Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe is taking on a new role at the company as part of a reorganization that includes layoffs of more than 600 employees in preparation for next year’s launch of the R2 SUV.
Scaringe said in an email to employees Thursday that he will serve as Rivian’s chief marketing officer on an interim basis as the company searches for a first-time candidate to fill the position. The head of Rivian’s Marketing Experience team and the head of the company’s creative studio will now report directly to Scaringe, according to a copy of the email obtained by TechCrunch.
It’s unclear how many direct reports Mr. Scaringe already has, a spokesperson declined to comment, but he told the Decoder podcast last year that the number was “many.”
The layoffs announced Thursday are Rivian’s third this year. As TechCrunch first reported at the time, the company laid off about 140 employees from its manufacturing team in June. Rivian also made similar cuts to its sales and service operations in September. These job cuts follow a more significant 10% reduction in Rivian’s workforce in early 2024.
“I am writing this letter to share difficult updates,” Scaringe said in an email to Rivian employees Thursday. “As we approach the launch of R2 and need to grow our business profitably, we have made the very difficult decision to make a number of structural adjustments to our team. These changes will reduce the size of our team by approximately 4.5%.”
Scaringe said “changing operating contexts” such as the loss of the federal EV tax credit, increased tariffs by the Trump administration and general headwinds for clean energy projects in the U.S. have forced the company to “rethink how we expand our go-to-market capabilities.”
In addition to Scaringe pointing to Rivian’s marketing and creative departments, the company is also “streamlining” its customer experience, according to the email. Scaringe said Rivian will relocate its “vehicle operations” team and integrate it with the company’s services division. Meanwhile, Rivian’s delivery and “mobile operations” will be handled within the sales department.
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These structural changes were made to “ensure the purchasing experience is as seamless as possible with a single touchpoint from the entire sales process to delivery,” he wrote.
