Senior Automotive Wireless Hardware Architect

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies seeks an experienced hardware architect to lead the Hardware Systems Architecture team. You will translate wireless feature requirements into vehicle sub-system architectures and define performance criteria for validation.

You will cover WiFi, BT/BLE, 4G/5G, GNSS, V2X, and UWB across RF, network, compute and power domains, shaping scalable roadmaps and cross‑functional collaboration across teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years hands-on experience in automotive, aerospace, or relevant consumer applications.
• Deep familiarity with wireless technologies for automotive applications (LTE/5G, WiFi, BT, GNSS, BLE, UWB, NFC, V2X).
• Familiarity with CCC and Made for iPhone keyless entry systems at module and system levels.
• Experience designing and validating embedded RF systems for distributed architectures.
• Foundation in RF and electrical engineering fundamentals with hands-on testing equipment.
• Power-aware distributed embedded architectures with low-power state knowledge.
• Knowledge of GNSS, BLE, LTE, 5G, Wi‑Fi, UWB and performance evaluation at protocol/system levels.

Responsibilities

• Work cross-functionally with hardware architecture, systems engineers, hardware design and software teams to derive architecture requirements.
• Model system-level trade-offs for distributed compute, network, considering power, latency, memory, and scalability.
• Establish vendor/industry relationships to map connectivity standards and build a scalable roadmap for RVT.
• Guide development of mock-ups or prototypes to study next-gen technologies and proofs‑of‑concept.
• Support system validation with test plans to surface performance metrics and identify bottlenecks.

Skills

Wireless tech landscape

System design/CCC/MFi

Embedded RF design

RF fundamentals

GNSS/BLE/LTE/5G/Wi‑Fi/UWB

Power management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Advanced degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related field

Tools

Test equipment: logic analyzers

Oscilloscopes

Spectrum analyzers

DMMs

Network analyzers

Job description

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies seeks an experienced hardware architect to lead the Hardware Systems Architecture team. You will translate wireless feature requirements into vehicle sub-system architectures and define performance criteria for validation.

You will cover WiFi, BT/BLE, 4G/5G, GNSS, V2X, and UWB across RF, network, compute and power domains, shaping scalable roadmaps and cross‑functional collaboration across teams.