Sr. Design for Sustainability – Product Lead/

• Tustin, California; Palo Alto, California
• Mechanical & Electrical Engineering

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.

Role Summary

As part of the Design for Sustainability team you will play a key role in designing-in sustainability for all Rivian products. You’ll dive deep into the development cycle, optimizing sustainability through better materials, innovative manufacturing techniques, efficient operations, and second-life opportunities. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of sustainable transportation.

Responsibilities

• Take a leading role in driving the sustainability agenda within product development. Use data to identify the highest impact product decisions and create measurable actions and cross-functional projects to drive toward achieving the right outcome for sustainability.
• Use competitor intelligence, business aspiration, published sustainability research and trends as well as other relevant sources to derive industry leading Design for Sustainability targets and guidelines to implement within Rivian’s programs and engineering system strategies.
• Ensure key projects become plan of record for vehicle programs, creating a pathway to meet sustainability targets.
• Work with engineering teams to create sustainability system strategy and roadmaps towards achieving sustainability targets and aspirations in the short and longer term.
• For vehicle systems, identify the aspects of sustainability which are most important e.g., carbon footprint, recyclability, circularity, elongation of useful life, to create and deliver on strategies which address the most critical issues and where real impact can be made, relevant to that system.
• Lead cross-functional workstreams to deliver against sustainability targets, removing roadblocks and providing data, domain knowledge, experimental results, and cross-company knowledge sharing to drive sustainability projects forward.
• Effectively communicate sustainability metrics and strategies to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences, driving sustainability literacy across the business.
• Lead innovation in materials, design and manufacturing methods to leapfrog Rivian as the leading brand in sustainability. Partner with materials engineering and external suppliers to investigate and prove out new novel concepts in design-for-sustainability.

Qualifications

• Bachelors of Science  in an engineering or scienfitifc discipline
• 5+ years of experience within an automotive product development environment (OEM or supply chain)
• Prior experience as a design engineer, or domain knowledge in one area of design engineering
• Experience developing and operationalizing sustainable design solutions
• Demonstrated ability in “measuring what matters” in terms of engineering metrics, KPIs and extracting meaning out of complex sets of data
• A desire to contribute to a respectful, fun, inclusive and inspiring team and company culture
• Hands on knowledge of life cycle assessment and/or quantitative sustainability modelling (Preferred)
• Materials Engineering knowledge or experience (Preferred)
• Subject matter expertise in a specific vehicle commodity or operation, such as electronics, manufacturing, chassis, or others (Preferred)

Pay Disclosure

Salary Range Irvine-Based Applicants: $121,000-$139,000 (actual compensation will be determined based on experience, and other factors permitted by law).
Salary Range Palo Alto-Based Applicants: $130,000 -$150,000(actual compensation will be determined based on experience, and other factors permitted by law).
Benefits Summary: Rivian provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26. Coverage is effective on the first day of employment, and Rivian covers most of the premiums.