Opportunity

Job Description

The Staff Thermal Attributes Engineer will act as a subject-matter expert for vehicle thermal performance. The engineer will establish thermal targets, develop system arbitration strategies and optimise heat-pump, refrigerant, coolant-loop and cabin performance. The position connects analytical simulation with wind-tunnel, proving-ground and on-road testing to ensure thermal performance and efficiency targets are achieved throughout the vehicle-development lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Establish vehicle and subsystem thermal targets for different operating use cases.
• Lead benchmarking of electric-vehicle thermal systems and performance.
• Develop vehicle-level thermal arbitration strategies covering refrigerant systems, coolant loops, cabin conditioning and heat-pump operation.
• Perform vehicle thermal simulations, sensitivity studies and design-of-experiment investigations.
• Analyse refrigerant-system performance, efficiency and health using vehicle test data.
• Coordinate thermal hardware and control requirements with Studio, Propulsion, Controls and Thermal Engineering teams.
• Support wind-tunnel, proving-ground and on-road testing.
• Correlate analytical models with physical test results.
• Support thermal architecture development and final Design Verification Plan sign-off.

Eligibility

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Engineering from an accredited university, with a strong background in thermal science.
• At least ten years of relevant experience with automotive thermal systems and components at an OEM or automotive supplier.
• Advanced understanding of refrigerant circuits, heat pumps and vehicle thermal-management systems.
• Ability to lead complex engineering investigations and work across multidisciplinary teams.

Required Skills

Automotive thermal systemsHeat-transfer engineeringRefrigerant-system analysisVehicle thermal simulationTest-data analysisModel-to-test correlationEngineering problem-solving

Preferred Skills

Heat-pump optimisationWind-tunnel testingDesign-of-experiments analysisElectric-vehicle thermal architecture

Application Instructions

Apply through Rivian’s official careers page by selecting Apply and submitting the requested résumé and candidate information.

Apply on employer website

Staff Thermal Attributes Engineer