The posting
About Rivian Rivian is on a mission to keep the world adventurous forever. This goes for the emissions-free Electric Adventure Vehicles we build, and the curious, courageous souls we seek to attract. As a company, we constantly challenge what’s possible, never simply accepting what has always been done. We reframe old problems, seek new solutions and operate comfortably in areas that are unknown. Our backgrounds are diverse, but our team shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it for future generations. Role Summary Rivian is seeking a highly motivated, floor-focused, and strategically minded Lead Program Manager, Returnable Container Operations & Logistics to architect, direct, and oversee the end-to-end physical lifecycle, strategy, and execution of our reusable packaging and container fleet. This is not a traditional, desk-bound corporate PM role. As a Lead, you will serve as the ultimate subject matter expert and senior escalation point, actively bridging shop floor reality with external partner accountability to ensure our manufacturing facilities have 100% container availability to support production. You will have primary operational and financial authority over our 3rd-Party Logistics (3PL) container management vendor, acting as the strategic liaison between component suppliers, the 3PL, and executive internal teams. Your mission is to drive overarching fleet optimization strategy, establish strict enterprise-wide maintenance and cleaning protocols, design systems to minimize loss, and champion circular economy practices across our supply chain. This role requires leading by example on the floor and mentoring cross-functional peers, and will be onsite in Normal, IL. Responsibilities Fleet Maintenance, Quality & Asset Control Cleaning & Process Governance: Architect, implement, and govern the standardized processes for cleaning returnable packaging. Set enterprise-wide quality standards, specific procedural steps, and strict cleaning cadences. Preventative Maintenance (PM) Strategy: Design and oversee the strategic rollout of preventative maintenance schedules for all existing and new returnable packaging assets. Lead this initiative from the front, setting the standard for rigorous cadences to maximize asset lifecycle and ROI. Systemic Asset Control: Direct and optimize comprehensive internal and external (parts suppliers) physical asset counts. Develop systemic processes for these intervals (quarterly/semi-annual) to maintain absolute inventory integrity, proactively identify shrinkage trends, and eliminate fleet loss. Shop Floor Operations & Continuous Improvement Gemba Leadership & Floor Presence: Maintain a commanding daily presence on the production and warehouse floor. Act as a senior operational leader to directly observe container utilization, identify systemic bottlenecks, and drive cross-functional process improvements face-to-face with Plant Operations and Material Supply leadership. Data-Driven Optimization: Leverage advanced data analytics to architect a predictive, proactive container planning model, transitioning the network away from reactive "shortage response." Set the benchmark for auditing physical container flows to validate and refine systemic data. 3PL Vendor & Supplier Accountability Vendor Strategy & Enforcement: Command overall operational and cost accountability for the 3rd-party container operations vendor (3PL). Steer strategic vendor relationships and aggressively track performance against strict SLAs regarding container sorting, cleaning, maintenance, and dispatching. Root Cause & Systemic Compliance: Lead complex root-cause analyses for critical supply chain issues and serve as the final authority on escalations. Design and enforce overarching chargeback mechanisms for component suppliers regarding lost, damaged, or misused assets. Financial & TCO Leadership: Direct financial strategy by auditing 3PL billing, dwell times, and inventory accuracy to optimize total cost of ownership (TCO). Champion strategic loop optimizations to drive significant, measurable improvements in CapEx/OpEx budgets. Cross-Functional Program Management NPI & Logistics Architecture: Steer the strategic partnership with Packaging Engineering during new product introductions (NPI) to ensure global/regional packaging designs translate seamlessly into highly efficient, scalable, and repeatable logistical loops. Line-Stoppage Prevention: Champion enterprise alignment between Material Planning, Logistics, and Plant Operations to seamlessly synchronize container return loops with dynamic production schedules, ensuring zero downtime and mitigating risk at the highest level. Work Environment & Physical Presence On-Site Requirement: This is a 100% on-site role based out of our Normal, IL manufacturing facility. Active Floor Auditing: Candidates must be comfortable splitting their time between high-level strategic planning in a professional office environment and leading active, hands-on audits and investigations of container flows on the high-activity warehouse and manufacturing shop floors. Qualifications Education: Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Industrial Engineering, Business, or a related field (or equivalent years of experience in lieu of education). Experience: 6+ years of experience (with proven experience in a leadership or senior strategic capacity) specifically focused on returnable asset management, container fleet logistics, or industrial packaging operations—ideally within the automotive, EV, or heavy manufacturing industries. (General project/program management experience without specific container/returnable asset management experience will not be considered). Vendor Governance: Proven track record of strategically managing complex 3PL vendors, driving contract negotiations/enforcement, and holding external partners accountable to stringent physical maintenance, cleaning, and sorting KPIs. Leadership: Demonstrated ability to influence leadership, champion large-scale strategic initiatives, and guide cross-functional floor teams without relying on formal reporting lines. Systems Fluency: Advanced proficiency with ERP/WMS systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle), Asset Tracking software (RFID/GPS), Transportation Management Systems (TMS), and enterprise data analytics tools (Tableau, PowerBI). Preferred Attributes Experience architecting preventative maintenance (PM) or quality control loops from the ground up for industrial dunnage and returnable racks. Deep, authoritative understanding of automotive dunnage, returnable racks, and standard AIAG packaging guidelines. Exceptional executive communication and negotiation skills; ability to influence plant leadership and hold massive external suppliers accountable to strict compliance standards. Pay Disclosure The salary range for this role is $102,300 - $127,900 for Illinois based applicants. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, shift, and organizational needs. The successful candidate may be eligible for annual performance bonus and equity awards. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits for full-time and part-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26, including but not limited to paid vacation, paid sick leave, and a competitive portfolio of insurance benefits including life, medical, dental, vision, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance to eligible employees. You may also have the opportunity to participate in Rivian’s 401(k) Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program if you meet certain eligibility requirements. Full-time employee coverage is effective on their first day of employment. Part-time employee coverage is effective the first of the month following 90 days of employment. More information about benefits is available at rivianbenefits.com. You can apply for this role through careers.rivian.com (or through internal-careers-rivian.icims.com if you are a current employee). This job is not expected to be closed until filled. Equal Opportunity Rivian is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. 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. Rivian 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 [email protected]. Candidate Data Privacy and Technology Rivian 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 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 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 affiliates; and (iii) Rivian’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services. Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, 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. How We Use AI in Our Hiring Process: To ensure transparency, we want candidates to know that Rivian uses iCIMS Talent Cloud Artificial Intelligence (TCAI) and AI-enabled tools to assist with screening, reviewing, organizing and highlighting profiles and applications that match the key requirements for each role. AI does not make hiring decisions: Qualified candidate applications are reviewed by a member of our team, and all decisions throughout the process are made by humans. We use AI to support efficiency and consistency, not to replace human judgment. We are committed to a fair, thoughtful, and equitable experience for every candidate. Participation in AI profile matching is entirely voluntary. If you prefer that your profile not be used in this process, you can opt out at any time. Opting out means your profile will be excluded from automated matching and will not be surfaced for additional roles through this system. Your current application remains active and will not be affected in any way. Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.
Fleet Maintenance, Quality & Asset Control Cleaning & Process Governance: Architect, implement, and govern the standardized processes for cleaning returnable packaging. Set enterprise-wide quality standards, specific procedural steps, and strict cleaning cadences. Preventative Maintenance (PM) Strategy: Design and oversee the strategic rollout of preventative maintenance schedules for all existing and new returnable packaging assets. Lead this initiative from the front, setting the standard for rigorous cadences to maximize asset lifecycle and ROI. Systemic Asset Control: Direct and optimize comprehensive internal and external (parts suppliers) physical asset counts. Develop systemic processes for these intervals (quarterly/semi-annual) to maintain absolute inventory integrity, proactively identify shrinkage trends, and eliminate fleet loss. Shop Floor Operations & Continuous Improvement Gemba Leadership & Floor Presence: Maintain a commanding daily presence on the production and warehouse floor. Act as a senior operational leader to directly observe container utilization, identify systemic bottlenecks, and drive cross-functional process improvements face-to-face with Plant Operations and Material Supply leadership. Data-Driven Optimization: Leverage advanced data analytics to architect a predictive, proactive container planning model, transitioning the network away from reactive "shortage response." Set the benchmark for auditing physical container flows to validate and refine systemic data. 3PL Vendor & Supplier Accountability Vendor Strategy & Enforcement: Command overall operational and cost accountability for the 3rd-party container operations vendor (3PL). Steer strategic vendor relationships and aggressively track performance against strict SLAs regarding container sorting, cleaning, maintenance, and dispatching. Root Cause & Systemic Compliance: Lead complex root-cause analyses for critical supply chain issues and serve as the final authority on escalations. Design and enforce overarching chargeback mechanisms for component suppliers regarding lost, damaged, or misused assets. Financial & TCO Leadership: Direct financial strategy by auditing 3PL billing, dwell times, and inventory accuracy to optimize total cost of ownership (TCO). Champion strategic loop optimizations to drive significant, measurable improvements in CapEx/OpEx budgets. Cross-Functional Program Management NPI & Logistics Architecture: Steer the strategic partnership with Packaging Engineering during new product introductions (NPI) to ensure global/regional packaging designs translate seamlessly into highly efficient, scalable, and repeatable logistical loops. Line-Stoppage Prevention: Champion enterprise alignment between Material Planning, Logistics, and Plant Operations to seamlessly synchronize container return loops with dynamic production schedules, ensuring zero downtime and mitigating risk at the highest level. Work Environment & Physical Presence On-Site Requirement: This is a 100% on-site role based out of our Normal, IL manufacturing facility. Active Floor Auditing: Candidates must be comfortable splitting their time between high-level strategic planning in a professional office environment and leading active, hands-on audits and investigations of container flows on the high-activity warehouse and manufacturing shop floors.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Industrial Engineering, Business, or a related field (or equivalent years of experience in lieu of education). Experience: 6+ years of experience (with proven experience in a leadership or senior strategic capacity) specifically focused on returnable asset management, container fleet logistics, or industrial packaging operations—ideally within the automotive, EV, or heavy manufacturing industries. (General project/program management experience without specific container/returnable asset management experience will not be considered). Vendor Governance: Proven track record of strategically managing complex 3PL vendors, driving contract negotiations/enforcement, and holding external partners accountable to stringent physical maintenance, cleaning, and sorting KPIs. Leadership: Demonstrated ability to influence leadership, champion large-scale strategic initiatives, and guide cross-functional floor teams without relying on formal reporting lines. Systems Fluency: Advanced proficiency with ERP/WMS systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle), Asset Tracking software (RFID/GPS), Transportation Management Systems (TMS), and enterprise data analytics tools (Tableau, PowerBI). Preferred Attributes Experience architecting preventative maintenance (PM) or quality control loops from the ground up for industrial dunnage and returnable racks. Deep, authoritative understanding of automotive dunnage, returnable racks, and standard AIAG packaging guidelines. Exceptional executive communication and negotiation skills; ability to influence plant leadership and hold massive external suppliers accountable to strict compliance standards.
