Senior Climate Control & Calibration Engineer

Rivian Automotive; Tustin (CA); On-site; USD 122,000 - 152,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid vacation

Paid sick leave

401(k) Plan

Employee stock purchase program

Job summary

Rivian is seeking a Senior Thermal Development and Calibration Engineer in Southern California to drive vehicle-level climate comfort features from definition to launch. You will translate customer intent into actionable requirements, develop calibration strategies, and lead cross-functional teams across vehicle systems, software, and thermal subsystems.

The role emphasizes real-world customer conditions, MULE, lab car, and chamber testing, with collaboration across Rivian and Volkswagen Group

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years in automotive HVAC, thermal systems, feature development, controls, or calibration.
• Experience validating vehicle climate comfort behavior.
• Strong understanding of HVAC operation, refrigerant/heat pump systems, airflow delivery, and occupant comfort.

Responsibilities

• Support vehicle-level climate comfort feature development from concept through launch readiness.
• Define feature use cases, operating states, triggers, and customer-facing acceptance criteria.
• Translate climate comfort intent into cross-functional requirements for vehicle systems, software, calibration, and subsystems.
• Develop calibration strategies and tuning plans for HVAC and thermal features across milestones.
• Lead calibration maturation across mule, lab car, chamber, road load, and program builds.
• Create and maintain validation plans, test procedures, and pass/fail criteria.
• Plan and execute vehicle-level testing for climate comfort features in chamber, road, and extreme conditions.
• Analyze test data and drive issue triage, root cause, and closure.

Skills

HVAC systems

Calibration

Vehicle climate comfort

Cross-functional leadership

Data analysis

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering

Tools

CAN

LIN

Ethernet

CANalyzer

CANoe

INCA

Job description

Rivian is seeking a Senior Thermal Development and Calibration Engineer in Southern California to drive vehicle-level climate comfort features from definition to launch. You will translate customer intent into actionable requirements, develop calibration strategies, and lead cross-functional teams across vehicle systems, software, and thermal subsystems.

The role emphasizes real-world customer conditions, MULE, lab car, and chamber testing, with collaboration across Rivian and Volkswagen Group