Staff Validation Engineer - Electronics Design

Role Summary

As a Staff Electronics Design and Validation Engineer, you will be part of the Design and Product Development organization responsible for developing electronic control units (ECUs) for Rivian and Volkswagen Group vehicles. These systems include infotainment, telematics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), battery management, and zonal controllers.

You will contribute throughout the complete electronic hardware design lifecycle-from concept development and requirements definition through architecture, component selection, schematic capture, printed circuit board layout, prototype bring-up, design validation, production validation, and launch.

While validation will be your primary technical focus and area of subject-matter expertise, you will be an active contributor to the electronic hardware design and development process. This is a product-development engineering role, not a manufacturing or production test engineering position.

Working alongside electrical, systems, software, mechanical, reliability, manufacturing, and supplier engineering teams, you will ensure that hardware designs are functional, testable, reliable, and ready for mass production. You will define validation strategies, identify design risks, and ensure that designs meet system- and module-level requirements under environmental, mechanical, and electrical stresses. These conditions include thermal extremes, shock and vibration, humidity, electromagnetic effects, power transients, and fault injection.

This is a Staff-level individual-contributor role combining hands-on technical work, cross-functional technical leadership, and mentorship across multiple ECU programs.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, modify, and validate electronic hardware throughout the complete product-development lifecycle, including concept development, requirements definition, architecture, component selection, schematic capture, PCB layout, prototype bring-up, design validation, and production launch.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for electronics verification and validation across infotainment, telematics, ADAS, and other vehicle ECU programs.
• Partner with systems and product engineering teams to translate product needs into clear, measurable, and testable electronic hardware requirements.
• Develop and evaluate hardware architectures, circuit designs, interfaces, power-distribution strategies, and component selections.
• Perform and lead reviews of schematics and PCB layouts to identify functional, electrical, reliability, manufacturability, and testability risks early in the development process.
• Provide technical leadership in Design for Testability (DFT), Design for Reliability (DFR), and Design for Manufacturing (DFM).
• Develop comprehensive design verification and validation strategies, plans, test methods, acceptance criteria, and requirements-traceability matrices.
• Lead Design Verification Plan and Report (DVP&R) and Production Validation Plan and Report (PVP&R) activities in alignment with program milestones.
• Define validation coverage for functional, electrical, environmental, mechanical, durability, electromagnetic, and fault-injection requirements.
• Lead prototype bring-up, hardware characterization, debugging, and the resolution of issues identified during development and validation.
• Modify and improve electronic designs based on test results, root-cause findings, performance data, reliability risks, and changing product requirements.
• Own test-coverage reporting, results analysis, validation-readiness assessments, and final validation recommendations.
• Plan and oversee component-level testing performed by engineers, technicians, suppliers, and external laboratories.
• Coordinate test equipment, laboratory capacity, test samples, and other resources while maintaining validation schedules.
• Communicate design and validation status, technical risks, dependencies, and recommendations to engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Lead cross-functional investigations of design issues, test failures, and noncompliant results, using data analysis and structured root-cause methods to identify underlying issues and drive corrective actions.
• Partner with hardware, systems, software, mechanical, reliability, and supplier engineering teams to implement design changes, containment plans, and revalidation strategies.
• Support the transition of validated hardware designs into series production, including design-release readiness, supplier technical reviews, production issue resolution, and launch support.
• Improve validation efficiency, automation, repeatability, coverage, and data quality across electronic hardware-development programs.
• Mentor engineers and technicians and establish electronic design and validation best practices across the organization.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience developing and validating electronic hardware through the complete product-development lifecycle, from concept and requirements definition through production launch.
• Hands-on experience with electronic hardware architecture, circuit design, schematic capture, PCB layout review, prototype bring-up, debugging, and design validation.
• Subject-matter expertise in electronic hardware verification and validation, including electrical, functional, environmental, durability, and fault-injection testing.
• Experience developing and executing DVP&R and PVP&R activities for complex electronic products.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze test data, lead root-cause investigations, and translate findings into hardware design improvements.
• Product-development design experience with complex electronic systems; experience limited primarily to manufacturing or production testing is not sufficient for this role.
• Strong cross-functional leadership, technical communication, and engineering mentorship skills.

Total Rewards

We build the exceptional - and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.

Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.

In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full-time employees - including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country.

External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site.