EV Adhesives & Sealing Materials Engineer

Rivian Automotive; Tustin (CA); On-site; USD 78,000 - 97,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) Plan

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Equity awards

Job summary

Rivian is seeking a Materials Engineer in the Failure Analysis and Materials Engineering team in California. You will qualify adhesives and sealants, design test plans, run mechanical/thermal tests, and interpret data to inform Rivian engineering specifications.

The role focuses on hands‑on lab work across Rivian’s vehicle programs, with opportunities to collaborate with suppliers and manufacturing and to contribute to the safety and reliability of electric vehicles.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.
• Hands‑on experience with mechanical testing of polymers on a universal testing frame (Instron, MTS, ZwickRoell).
• Working experience with DSC, TGA, DMA, FTIR, rheometry, optical microscopy, SEM/EDS.
• Solid grounding in polymer fundamentals and how environmental exposure degrades adhesion.
• Clear technical writing for test plans, procedures, and reports.
• Data analysis in Python, JMP, Minitab or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Plan and run laboratory testing of adhesives, sealants, gaskets, potting compounds, and thermal gap fillers.
• Execute mechanical testing at material and joint levels (lap shear, peel, tensile, hardness).
• Characterize cure, thermal, and chemical behavior with DSC, TGA, DMA, FTIR, rheometry.
• Run environmental aging and sealing tests and assess IP-related ingress protection.
• Qualify new materials, write qualification reports, and support engineering approval.

Skills

Mechanical testing

Polymer fundamentals

Data analysis

Lab safety

Technical writing

CAE data handling

Education

B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering or related field

M.S. with research in polymers or adhesion (preferred)

Tools

Instron/MTS/ZwickRoell

DSC/TGA/DMA/FTIR

SEM/EDS/Optical microscopy

Abaqus/LS-DYNA (preferred)

Job description

Rivian is seeking a Materials Engineer in the Failure Analysis and Materials Engineering team in California. You will qualify adhesives and sealants, design test plans, run mechanical/thermal tests, and interpret data to inform Rivian engineering specifications.

The role focuses on hands‑on lab work across Rivian’s vehicle programs, with opportunities to collaborate with suppliers and manufacturing and to contribute to the safety and reliability of electric vehicles.