Principal, Service Technical Intelligence

About Rivian

Rivian is on a mission to keep the world adventurous forever. This goes for the emissions-free Electric Adventure Vehicles we build, and the curious, courageous souls we seek to attract.

As a company, we constantly challenge what’s possible, never simply accepting what has always been done. We reframe old problems, seek new solutions and operate comfortably in areas that are unknown. Our backgrounds are diverse, but our team shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it for future generations.

This is a senior, high-impact individual contributor role for a deeply technical leader, acting as the primary engineering-level bridge between our field service operations and our core Engineering, Diagnostics, and Design teams.

This position was created to establish a robust, high-fidelity technical feedback loop from the field, ensuring that complex service issues are not just logged, but are synthesized, translated, and driven back into the core engineering development cycle. You will also be responsible for architecting the high-level technical knowledge framework to scale the expertise of our service-facing teams.

This role is distinct from Service Engineering (which focuses on diagnostic tools, technical service procedures, and tooling), Firmware Engineering (which builds the product), and our Lab Teams (which develop procedures and test new methods). Your responsibility is the synthesis of intelligence and the codification of knowledge, acting as the senior technical authority that connects these functions. The ideal candidate is an engineering leader who can operate with the credibility of a Senior Engineering Manager and the hands-on expertise of a systems architect.

• Architect and Own the Technical Synthesis Loop: Design and operate the process for intaking complex, ambiguous, and high-impact field issues. Use your deep engineering expertise to diagnose systemic patterns, translate them into precise engineering-level problem statements, and present synthesized findings and recommendations directly to Firmware and Vehicle Engineering leadership.
• Develop and Scale the Engineering Knowledge Framework: Lead the creation of a sophisticated, scalable internal knowledgebase. This is not a simple "wiki" role; you will define the architecture for how we codify the engineering principles and deep system behaviors behind complex issues, turning core engineering knowledge into reusable, teachable content that provides high-level context for technicians.
• Act as the Field s "Chief Engineer": Serve as the primary partner for core engineering by ingesting and synthesizing complex technician feedback. You will translate systemic field issues into engineering-level challenges and collaborate with engineering teams to architect long-term, scalable solutions.
• Identify and Translate Systemic Failure Patterns: Go beyond individual repair cases to identify broader patterns in field data. You will analyze diagnostic data, technician feedback, and vehicle logs to find the "signal in the noise," flagging emerging issues and influencing future design-for-serviceability (DFS) requirements based on this synthesized evidence.
• Drive Engineering-Level Backlog Influence: Partner with Program Managers and engineering leaders to ensure the most critical field-discovered issues are accurately represented and prioritized in engineering backlogs. Your technical validation and synthesis will be the primary source of justification for this prioritization.

• Minimum 10 years of progressive, hands-on experience in a senior or principal-level role within vehicle engineering, firmware/software systems, vehicle diagnostics, or highly technical service engineering.
• A background as a senior engineering manager, principal engineer, or systems architect is strongly preferred.
• Expert-level, hands-on mastery of complex integrated systems (e.g., vehicle systems, avionics, robotics) and a deep understanding of firmware architecture, software, and vehicle-level diagnostics.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex, disparate technical information (logs, field reports, data) into clear, concise, and actionable engineering problem statements.
• Proven experience in architecting, building, or scaling a technical documentation framework or engineering-level knowledgebase.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the proven ability to command respect and drive consensus with senior engineering leaders (Directors, VPs) and field technicians alike.
• Bachelor s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field is required; a Master’s or PhD is highly preferred.

• A Technical Synthesizer: You find the signal in the noise. You are uniquely skilled at taking a large volume of complex, raw technical data and distilling it into a core principle or root cause.
• A Systems Thinker: You instinctively understand the connections between a firmware change, a diagnostic procedure, a…