Hiring: Staff Systems Engineer - Power Modes Company: Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies Location: Palo Alto, CA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-10 11:57:08 Employment Type: Full-time Target Skills & Keywords : Rails, Requirements Management, Systems Engineering About the job Experience: •8+ years of experience in systems engineering for complex electromechanical platforms (e.g., Aerospace, Defense, Grid-scale Energy, Robotics, or Automotive). Required Skills: •Partner cross-functionally with external customer brands to harmonize desired vehicle behaviors with technical architecture constraints. Ensure the core vehicle power moding software is flexible enough to support a diverse portfolio of vehicles without requiring bespoke changes for each brand. •Own the end-to-end technical definition of the vehicle power moding system; partner with the TPM to ensure the technical roadmap is accurately scoped and prioritized to align with vehicle program milestones. •Lead the design of arbitration logic to resolve competing power requests from various subsystems while ensuring the vehicle always maintains a safe and predictable power state. •Define the software interfaces and APIs for the power moding service, ensuring seamless communication over an Ethernet backbone with other zonal controllers. •Partner with functional safety and energy management teams to implement power-related "Limp-Home" strategies; own the software orchestration required to execute tiered load-shedding and degraded state transitions in response to system failures. •Strategically drive decomposition of high-level vehicle requirements into testable technical specifications for software, hardware, and integration teams. •Define the deterministic timing and sequences between power moding software and LV/HV subsystems, utilizing positive feedback loops to ensure rail stability before releasing zonal loads. •Manage the vehicle-level sleep budget by allocating, monitoring, and enforcing limits; collaborate with the energy management team to align these budgets with vehicle range and standing time targets. Qualifications: •B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field. •Minimum of 8+ years of experience in systems engineering for complex electromechanical platforms (e.g., Aerospace, Defense, Grid-scale Energy, Robotics, or Automotive). •Proven ability to design timing-critical sequences where software logic must manage high-transient loads and ensure system stability. •Comprehensive expertise in high-voltage to low-voltage conversion and the challenges of managing stable power rails in systems with limited energy buffering. •Expertise in requirements management tools (e.g., Flow, Jama, Polarion, or DOORS) and experience decomposing high-level system intents into testable software/hardware specifications. •Demonstrated ability to set technical direction, lead cross-functional negotiations, and harmonize requirements between competing domains. •Strong experience with functional analysis tools such as DFMEA and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) to ensure system reliability and safety-critical uptime. •Proven ability to work in a fast-paced development environment and manage technical scope across multiple vehicle platforms simultaneously. •Operational familiarity with safety-critical standards (e.g., ISO 26262, DO-178C, or IEC 61508) and the design of fail-safe power state transitions. •Exceptional ability to translate qualitative "user feel" into quantitative system requirements and technical specifications. Compensation: •$171,100 - $235,300 / year •Competitive benefits and rewards package •In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!