Staff Software Engineer, Charging

Rivian is on a mission to keep the world adventurous forever. This goes for the emissions-free Electric Adventure Vehicles we build, and the curious, courageous souls we seek to attract.

As a company, we constantly challenge what’s possible, never simply accepting what has always been done. We reframe old problems, seek new solutions and operate comfortably in areas that are unknown. Our backgrounds are diverse, but our team shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it for future generations.

Role Summary

Rivian's Charging Cloud team is a truly full-stack group of engineers building the systems that power Rivian's charging network - from real-time charge session management to backend infrastructure that keeps drivers on the road. This is not a role for someone who waits to be told what to do. We're looking for an engineer who sees problems before they become incidents, pulls teammates forward rather than waiting to be assigned, and communicates with a clarity that makes the whole team faster. Technical depth is a prerequisite - but what separates this role is the mindset: strong ownership, proactive thinking, and a genuine investment in the success of the people around you. This position carries an explicit path toward engineering leadership and, for the right person, future management responsibility.

Responsibilities

Own systems end-to-end. Design, architect, and implement robust, scalable backend and cloud systems. You hold the full picture - from database schema to API contract to production health - and you don't hand off accountability at the boundary of your ticket.

Drive technical direction. Lead architectural decisions, author RFCs, and shape the long-term evolution of the platform. You bring strong opinions formed from first principles and hold them loosely when presented with better evidence.

Communicate with precision and purpose. Translate complex technical trade-offs into clear language for engineers, product managers, and cross-functional partners. Write well. Say hard things directly and constructively. Make async decisions stick because your written reasoning is sound.

Elevate the team. Mentor and sponsor junior and mid-level engineers - not just through code review, but through pairing, design sessions, and honest feedback delivered with care. You measure part of your own success by how much better the people around you get.

Be proactive, not reactive. Identify risks, gaps, and opportunities before they surface as incidents or blocked projects. Raise issues early, bring a proposed path forward, and follow through without being chased.

Ship reliable, production-grade software. Develop RESTful APIs, microservices, and event-driven components with a focus on performance, security, and long-term maintainability. Own on-call responsibilities and treat production health as a first-class concern.

Stay current and bring it back. Track meaningful developments in cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, and backend engineering. Apply what's relevant - and help the team learn from what you've found.

Qualifications

- 7+ years of professional experience in backend or full-stack software development, with substantial time building production systems at scale.

- Deep expertise in Java/Spring, including modern idioms and ecosystem tooling.

- Strong command of cloud platforms - primarily AWS - including services like Kafka, SQS/SNS, ElastiCache, Lambda, and related managed infrastructure.

- Experience designing and operating distributed, high-availability systems.

- Solid fundamentals in relational and non-relational database design, query optimization, and data modeling.

- Comfortable with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).

- Proven ability to lead technical discussions, mentor teammates, and influence outcomes without direct authority.

- Clear, confident communication - written and verbal - in English.

- A track record of ownership: you have seen your systems through incidents, refactors, and scale-ups, not just initial delivery.

- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical experience).

Strong advantages:

- Experience in the EV, mobility, or IoT domain - familiarity with charge session protocols (OCPP) or real-time telemetry pipelines is a meaningful plus.

- AWS Professional or Specialty certification.

- Hands-on experience with Spring Boot, ReactJS, or similar full-stack ecosystems.

- Prior involvement in building or scaling an engineering team - hiring, onboarding, or establishing engineering practices.

- Demonstrated experience writing technical documentation, RFCs, or architecture decision records that have driven real decisions.

Equal Opportunity

Rivian is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. 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.

Rivian 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 [email protected].

Candidate Data Privacy and Technology

Rivian 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 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 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 affiliates; and (iii) Rivian’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, 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.

How We Use AI in Our Hiring Process: To ensure transparency, we want candidates to know that Rivian uses iCIMS Talent Cloud Artificial Intelligence (TCAI) and AI-enabled tools to assist with screening, reviewing, organizing and highlighting profiles and applications that match the key requirements for each role.

AI does not make hiring decisions: Qualified candidate applications are reviewed by a member of our team, and all decisions throughout the process are made by humans. We use AI to support efficiency and consistency, not to replace human judgment. We are committed to a fair, thoughtful, and equitable experience for every candidate.

Participation in AI profile matching is entirely voluntary. If you prefer that your profile not be used in this process, you can opt out at any time. Opting out means your profile will be excluded from automated matching and will not be surfaced for additional roles through this system. Your current application remains active and will not be affected in any way.

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