Senior TPM - ECU Reliability & Durability Validation

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies

Irvine (CA)

On-site

USD 140,000 - 190,000

Full time

13 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Equity (RSUs)

Job summary

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies seeks a Senior Technical Program Manager to lead reliability and durability validation for ECU hardware across Infotainment, Connectivity, and Zonal controllers. You will coordinate across test engineers, hardware design teams, and outside labs to translate milestones into executable test plans and drive issues to closure.

The role emphasizes hands‑on hardware validation foundations, strong program management instincts, and the ability to influence

Qualifications

4+ years of experience in technical program management, test engineering, or validation coordination in the automotive, aerospace, or consumer electronics industry.
B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related technical field.
Hands‑on familiarity with ECU / PCBA reliability and durability test methods: thermal cycling, vibration, shock, humidity, corrosion, and HALT.
Experience developing and maintaining DVP&R documents and reliability test plans aligned to automotive standards (ISO 16750, AEC‑Q, IEC 60068, or OEM‑specific test specs).
Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi‑workstream validation programs—tracking milestones, samples, lab capacity, and cross‑team dependencies simultaneously.
Experience coordinating with both internal test labs and accredited third‑party test facilities, including scheduling, sample management, and report review.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to produce clear status reports, risk registers, and gate review packages for engineering and program leadership.
Experience with Atlassian‑based tools including Jira and Confluence for program tracking, documentation, and cross‑team coordination.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally to test laboratories, supplier sites, and vehicle program locations as needed.

Responsibilities

Own and maintain reliability and durability validation program schedules; align test milestones with ECU and vehicle‑level program gates across all xVT maturity phases.
Coordinate test execution across RVT’s internal labs in Northern and Southern California and accredited third‑party test facilities; manage capacity, sample allocation, and sequencing.
Develop and maintain the R&D validation test plan (DVP&R) for assigned ECU programs, ensuring coverage of thermal cycling, vibration, shock, humidity, corrosion, and accelerated life testing.
Identify, elevate, and actively drive mitigation of program risks related to test schedule, lab availability, sample readiness, and failure closure.
Support test readiness reviews with ECU TPMs, confirming that R&D test infrastructure, samples, and procedures are in place ahead of each program gate.
Author and maintain test coordination artifacts: program trackers, status reports, risk registers, and gate review packages for internal and partner audiences.
Drive continuous improvement of R&D test planning processes, coordination workflows, and reporting practices across the ECU validation team.