Staff Technical Program Manager - OTA

Rivian VW Group; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Global benefits

Job summary

Rivian VW Group Technologies seeks an experienced Technical Program Manager (TPM) to lead OTA-related initiatives. You will coordinate with OTA leaders, drive agile ceremonies, and ensure alignment across internal and external stakeholders to deliver complex automotive software projects.

The role requires strong leadership, strategic thinking, and a track record of delivering across distributed teams in a fast-paced environment. Location includes Palo Alto and other sites supporting OTA efforts.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering or related field.
• 6+ years of Technical or Engineering Program Management experience.
• Experience with Atlassian-based applications (Jira/Confluence).
• Experience with full SDLC and complex systems in technical or programs capacity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; strategic thinker.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with leadership to execute the team's technical vision.
• Lead grooming, sprint planning, and estimation processes.
• Coordinate program planning and quarterly planning activities.
• Coordinate with OTA leads to align work scope and dependencies.
• Collaborate with external TPMs to plan for changes and budget needs.
• Encourage adherence to development norms and processes.
• Design and maintain agile processes across domains and contexts.

Skills

Program management

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Agile

Jira/Confluence

Communication

System thinking

Education

BS in Computer Science or Engineering

MS in related technical field

Tools

Jira

Confluence

APIs

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

Over the Air Updates are critical to RV Tech’s ability to deliver the latest fixes and features to customers internally and externally. The OTA organization is an end‑to‑end integrated firmware development, systems integration, system architecture, test automation, cloud development, release operations, data engineering, and test automation distributed across sites in Palo Alto CA, Irvine CA, Belgrade Serbia, and Berlin Germany.

Due to the criticality of OTA to RV Tech’s operations, the complexity of the system, and the inherently distributed nature of the team; having a strong TPM ensuring consistent coordination and execution internally to the OTA org and externally with stakeholder organizations is critical to ensuring the success of our product. This role requires a strong personality that can drive outcomes without direct ownership, a system mindset that can see how the constituent parts feed into the larger picture, and a natural leadership ability to bring the human parts together to achieve the technical goal.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with the leadership team to ensure the execution of our team’s technical vision
• Lead tactical development processes (grooming, pointing, sprint planning)
• Facilitate strategic development processes (program planning, quarterly planning) and decomposition into tactical exercises
• Coordinate with OTA team leads to ensure work scope is clear, dependencies are clear, and stakeholders are primed to support each other.
• Coordinate with counterpart TPMs external to the OTA team to ensure we’re prepared for changes that will impact us or requests for work/support we need to budget for
• Push engineering leaders and developers to follow the development norms and processes
• Design and maintain agile processes for tracking and executing OTA projects across a variety of domains and contexts

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or other related technical fields with 5+ years relevant experience
• 6+ years of Technical or Engineering Program Management experience

• Experience with Atlassian-based applications, including Jira and Confluence, bonus points if you’ve worked with the APIs directly
• Experience with the entire Software Development Lifecycle from user story creation to validation and maintenance.
• Experience working with complex systems in either a technical or programs capacity

• Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal, along with the ability to think strategically and develop solutions quickly and effectively.

• Expert with agile, waterfall, or kanban development processes
• Passionate about process improvement and developing strong cross‑functional relationships
• Experience with Software Defined Vehicles is preferred but not required

Total Rewards

Full‑time positions include base salary, eligibility for an annual performance bonus, and eligibility for equity.

In addition to base salary, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies offers benefits tailored to the local market. For more information on the benefits available for full‑time employees, check out our Global Benefits Site.

External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site https://rivianvw.tech/#careers. If you are a current employee, please apply through our internal job board.

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 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, analysing 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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