Director, Service Intelligence & Tooling at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies in Palo Alto, CA

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 Every vehicle already tells us a lot about its own health. Our job is to turn that signal into faster diagnoses, better repairs, and fewer surprises for owners. As Director of AI-Powered Diagnostics & Service, you will lead the teams building the intelligence layer between vehicle firmware, the cloud, and the technicians who keep vehicles on the road. You will shape how AI assistants, agents, and reusable skills can help technicians move from a fault code to a confident repair, across Rivian and Volkswagen Group vehicles. Responsibilities • Set the direction for AI-powered diagnostics and service tooling , including LLM assistants that help technicians reason through fault codes, service documentation, and repair history; agents that carry out multi-step diagnostic workflows across our tools; and reusable skills that capture diagnostic procedures once so they can be shared across tools and OEMs. • Lead and grow a multi-disciplinary organization spanning cloud diagnostic tooling, in-vehicle diagnostic strategy, firmware diagnostic engines, and the product and program teams that connect them. • Partner closely with Rivian and Volkswagen Group to tailor diagnostic and repair tools to each OEM’s vehicle content and service requirements, while building a shared foundation that scales across both. • Build diagnostic and repair tools that technicians rely on in service centers and factories, and make sure they solve the problems technicians face day to day. • Connect vehicle state to service outcomes , making sure information flows from the vehicle to the repair action, and that the business sees the impact on turnaround time, first-time fix rates, and customer satisfaction. Qualifications Minimum Qualifications: • 10+ years leading complex engineering and product organizations, including teams through growth and architectural change. • Hands-on experience with agents, LLMs, and building AI-powered software. • A track record of managing hardware-to-software product lifecycles. • Experience working across organizational or partner boundaries, such as joint ventures or multi-OEM programs, and influencing roadmaps without direct authority. • Strong product judgment, with a record of deciding what to build, what to defer, and how to measure whether a change made a real difference for technicians and vehicle owners. • Customer centricity that starts with the people who use these tools every day, from technicians working in the bay to owners waiting on their vehicle. • Strong stakeholder management skills, with a track record of aligning engineering, product, service operations, and OEM partners around a shared roadmap and clear priorities. • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex diagnostic and AI tradeoffs to executives, engineers, and technicians alike, and to write clearly about direction and decisions. • Background in vehicle systems, with working knowledge of how the electrical, electronic, and software architectures of modern vehicles fit together and how they behave in the service environment. • A B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field. Preferred Qualifications • Experience with automotive OEM technical ecosystems, particularly vehicle diagnostic, service, or repair platforms. • Experience bringing diagno