Demo

Thermal Design Engineer

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Palo Alto, CA Full Time
POSTED ON 4/4/2025
AVAILABLE BEFORE 3/3/2026
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

Rivian Electrical R&D are the backbone of GSD (Getting Stuff Done!) for our Hardware teams. Rivian is continuing to integrate major electrical systems and components and rapidly growing vertically. This growth equals rapid career advancement opportunities for those that love challenges and fast-paced high-performance culture.

Responsibilities

  • Lead thermal strategy, conceptualize design, and perform numerical simulations to address a variety of thermal design challenges for leading-edge vehicle electrical hardware.
  • Develop electronic cooling and packaging solutions for next generation vehicle architectures and electronic systems.
  • Define and support best practices for how CFD can be used towards electronic thermal management for high-power requirements.
  • Develop strategies for optimizing thermal and mechanical components by minimizing mass, cost and material usage.
  • Provide detailed and actionable design suggestions including thermal stack-up, cooling layout and material selection to engineers responsible for detailed design of vehicle electronics.
  • Coordinate and work with other analysts across other departments to coordinate analysis methodologies and design constraints.
  • Own and drive thermal methodologies, deliverables and test specifications to support modeling efforts.
  • Work in multidisciplinary teams and drive product and engineering excellence.

Qualifications

  • Masters Degree in Mechanical/Thermal Engineering or equivalent; PhD preferred.
  • 4-6 years of experience in providing electronic cooling solutions, including heat sink design, fan development and evaluation of thermal interface materials.
  • Deep understanding of conduction, convection and radiation.
  • Strong expertise with computational modeling and common CFD analysis tools, such as Flotherm, Ansys Icepack, Star CCM.
  • Experience with flow and measurement techniques.
  • Experience with 3D CAD, scripting and data analysis.
  • Strong grasp of failure analysis methodologies and experience with product reliability and validation procedures.
  • Experience developing and leading other multidisciplinary engineers.
  • Excellent communication skills across all functions and levels.
  • Excellent documentation practices.
  • Fluent written and spoken English.

Pay Disclosure

Salary Range/Hourly Rate for California Based Applicants: $117,200.00 - $146,500.00. (actual compensation will be determined based on experience, location, and other factors permitted by law).

Benefits Summary: Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26. Coverage is effective on the first day of employment.

Equal Opportunity

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com.

Candidate Data Privacy

Rivian and VW Group Technologies (“Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies”) may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.

Please see our Candidate Data Privacy Notice (English) and Candidate Data Privacy Notice (Serbian) for more information.

Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.

Salary : $117,200 - $146,500

If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Thermal Design Engineer?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Thermal Design Engineer career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$104,754 - $125,215
Income Estimation: 
$134,206 - $155,125
Income Estimation: 
$90,267 - $107,792
Income Estimation: 
$125,799 - $152,617
Income Estimation: 
$110,220 - $132,692
Income Estimation: 
$111,195 - $140,107
Income Estimation: 
$126,558 - $144,904
Income Estimation: 
$110,220 - $132,692
Income Estimation: 
$151,084 - $181,738
Income Estimation: 
$133,507 - $160,824
Income Estimation: 
$136,663 - $175,160
Income Estimation: 
$157,953 - $182,694
Income Estimation: 
$85,996 - $102,718
Income Estimation: 
$111,859 - $131,446
Income Estimation: 
$110,457 - $133,106
Income Estimation: 
$105,809 - $128,724
Income Estimation: 
$122,763 - $145,698
Income Estimation: 
$105,809 - $128,724
Income Estimation: 
$136,611 - $163,397
Income Estimation: 
$135,163 - $163,519
Income Estimation: 
$131,953 - $159,624
Income Estimation: 
$150,859 - $181,127
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Job openings at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Hired Organization Address Palo Alto, CA Full Time
About Us Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision fo...
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Hired Organization Address Palo Alto, CA Full Time
About Us Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision fo...
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Hired Organization Address Palo Alto, CA Full Time
About Us Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision fo...
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Hired Organization Address Palo Alto, CA Full Time
About Us Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision fo...

Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Thermal Design Engineer jobs in the Palo Alto, CA area that may be a better fit.

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!