Role Summary As a Lead AI Engineer / Technical Lead Manager, you will head the technical direction and execution of our LLM and Agentic Systems strategy, with a specialized focus on bridging cloud intelligence and embedded execution. You will lead a high-performing squad of engineers to develop, fine-tune, and deploy state-of-the-art models that drive core product innovation. You are a "player-coach" who balances deep-dive architectural design—including model optimization for edge hardware—with people leadership, ensuring your team delivers scalable, production-grade AI solutions. Responsibilities Strategic Technical Leadership: Own the roadmap for LLM integration and Agentic workflow orchestration. You will move projects from conceptual research to high-availability production environments, ensuring performance parity across cloud and embedded edge devices. Team Management & Mentorship: Direct responsibility for the growth of a specialized AI/ML team. You will provide technical mentorship in both high-level Generative AI and low-level model optimization (quantization, pruning) to ensure your team can deploy to any target. Architecting Agentic Systems: Lead the design of complex, multi-agent autonomous systems. You will oversee frameworks that allow LLMs to automate workflows reliably in both resource-constrained embedded environments and high-compute cloud environments. System Integration & Scalability: Partner with Platform and Hardware teams to architect the "AI/ML Backbone." You will ensure infrastructure supports low-latency on-device inference, vector database scaling, and efficient data exchange across the hardware ecosystem. Defining "Production-Grade": Establish rigorous standards for MLOps and TinyMLOps, including CI/CD for ML, automated evaluation frameworks (RAG metrics, hardware-specific latency benchmarking), and model health monitoring. Cognitive Automation Strategy: Identify high-impact opportunities for cognitive automation (e.g., local summarization, real-time reasoning) and delegate execution to maximize accuracy within the power and memory envelopes of our hardware. Cross-Functional Diplomacy: Act as the primary liaison between AI Engineering and Product, Legal, and Hardware stakeholders. You will translate complex ML constraints—such as SRAM limitations or NPU capabilities—into clear business trade-offs. Qualifications Advanced Degree: Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field. Proven Leadership: 7+ years of total experience in ML/Software Engineering, with 2+ years in a Lead or Management role managing small to mid-size technical teams. Generative AI & Optimization Expertise: Extensive experience with LLM fine-tuning (PEFT, LoRA) and a solid understanding of model compression techniques (INT8/FP16 quantization) for deployment. Technical Stack: Mastery of Python and PyTorch/TensorFlow. Strong proficiency in C++ or Rust is highly preferred for developing performance-critical inference engines on embedded targets. Production Lifecycle: Proven track record of taking ML models from notebook to 24/7 production environments, including experience with Edge AI runtimes (e.g., TensorRT, ONNX Runtime, or TFLite). Strategic Mindset: Ability to balance the "bleeding edge" of research with the pragmatic needs of stable, low-power, and maintainable embedded products. Total Rewards Total compensation packages for full-time positions include base salary, eligibility for an annual performance bonus, and eligibility for equity. In addition, our benefits package has been designed to support the health and wellness of our employees. Benefit offerings include Flex Time Off, retirement savings plans as well as medical, vision and dental coverage. For more information on RV Tech’s comprehensive benefits package for full-time employees, check out our Global Benefits Site. 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. 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