Senior Vehicle Line Manager - EV Program Leadership

Rivian Automotive; Tustin (CA); On-site; USD 201,000 - 288,000; Full time

Job summary

Rivian Automotive in Southern California is seeking a Senior Program Manager to lead the business and technical execution for a major vehicle zone (Upperbody or Underbody). You will decompose the product vision into actionable technical and financial deliverables and oversee end-to-end execution of your zone to meet program objectives.

You will own unit economics, drive cost-down initiatives, partner with Global Supply Chain, map features to the vehicle value proposition, and guide the zone

Qualifications

• 12+ years in automotive program management or engineering leadership.
• Ability to operate in highly ambiguous environments and make high-stakes decisions.
• Knowledge of automotive cost structures and CAPEX budgets.
• Experience with Design & Release (D&R) in complex systems (Battery, Chassis, Body, or EE) preferred.
• Ability to influence VP-level stakeholders and build cross-functional consensus on high-level decisions.
• Familiarity with vehicle autonomous systems and/or hardware.

Responsibilities

• Translate VLD’s program strategy into actionable technical and business roadmaps.
• Own zone unit economics (COGS) and total investment (CAPEX/ED&D) and align with program margins.
• Lead technical cost-down initiatives and value engineering; identify financial risks and propose counter-proposals.
• Define sourcing strategies with Global Supply Chain; oversee tooling maturity and supplier capacity.
• Convert business objectives into feature goals and map to total vehicle value proposition.
• Direct the zone through Design Maturity (DM1-5) and Manufacturing Readiness; ensure engineering excellence.
• Oversee planning, budgeting, and procurement of validation assets to align with build phases.

Skills

Automotive program management

Engineering leadership

Strategic decision making

Financial acumen

Cost-down / value engineering

Design & Release (D&R)

Stakeholder influence

Autonomous systems familiarity

Job description

Rivian Automotive in Southern California is seeking a Senior Program Manager to lead the business and technical execution for a major vehicle zone (Upperbody or Underbody). You will decompose the product vision into actionable technical and financial deliverables and oversee end-to-end execution of your zone to meet program objectives.

You will own unit economics, drive cost-down initiatives, partner with Global Supply Chain, map features to the vehicle value proposition, and guide the zone