Staff Hardware Technical Program Manager

The role

You will serve as a technical liaison driving joint vehicle programs between engineering teams and Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche. You will align hardware requirements, program roadmaps, and architectural decisions between US-based teams and European partners.

What you will do

• Serve as the hardware integration partner for VW, Audi, and Porsche
• Own hardware integration schedules, milestones, and readiness gates
• Drive engineering change management including Program Change Requests
• Coordinate with internal hardware development and validation teams
• Track and close hardware issues and open action items
• Lead cost-reduction initiatives on hardware platforms
• Represent hardware integration in program reviews, quality boards, and steering meetings
• Maintain the Brand Technical Responsible interface
• Help build and grow the European partnering team

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechatronics, computer engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• Strong background in hardware development and/or hardware validation
• Generalist profile comfortable with hardware design, validation, program management, and partner alignment
• Experience in automotive or another safety-critical industry
• Fluent German and very good English, both written and spoken
• High stress resistance
• Agile working style
• Comfortable working across time zones with regular overlap with US colleagues

Nice to have

• Experience working with OEM partner programs
• Experience with automotive change management processes and PCR or ECR workflows
• Familiarity with zonal architectures, vehicle networking, or ECU platforms such as XMM, RFM, or VAS
• Project management certification (PMP, PRINCE2, or similar)

Benefits

• Annual company performance bonus program
• Equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
• Health coverage
• Retirement savings
• Time off
• Family planning programs

About the company

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders. They address electric vehicle challenges through technology for software-defined vehicles.