Sr. Systems Integration Engineer-Power Modes 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 Vehicle Power Modes defines how a vehicle wakes up, stays active, transitions between power states, and goes to sleep. As a Senior System Integration Engineer, you will help shape power-mode architecture for future generations of RVT vehicle platforms and make it executable across software, hardware, diagnostics, validation, and release teams. This role is similar to a technical program integration role, but it is much more hands-on. You will understand the technical details deeply enough to make tradeoffs, investigate failures, and drive issues to closure. You will connect system requirements and architecture to implementation, integration, validation, and production-ready releases. Responsibilities • Define and maintain scalable Vehicle Power Modes architecture across future generations of RVT vehicle platforms. • Translate complex vehicle behaviors into technical requirements, state machines, timing diagrams, and sequence diagrams. • Own cross-functional dependency management across software, hardware, diagnostics, validation, manufacturing, and partner teams. • Establish integration milestones, readiness criteria, gates, risks, and escalation paths. • Serve as a central technical point of contact for software baselines, feature integration, and system-level tradeoffs. • Coordinate power-mode behavior across distributed controllers and vehicle systems. • Drive integration, debug, and release closure from early development through production-ready firmware. • Lead system-level investigations using vehicle logs, CAN, LIN, Automotive Ethernet, and ECU diagnostics. • Improve observability and diagnostics so that power-state failures can be isolated quickly across bench, HIL, vehicle, factory, and field environments. • Develop and maintain integration plans that connect requirements, implementation, test coverage, and release readiness. • Communicate technical status, risks, decisions, and dependencies clearly to engineering and leadership stakeholders. Qualifications Minimum Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field. • 5+ years of experience in automotive embedded systems integration, vehicle systems, or a closely related discipline. • Strong understanding of vehicle power distribution, embedded software lifecycles, ECU interactions, and distributed vehicle architectures. • Experience with CAN, LIN, and Automotive Ethernet analysis tools such as CANoe, CANalyzer, Wireshark, or equivalent. • Experience translating system behavior into requirements, state machines, sequence diagrams, and integration plans. • Experience with requirement management and issue-tracking tools such as Jama and Jira. • Proficiency with Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for log analysis, data analysis, and automation. • Ability to lead structured root-cause investigations across software, hardware, networks, and diagnostics. • Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to navigate complex technical and stakeholder dynamics. Preferred Qualifications • Experience with zonal controller architectures and modern E/E systems. • Experience with Vehicle Power Modes, wake and sleep behavior, low-voltage energy management, or vehicle state control. • Experience working across multiple vehicle programs or in a