Staff Technical Program Manager, Developer Productivity, DevOps, Infrastructure & Cloud Platforms

Rivian VW Group; Irvine, Northern (CA, KY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Retirement savings

Time off & family planning programs

Job summary

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies seeks a Staff Technical Program Manager for the Developer Productivity, DevOps & Cloud Platform team to lead cross-functional programs that improve how engineers build, deploy, operate, and continuously improve software.

You will connect DevOps, infrastructure, cloud, data, AI, and engineering leaders, turning ambiguous problems into executable plans, aligning ownership, and delivering durable improvements across build, test, release, and production.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in technical project and/or program management, engineering program management, product operations, engineering operations, or a related field.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs involving software engineering, infrastructure, cloud, DevOps, developer tools, or production operations.
• Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery and operations, such as CI/CD, build systems, cloud infrastructure, observability, distributed systems, service ownership, or incident response.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across multiple teams and organizational boundaries.
• Experience operating effectively in ambiguous environments where the path, ownership model, or solution is not yet defined.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor technical and program narratives to engineers, executives, and external partners.
• A track record of identifying systemic problems, establishing a clear operating model, and delivering measurable improvement.
• Sound judgment about when to create structure, when to move quickly, and when to escalate.
• Strong team player known for building trust and partnering across functional lines.
• Comfort using metrics, dashboards, operational data, and qualitative feedback to guide decisions.
• A bias toward action, learning, and continuous improvement.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to use AI tools as part of day-to-day program management work (not just programs about AI).

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-team technical programs from problem definition through delivery, adoption, and measurable business or engineering outcomes.
• Establish program strategy, scope, milestones, dependencies, decision forums, operating cadence, and success metrics.
• Partner with DevOps, infrastructure, cloud, security, data, AI, and engineering leaders to align priorities and sequence work across organizational boundaries.
• Drive improvements from incident management, including incident readiness, severity and escalation models, communications, command structures, post-incident learning, and follow-through on corrective actions.
• Coordinate programs that improve reliability and speed across build, test, release, deployment, observability, and production operations.
• Translate technical complexity into clear decisions, risks, tradeoffs, and actions for both engineering and executive audiences.
• Identify gaps in ownership, process, architecture, or operating mechanisms and create practical paths to resolution.
• Use data and operational signals to understand program health, expose systemic issues, and measure whether improvements are working.
• Build alignment across teams with different incentives, priorities, and levels of technical context.
• Influence without direct authority by creating clarity, building trust, surfacing issues early, and holding teams accountable to agreed outcomes.
• Represent the program in leadership reviews and provide concise, decision-oriented status updates.
• Improve the way we run programs by developing reusable mechanisms, templates, metrics, and working practices that scale beyond a single initiative.

Skills

Technical program management

Cross-functional leadership

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Incident response

Data-driven decisions

AI tooling

Tools

CI/CD tools

Build systems

Cloud platforms

Job description

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

As a Staff Technical Program Manager on the Developer Productivity, DevOps & Cloud Platform team, you will lead complex, cross-functional programs that improve how our engineers build, deploy, operate, and continuously improve software.

You will operate with a high degree of initiative and independent judgment. You will be the connective tissue between our DevOps and internal tooling teams, infrastructure and cloud leaders, engineering organizations, and partners across the company and external brands. Your work will create clarity where ownership is distributed, turn ambiguous problems into executable plans, and help teams make durable improvements to the systems and practices they rely on every day.

This role spans three connected program spaces:

• Product-oriented programs, including internal and external customer-facing tools and AI-enhanced workflows

• Platform-focused programs, including infrastructure, cloud services, developer platforms, build systems, CI/CD, and operational tooling.

• Internal-facing programs, including systems and tools that improve the way our engineers use data and AI, accelerate software development workflows, and strengthen incident response and learning.

You will be expected to flex across all three areas, often within the same program. The strongest candidates combine program-management rigor with enough technical fluency to earn the trust of engineers, understand system and operational tradeoffs, and help leaders make informed decisions without taking ownership away from the teams doing the work.

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-team technical programs from problem definition through delivery, adoption, and measurable business or engineering outcomes.

• Establish program strategy, scope, milestones, dependencies, decision forums, operating cadence, and success metrics.

• Partner with DevOps, infrastructure, cloud, security, data, AI, and engineering leaders to align priorities and sequence work across organizational boundaries.

• Drive improvements from incident management, including incident readiness, severity and escalation models, communications, command structures, post-incident learning, and follow-through on corrective actions.

• Coordinate programs that improve reliability and speed across build, test, release, deployment, observability, and production operations.

• Translate technical complexity into clear decisions, risks, tradeoffs, and actions for both engineering and executive audiences.

• Identify gaps in ownership, process, architecture, or operating mechanisms and create practical paths to resolution.

• Use data and operational signals to understand program health, expose systemic issues, and measure whether improvements are working.

• Build alignment across teams with different incentives, priorities, and levels of technical context.

• Influence without direct authority by creating clarity, building trust, surfacing issues early, and holding teams accountable to agreed outcomes.

• Represent the program in leadership reviews and provide concise, decision-oriented status updates.

• Improve the way we run programs by developing reusable mechanisms, templates, metrics, and working practices that scale beyond a single initiative.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• 5+ years of progressive experience in technical project and/or program management, engineering program management, product operations, engineering operations, or a related field.

• Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs involving software engineering, infrastructure, cloud, DevOps, developer tools, or production operations.

• Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery and operations, such as CI/CD, build systems, cloud infrastructure, observability, distributed systems, service ownership, or incident response.

• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across multiple teams and organizational boundaries.

• Experience operating effectively in ambiguous environments where the path, ownership model, or solution is not yet defined.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor technical and program narratives to engineers, executives, and external partners.

• A track record of identifying systemic problems, establishing a clear operating model, and delivering measurable improvement.

• Sound judgment about when to create structure, when to move quickly, and when to escalate.

• Strong team player known for building trust and partnering across functional lines.

• Comfort using metrics, dashboards, operational data, and qualitative feedback to guide decisions.

• A bias toward action, learning, and continuous improvement.

• Willingness and enthusiasm to use AI tools as part of day-to-day program management work (not just programs about AI).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with large-scale developer productivity, platform engineering, SRE, DevOps transformation, or cloud modernization programs.

• Experience leading incident-management or operational-excellence transformations across an enterprise.

• Experience working with AI and data platforms or enabling AI-assisted engineering workflows.

• Experience working across a technology company, automotive organization, or other complex product and platform environment.

• Experience partnering with external customers, brands, suppliers, or strategic technology partners.

• Familiarity with program and portfolio tools, engineering metrics, service-management practices, and modern product-development methods.

Total Rewards

We build the exceptional — and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.

Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.

In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full-time employees — including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country. Learn more about our global benefit programs.

Candidate Data Privacy

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) record keeping; (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.

If you provide a mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use that number to contact you via SMS text message for recruitment-related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.

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

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Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.