Rivian · 1 month ago
Sr. Staff Simulation Engineer
US-CA-Palo Alto
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$191K/yr - $239K/yr
7+ years expRivian is a company focused on revolutionizing the electric vehicle industry, and they are seeking a Sr. Staff Simulation Engineer to lead the development of electronic hardware components. The role involves conducting numerical simulations, leading design risk assessments, and collaborating within multidisciplinary teams to ensure product excellence.
AutomotiveElectric VehicleManufacturingTransportation
Responsibilities
Lead structural and thermo-mechanical design risk assessments for low-voltage electronics assemblies in cutting-edge vehicle electrical hardware
Conduct multi-scale numerical simulations (e.g., random vibrations, shock, thermal-cycling) on electronics assemblies to meet functional performance and reliability targets
Lead thermal/structural strategy, conceptualize design, and perform numerical simulations to address a variety of thermal/structural design challenges for leading-edge vehicle electrical hardware
Conduct and define vehicle thermal targets, partnering with thermal attributes for our components within the vehicle
Develop electronic cooling and packaging solutions for next generation vehicle architectures and electronic systems
Develop strategies for optimizing thermal and mechanical components by minimizing mass, cost and material usage
Provide detailed and actionable design suggestions including thermal stack-up, cooling layout and material selection to engineers responsible for detailed design of vehicle electronics
Provide detailed and actionable design recommendations, including enclosure stiffness targets, thermal stack-up, cooling layout, and material selection, to engineers responsible for detailed electronics assembly design
Develop material characterization plans and maintain the simulation material database for commonly used electronics components, polymers, and elastomers
Provide reliability engineers with simulation support for root-cause analysis during the testing and validation phases
Collaborate within multidisciplinary teams to ensure product and engineering excellence
Qualification
Required
M.S. / Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent
7 years (Ph.D) / 10 years (M.S.) of relevant industry experience working on problems in Structural Mechanics and electronic cooling solutions, including heat sink and thermal interface materials
Solid understanding of theoretical and experimental structural mechanics with good domain knowledge in the following areas: Non-Linear analysis, Explicit Analysis, Linear Dynamics and Vibrations, Coupled Thermal-Structural analysis
Proficient with FEA solvers, preferably Abaqus, and Optistruct
Proficient in pre/post processing tools such as Hypermesh, Ansa/Meta, etc
Strong expertise with computational modeling and common CFD analysis tools, such as Flotherm, Ansys Icepack, Star CCM
Excellent understanding of failure modes in metals, plastics, and elastomers
Proficient with using Python/Matlab for running analysis and post-analysis data processing
Experience developing and leading other multidisciplinary engineers
Excellent communication skills across all functions and levels
Excellent documentation practices
Fluent written and spoken English
Benefits
Rivian provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full-time and part-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26. Full Time Employee coverage is effective on the first day of employment. Part-Time employee coverage is effective the first of the month following 90 days of employment.
Company
Rivian
Rivian is an automotive technology company that develops products and services to advance the shift to sustainable mobility.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Rivian has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (38)
2024 (70)
2023 (54)
2022 (79)
2021 (21)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$21.93BKey Investors
Volkswagen GroupUS Department of EnergyIllinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity
2025-06-30Post Ipo Equity· $1B
2024-11-25Post Ipo Debt· $6.6B
2024-05-02Grant· $827M
Leadership Team
Robert Scaringe
Chief Executive Officer
Claire McDonough
Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
The Motley Fool
2026-02-03
2026-02-02
Company data provided by crunchbase