Staff Product Launch Test Engineer

About Us

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

Role Summary

This is a hands-on manufacturing test engineering role on the production floor. As a Staff Manufacturing Test Engineer you own production test for RVTech electronic control units (ECUs) at our contract manufacturers: in-circuit test (ICT), end-of-line (EOL) functional test, and production flashing. You will be at the line through EVT, DVT, PVT, SOP and ramp-up; specifying and commissioning testers and fixtures, formally accepting test hardware and sequences before they reach production, chasing failures to root cause with design, firmware and process engineering, and holding the test gates at every program milestone. The problems you solve are in front of you on a bench or on a moving line, on real hardware. Your contributions will directly impact the performance and quality of RVTech's cutting-edge electronic modules, ensuring successful transitions from Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) to high-volume manufacturing at contract manufacturer locations.

Who This Role Is For

• Engineers who have owned real test equipment in a factory — an ICT set, an EOL station, a flashing cell — and been the person called when it stopped producing good parts.

• Engineers who can look at a failure and decide whether it is the fixture, the sequence, the process, the operator, the firmware, or the design — and then prove it.

• Engineers who are comfortable travelling to a contract manufacturer and standing on the floor until the problem is closed.

• Engineers who want to work across electronics and software rather than specialize in only one.

This is not a software QA, SDET, or application test automation role. It is not a product validation role (DV/PV, HIL, environmental, or vehicle-level testing). You will not be the primary author of the test sequences — you will review, challenge, accept and own them in production. If your background is software testing rather than manufacturing, this role will not be a fit.

Responsibilities

Production Test Ownership — ICT, EOL and Flashing

• Own the production test strategy, specifications and coverage for assigned ECU programs — ICT, EOL functional test and flashing — from DFT review through volume qualification.

• Drive the full industrialization of ECU flashing, from protocol selection (JTAG / DAP / ISP / bootloader) through volume qualification and cycle-time optimization.

• Lead DFT reviews with Design Engineering and the contract manufacturer: test point coverage, test access, fixture and nest feasibility, throughput and capacity.

• Specify, commission and qualify testers and fixtures at CM sites; own test capacity planning (installed vs. planned capacity, cycle time, OEE) and tester deployment and commissioning schedules.

Acceptance of Test Hardware and Sequences

• Act as the receiving customer for EOL hardware and test sequences developed by our Test Automation team and external integrators — define acceptance criteria, run FAT in our lab and SAT at the CM, manage punch lists, and give or withhold formal sign-off.

• Validate every hardware and sequence release in our lab before it reaches production. Block unvalidated equipment or sequences from entering the line, and make the risk visible to program leadership when schedule pressure pushes the other way.

• Maintain version control and release records for test sequences, limits and fixtures across all sites.

Failure Analysis and Root Cause on the Floor

• Identify, root cause and close production test failures, separating fixture, sequence, process, operator, firmware and design contributors.

• Lead component-level failure analysis of PCBA and module failures with Design Engineering, driving design or process changes during launch and early production.

• Reduce false fails, no-fault-found and escapes; run correlation and GR&R studies across stations and sites.

• Establish and monitor production test KPIs (FPY, first-fail Pareto, OEE, installed vs. planned capacity) and present findings and recommendations to program leadership.

• Drive corrective actions (8D) through to verified closure, with documentation aligned to IATF 16949 / VDA quality system requirements.

Build Events and Program Milestones

• Represent manufacturing test at every build phase — proto, EVT, DVT, PVT, SOP and ramp-up — with test readiness plans, capacity, logistics and coverage committed ahead of each build rather than during it.

• Run test readiness for mini-builds, capture lessons learned, and carry them into the kick-off of the main build.

• Track test deliverables against program milestones and quality gates; escalate blockers early instead of absorbing them.

• Drive PFMEA, control plan and PPAP completion for test-related elements at each quality gate.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serve as the primary manufacturing test point of contact for Design Engineering, Test Automation, Product Launch, Supplier Excellence, Quality and VWG governance stakeholders.

• Coordinate manufacturing test activities across contract manufacturer sites (e.g. USI, Pegatron, Inventec, Flex), aligning capacity plans, tester deployment and commissioning milestones.

• Act as Team Lead for tester bring-up and production readiness activities, coordinating junior test engineers and CM technicians as needed.

• Influence CM selection and quotation by bringing manufacturing test requirements into RFQ and award decisions.

Qualifications

Required — Manufacturing Test Background

• Hands-on ownership of ICT and/or EOL functional test equipment in a high-volume electronics manufacturing environment — equipment you specified, commissioned, debugged and kept running in production.

• Experience gained at a Tier 1 automotive supplier, EMS / contract manufacturer, or OEM plant, on PCBA or electronic module production. Automotive strongly preferred; semiconductor or high-volume consumer electronics considered.

• Ability to debug to component level: read a schematic, probe a live PCBA with oscilloscope and DMM, use boundary scan, and reach a defensible conclusion about the failure mode.

• Production programming / flashing of embedded devices at volume via JTAG, DAP, ISP or bootloader flows.

• 6+ years in the specification, build, commissioning and sustaining of manufacturing test equipment for electronic modules — ICT, EOL testers and programming stations — across multiple platforms or programs.

• Bachelor's in Electrical, Electronics, Mechatronics, Manufacturing or a related engineering field plus 6 years of relevant experience; or Master's plus 4 years; or PhD plus 3 years; or equivalent experience.

Experience

• Track record of carrying a product through EVT, DVT, PVT, SOP and ramp-up from a manufacturing test standpoint, including test capacity analysis and first-pass yield improvement.

• Multi-variable root cause analysis of production test failures in high-volume lines, including false-fail, no-fault-found and escape analysis.

• Running FAT and SAT acceptance of test equipment and test sequences supplied by internal teams or external integrators, including acceptance criteria, punch lists and formal sign-off.

• Working across the engineering / contract manufacturing interface on PCBA production quality, DFT and test optimization.

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