Pros
Working at Rivian is unlike any other place. The level of collaboration and focus on the mission is unlike anything else I've ever experienced. The company has huge plans for the future and the impact to the world will be immense. At the same time, the company is focused on culture and the fact that "the end doesn't justify the means". There is a tremendous level of respect in our daily interactions and how we treat each other. At the same time, the company drives decisions based on healthy debates and everyone is allowed to express an opinion and be heard. The CEO is an absolute visionary and is also deeply caring about the employee experience, and the impact the company has to the world and the environment. He is engaged in the details to know what is going on and he is incredibly inspiring, motivates people to bring their best self to work. Rivian is innovating in more than just the product side, the people team is focused on bringing truly new age management based on science and not ancient methods (like stack ranking people). The performance discussions are geared to be based around feedback and not tagging people with a number. This has been recommended by experts for years but very few companies are willing to innovate in this space.
Cons
The multiple locations can make collaboration challenging and the company is actively working on creating fewer centers of gravity. At the same time, they were already set up for remote work even before the covid era.