Senior Software Engineer, Cloud Platform

About UsRivian 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 SummaryThe Parallax Cloud team builds the communication fabric that lets vehicles, mobile apps, and cloud services exchange live state and commands securely and reliably. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will build and operate services and APIs that hide messaging, routing, and authorization complexity from product teams. This is hands-on platform work: you will solve distributed-systems problems, trace failures across the stack, and carry changes from design through production.  ResponsibilitiesDesign, build, and operate cloud services and gRPC/Protobuf APIs that let product teams read vehicle state, subscribe to changes, and send commands. Operate and tune NATS, our high-performance messaging system, including configuration, upgrades, troubleshooting, performance validation, and capacity planning. Own services end to end, from implementation through deployment and production operation, using Kubernetes, GitOps/Argo CD, and infrastructure as code. Diagnose production behavior using metrics, traces, logs, dashboards, and alerts. Design, operate, and tune service networking, load balancers, and L4/L7 traffic routing. Develop and run end-to-end, integration, and load tests to catch functional and performance regressions before production.  QualificationsMinimum Qualifications: At least 5 years of software engineering experience focused on distributed systems, high-scale backend services, or streaming and messaging platforms. Strong proficiency in at least one general-purpose programming language and willingness to work primarily in Go, with occasional work in Java and TypeScript client SDKs. Practical experience building and operating production services, including observability and troubleshooting. Solid foundations in API design, networking, concurrency, and distributed systems with working knowledge of Kubernetes. Preferred Qualifications Hands-on experience with high-throughput messaging systems such as NATS, Kafka, or MQTT. Experience with Kubernetes and owning service deployments; familiarity with GitOps/Argo CD and infrastructure as code. Strong knowledge of HTTP/2, TCP, L4/L7 load balancing along with experience operating gRPC services in production is a major plus. Familiarity with mTLS, certificates, service identity, secure transport and authentication patterns. Track record of maintaining or making contributions to established open-source projects.  Why this roleParallax Cloud engineers collaborate closely with both product and cloud platform teams, creating a unique opportunity to shape how connected features are designed and how the underlying platform evolves. The role offers broad visibility across the system and meaningful influence on decisions on both sides. You will have the autonomy to investigate problems and carry improvements from design through rollout. Total RewardsWe build the exceptional — and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program. Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (R