Rivian · 1 day ago
Staff Maneuver Planning Engineer, Autonomy
US-CA-Palo Alto
Full-time
Onsite
Lead/Staff
$228K/yr - $285K/yr
8+ years expRivian is an automotive company focused on electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology. They are seeking a Staff Maneuver Planning Engineer to lead the development of vehicle decision-making and motion capabilities, ensuring the autonomous fleet navigates complex environments safely and efficiently.
AutomotiveElectric VehicleManufacturingTransportation
Responsibilities
Design and Implement Complex Maneuvers: Develop high-performance algorithms for critical autonomous behaviors, including urban route following, lane changes, intersection handling, and constrained parking scenarios
Drive Data-Informed Planning: Move beyond simple heuristics by utilizing large-scale fleet data to identify edge cases, refine planner behavior, and validate performance at scale
Build Scalable Evaluation Metrics: Design and implement quantitative metrics that go beyond "pass/fail" to rigorously measure the comfort, progress, and safety of planned trajectories across millions of miles of simulation
Process Large-Scale Driving Data: Architect pipelines to analyze petabytes of driving data, extracting insights that inform motion planning strategy and parameter tuning
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Perception, Systems, and Simulation teams to ensure the planning stack receives high-quality inputs and can be validated against realistic agent behaviors
Technical Leadership: Act as a key technical authority (TL or TLM) within the planning department, mentoring junior engineers and defining the long-term roadmap for maneuver planning architecture
Architectural Oversight: Navigate the tradeoffs between computational efficiency and plan quality, ensuring the motion planning stack remains performant in real-time environments
Foster Engineering Excellence: Promote a culture of clean, extendable C++ and Python code, ensuring the codebase is modular and collaborative
Qualification
Required
B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Robotics, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
8+ years of experience in motion planning, behavioral planning, or decision-making for autonomous vehicles or complex robotic systems
Expertise in C++ and Python: Ability to write production-grade, real-time C++ code and leverage Python for rapid prototyping and large-scale data analysis
Data-Centric Mindset: Demonstrated experience using large datasets to inform algorithmic changes, rather than relying solely on manual 'if-else' logic
Strong Leadership Potential: Experience or high potential in technical leadership (TL/TLM), with a track record of guiding complex projects and mentoring peers
Deep Knowledge of Robotics Fundamentals: Familiarity with optimization-based planning, state lattices, A*/D*, POMDPs, or similar motion planning frameworks
Analytical Rigor: Strong background in building scalable metrics and evaluation frameworks to quantify autonomous behavior
Communication Skills: Excellent ability to build consensus across teams and translate complex technical challenges into actionable roadmaps
Hands-on Approach: Proactively identifies bottlenecks in the planning stack and 'rolls up sleeves' to implement fixes in both simulation and on-vehicle environments
Benefits
Paid vacation
Paid sick leave
Life insurance
Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Short-term disability insurance
Long-term disability insurance
401(k) Plan
Employee Stock Purchase Program
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
2026-02-05
The Motley Fool
2026-02-03
Company data provided by crunchbase