Rivian is recruiting a senior program manager to run its vehicle upfitting operations and commercial van product development, a role one of its engineering product managers says sits “at the center” of a commercial roadmap that is “just getting started.”
“Our commercial vehicle business has an ambitious roadmap over the next several years,” Mike Mislavsky, of Rivian’s Engineering Product Management team, wrote on LinkedIn on Friday. “The work ahead is challenging, highly visible, and has the opportunity to exceed what many might expect in this space.”
The Staff Technical Program Manager will sit on Rivian’s Upfit Team and, according to the job listing, act as “the strategic engine driving Rivian’s upfitting initiatives, future roadmap planning, and comprehensive product plan,” while taking ownership of “change management for continuous improvement designs” on the commercial van.
Mislavsky said the role would also involve working “directly with major external household brands, helping translate real customer needs into the products we design and build.”
He did not name any. The LinkedIn post was first reported by Rivian owner and content creator Chris Hilbert on X.
What the Listing Describes
The posting asks for five to seven years of automotive program management experience, a strong preference for commercial fleet or B2B background, and proficiency in Jira and Databricks alongside “modern AI tools.”
The listing’s reference to overseeing “Authorized and Preferred Upfit partners” reflects a two-tier structure Rivian describes on its support site.
Businesses apply to become Authorized Upfitters through an interest form, and the company says it intends “to select Preferred Upfitters from our network of Authorized Upfitters as we expand our program.”
Six companies hold Preferred status: Bush Specialty Vehicles, EV Sportline, Holman, LEGEND, Ranger Design and Sortimo of North America.
The program, launched in February 2025, covers the R1T, R1S and Commercial Van. The R2 SUV was added this year after deliveries began last June.
The listing and the post differ on location. The job description says the role “requires working onsite at our Rivian facility in Irvine, CA,” while Mislavsky wrote that it “can be based in Plymouth MI, Normal IL, or Irvine CA.” The listing’s header names all three.
Commercial Business
The van program remains overwhelmingly an Amazon business.
The retailer passed 50,000 electric vans in its fleet in June, more than half of them Rivian, and has taken delivery of more than 30,000 of the 100,000 it ordered in 2019. Amazon accounted for 52% of Rivian’s automotive revenue in the first quarter, up from 11%.
Rivian is co-developing new variants with Amazon that add a larger battery for about 30% more range and an all-wheel-drive option, and rehired Aaron Hensler as chief engineer for the platform after an eight-month stint at General Motors.
Cox Automotive data show 3,213 vans sold in the United States in the first quarter, more than double the year-earlier figure.
Sales to other fleets opened in February 2025 at $79,900 for the RCV 500 and $83,900 for the RCV 700.
Disclosed customers since then remain few: HelloFresh with an initial 70 vans, pizza-delivery firm Slice, Illinois service company Wm. Masters, Texas EV finance company Xcelerate Auto with a single RCV 500, and Canadian home-services startup Jetson, which converted the cargo area for trades work rather than delivery.
Vans carrying Cintas branding have been spotted since October 2025 without a confirmed purchase, and DHL piloted the vehicles in 2024.
What the Partners Build
Legend, one of the six Preferred partners, sells a one-piece composite floor, wall liners and thermal insulation designed for the Delivery 500 and 700 through Rivian’s fleet configurator, aimed at last-mile operators.
Legend describes itself as a Tier 1 supplier to Rivian.
EV Sportline, another Preferred partner, launched Patrol EV as a law enforcement division in 2025, with sites in Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Its R1S build adds an auxiliary power system, because the vehicle’s own 12-volt supply cannot run patrol lighting, sirens and radios continuously.
Patrol EV says the Palo Alto Police Department’s car, unveiled in March 2025 and completed that summer, was the first patrol-ready R1S in service.
The Visible Output of Upfitting
The most visible upfit work on the public record has been emergency conversions of Rivian’s passenger vehicles.
Contra Costa Fire Protection District in California put two R1Ts into service in late 2022. Atlanta Fire Rescue added two R1Ts as paramedic response units in November 2024. Palo Alto’s R1S followed in 2025.
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly’s corporate fire department took an R1S command vehicle for its Lebanon, Indiana campus, built by Alta Emergency Response Vehicles.
Rivian’s own Special Projects group has built a working ambulance on the Commercial Van for Grey’s Anatomy, which first aired in November 2025, and a quad-motor R1T aid station for a Nike trail race. Neither is in service.
