Staff Data Engineer, Vehicle Software

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the automotive industry seeks a Staff Data Engineer to develop and implement scalable data pipelines that support vehicle analytics and AI systems. The ideal candidate will possess extensive experience in data engineering, particularly in machine learning and data infrastructure, working collaboratively with data science and vehicle systems teams to enhance vehicle software capabilities.

Benefits

Robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance

Coverage effective on the first day of employment

Diverse and inclusive work environment

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering.
• Strong proficiency in Spark, SQL, Python, and Databricks required.
• Hands-on experience with MLOps best practices.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement ML data pipelines for real-time analytics.
• Build and manage high-throughput ETL pipelines.
• Ensure data quality, lineage, and governance.

Skills

Spark

SQL

Python

Databricks

Machine Learning

Data Engineering

ETL

Education

B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or Data Engineering

Job description

Join to apply for the Staff Data Engineer, Vehicle Software role at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies

Join to apply for the Staff Data Engineer, Vehicle Software role at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies

About Us

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.

About Us

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

Role Summary

At Rivian, our mission revolves around developing vehicles powered by software and data. As a Staff Data Engineer, you will architect and implement scalable data pipelines that drive real-time vehicle analytics and AI-powered insights. This role sits at the intersection of data engineering and MLOps, enabling machine learning-driven vehicle control systems at scale.

You will work closely with data scientists, ML engineers, and vehicle systems teams to build robust, high-performance data infrastructure that fuels AI models, predictive analytics, and fleet-wide intelligence. If you are passionate about building scalable ML-ready data pipelines, optimizing model performance, and ensuring real-time data availability, this role is for you!

Responsibilities

• Design and implement ML data pipelines to support real-time analytics, intelligent vehicle controls, and model retraining workflows.
• Develop MLOps-enabled data infrastructure, integrating feature stores, model versioning, and automated model deployment pipelines.
• Optimize data ingestion, transformation, and storage for low-latency AI-powered decision-making.
• Build and manage high-throughput ETL pipelines, automating data workflows for large-scale vehicle telemetry and sensor data.
• Implement real-time streaming solutions (e.g., Kafka, Spark Streaming, Delta Live Tables) to enable on-vehicle data processing and cloud-based analytics.
• Ensure data quality, lineage, and governance while enforcing best practices in data security and compliance.
• Work closely with ML engineers and data scientists to optimize feature engineering, model training pipelines, and inference performance.
• Contribute to cost-efficient cloud data architectures, ensuring scalability, reliability, and cost optimization in AWS environments.
• Lead by example in code reviews, technical discussions, and mentoring junior engineers.
  
  

Qualifications

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, with expertise in ML-ready data infrastructure.
• Strong proficiency in Spark, SQL, Python, and Databricks.
• Hands-on experience with MLOps best practices, including feature stores, ML pipeline automation, and cloud-based AI workflows.
• Experience designing scalable, high-performance ETL pipelines for large-scale structured and unstructured data.
• Expertise in real-time data processing frameworks (e.g., Kafka, Spark Streaming, Flink).
• Ability to optimize AI/ML model performance through efficient data engineering.
  
  

Pay Disclosure

Salary Range/Hourly Rate for Palo Alto, California Based Applicants: $167,400 - 209,300 USD (actual compensation will be determined based on experience, location, and other factors permitted by law).

Benefits Summary: Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26. Coverage is effective on the first day of employment.

Equal Opportunity

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at [e-mail].

Candidate Data Privacy

Rivian and VW Group Technologies (“Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies”) may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.

Please see our Candidate Data Privacy Notice (English) and Candidate Data Privacy Notice (Serbian) for more information.

Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Not Applicable

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Information Technology

• Industries

  Software Development

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