Autonomy Sensor Systems Engineer

Socket.dev; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 183,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid vacation

Paid sick leave

Insurance benefits (life, medical, etc

401(k) plan

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Job summary

Rivian is seeking an Autonomy Sensing Systems Engineer to define, verify, and validate sensor hardware requirements supporting ADAS and autonomous features. You’ll work across cameras, radar, lidar, IMU, GNSS, and related sensing tech to translate needs into testable system requirements and validation plans.

The role sits in Rivian’s Autonomy HW & Sensing Systems, partnering with hardware, systems engineering, integration, software, perception, reliability, and test teams.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
• 3+ years of experience in systems engineering, hardware validation, sensor integration, or requirements engineering in automotive, robotics, aerospace, or a related industry.
• Experience writing clear, testable technical requirements and linking them to validation methods.
• Familiarity with sensor technologies such as cameras, radar, lidar, IMU, GNSS, ultrasonic, or other perception-related hardware.
• Understanding of system validation methods across lab and vehicle environments.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and communicate effectively with design, test, software, and program teams.
• Strong problem-solving skills and comfort working in fast-moving development environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain sensor system requirements spanning functional performance, interfaces, environmental robustness, diagnostics, and safety.
• Translate vehicle- and feature-level ADAS needs into verifiable hardware and system-level requirements for ADAS sensing systems.
• Partner with hardware, integration, and software teams to align requirements across power, data, timing, packaging, calibration, and vehicle interfaces.
• Author and review validation strategies, DVP&R content, and test specifications that map directly to system requirements.
• Define pass/fail criteria, test coverage, and traceability from requirements through validation results.
• Support validation across lab, HIL, SIL, vehicle, track, and road environments as appropriate for the sensor system and maturity level.
• Work with cross-functional teams to identify performance gaps, failure modes, and edge cases, then drive requirements or test updates to close them.
• Contribute to scalable systems engineering processes, templates, and methods that improve consistency across sensor modalities.
• Analyze test results, investigate issues, and help drive root-cause resolution with internal teams and external suppliers.
• Support design reviews, change reviews, and milestone readiness by providing clear requirement and validation status.

Skills

Systems engineering

Hardware validation

Sensor integration

Requirements engineering

Cross-functional communication

Problem solving

Education

Master’s degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or related field

Master’s degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or related field (advanced degree)

Tools

Jama

Flow

Jira

Polarion

Job description

Rivian is seeking an Autonomy Sensing Systems Engineer to define, verify, and validate sensor hardware requirements supporting ADAS and autonomous features. You’ll work across cameras, radar, lidar, IMU, GNSS, and related sensing tech to translate needs into testable system requirements and validation plans.

The role sits in Rivian’s Autonomy HW & Sensing Systems, partnering with hardware, systems engineering, integration, software, perception, reliability, and test teams.