Sr. Thermal Development and Calibration Engineer at Rivian · Irvine

Role Summary

The Senior Thermal Development and Calibration Engineer is responsible for developing, calibrating, validating, and launching vehicle-level climate comfort features from early definition through production sign-off. This role sits at the intersection of feature definition, controlsstrategy, calibration maturity, and cross-functional launch execution.

This engineer is expected to translate customer and attribute intent into actionable feature requirements, operating logic, validation plans, and calibration deliverables that can be implemented across vehicle, software, and thermal subsystem teams. A high level of technical judgment, climate comfort intuition, and cross-functional leadership is required to ensure feature performance is achieved at launch.

The role is especially focused on vehicle climate comfort behavior across real customer conditions, including hot soak, cold drive-off, steady-state comfort, transient comfort response, and system behavior under edge-case or arbitration scenarios. This engineer should have a strong understanding of how HVAC hardware, thermal systems, controls, software, and user experience all come together to deliver a high-quality customer climate experience.

Responsibilities

● Support vehicle-level climate comfort feature development from concept through launch readiness and post-SOP improvement● Define feature use cases, operating states, triggers, inhibits, fallback behavior, and customer-facing acceptance criteria● Translate climate comfort intent into clear cross-functional requirements for vehicle systems, software, calibration, and subsystem teams● Develop calibration strategies and tuning plans for HVAC and thermal comfort features across program milestones● Lead calibration maturation for vehicle features across mule, lab car, chamber, road load, and program builds● Create and maintain validation plans, DVP inputs, test procedures, and pass/fail criteria aligned to feature requirements and program milestones● Plan and execute vehicle-level testing for climate comfort features in chamber, road, and extreme environment conditions● Analyze test data, identify gaps to target, and drive issue triage, root cause, and closure across software, systems, and thermal teams● Work directly with Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies System Software and implementation teams to define detailed feature logic, calibration hooks / parameters,diagnostics, and observability needs● Partner with Aerothermal / attribute teams to align comfort targets, ambient assumptions, success criteria, and performance sign-off expectations● Interface with Thermal / Refrigeration subsystem teams on requested evaporator / airflow / compressor operating targets and required validation conditions for feature success● Collaborate with UI/UX teams to ensure settings behavior, alerts, messaging, and customer controls support the intended feature experience● Drive readiness reviews using milestone-based KPI tracking for requirement maturity, calibration maturity, validation completion, issue closure, and launch risk● Clearly communicate results, open issues, risks, and recommendation paths to engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders● Support post-launch issue resolution, OTA improvement opportunities, and incorporation of field learnings into future feature updates

Qualifications

● Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related engineering discipline● Minimum 5+ years of experience in automotive HVAC, thermal systems, feature development, controls, or calibration● Demonstrated experience developing and validating vehicle climate comfort behavior● Strong understanding of HVAC system operation, refrigerant / heat pump systems, airflow delivery, heating and cooling strategies, and occupant comfort behavior● Experience creating test plans, validation procedures, and engineering documentation tied to requirements and sign-off criteria● Experience with data analysis, issue triage, and structured root cause investigation● Strong communication skills and the ability to drive alignment across multiple engineering teams● Ability to operate independently in an ambiguous development environment and lead technical convergence toward launch decisions Preferred Qualifications● 7+ years of experience in automotive thermal feature development or climate controls calibration● Strong understanding of vehicle climate comfort in EV applications, including heat pump and high-voltage thermal interactions● Experience with automotive communication protocols and debugging tools such as CAN, LIN, Ethernet, CANalyzer, CANoe, INCA, or equivalent tools● Experience with chamber testing, off-site hot and cold weather testing, and instrumented vehicle development● Experience defining feature requirements or decomposing customer-facing behavior into vehicle, software, and subsystem deliverables● Background in HVAC controls calibration, comfort target development, drive-quality-style tuning, or customer-experience-focused feature tuning● Familiarity with software / systems development workflows including issue tracking, requirement traceability, diagnostics, and observability planning● Experience supporting milestone reviews and launch readiness reporting for vehicle programs● Experience with physically instrumenting vehicles for thermal testing (thermocouples, anemometers, humidity sensors, CO2 sensors,..) is a plus

Pay Disclosure

The salary range for this role is $121,500-151,900 for Southern California based applicants. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, shift, and organizational needs. The successful candidate may be eligible for annual performance bonus and equity awards. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits for full-time and part-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26, including but not limited to paid vacation, paid sick leave, and a competitive portfolio of insurance benefits including life, medical, dental, vision, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance to eligible employees. You may also have the opportunity to participate in Rivian’s 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program if you meet certain eligibility requirements. Full-time employee coverage is effective on their first day of employment. Part-time employee coverage is effective the first of the month following 90 days of employment. More information about benefits is available at rivianbenefits.com.