owners, dependencies, and release plans in a complex development environment.
• Strong issue, risk, and dependency management skills, including the ability to drive timely decisions and recovery plans across teams without relying on direct authority.
• Ability to engage credibly with technical teams, understand constraints, and communicate schedule, scope, and program impacts clearly to both engineering teams and leadership.
• Knowledge of Agile and Waterfall development processes using program management tools.
• High proficiency in issue management tools such as Jira, and experience leveraging automation and AI to force multiply your program management effectiveness.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills, including ability to develop and deliver technical presentations in a simple, clear manner.
• Demonstrated ability to drive projects across diverse teams and diverse communication preferences.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver on complex technical projects within time and resource constraints.
• Ability to collaborate with multiple cross-functional disciplines, including external stakeholders.
• Ability to think fast, prioritize, and make decisions that benefit Rivian as a whole using a first principles approach.
• Experience working at an automotive company and/or in a fast paced start-up-type environment is a plus.

Total Rewards

We build the exceptional - and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.

Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.

In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full-time employees - including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country. Learn more about our global benefit programs.

External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site (https://rivianvw.tech/#careers). If you are a current employee, please apply through our internal job board.