Veteran Apple hardware engineer departs to join Rivian

A long-time Apple hardware engineer is departing the company. As first spotted by RivianTrackr, Jeff Alves is leaving Apple after more than a decade to join Rivian, where he will join the automaker’s battery engineering team.

During his 11 years at Apple, Alves worked across the company’s hardware engineering team. Most recently, he held the title of “Director of Hardware Engineering.” Alves is credited with working on the original Apple Watch charging system, among numerous other things. He’s named on a number of Apple patents, including several related to the now-defunct Apple Car.

Alves announced his departure on LinkedIn last month, recapping his time at Apple:

I joined Apple in 2013 with a leap of faith. I had no idea what I would be working on, but I was hoping for something fast-paced, and I got it! I contributed to shipping the first Apple Watch by leading the charging system development. This all happened within about 18 months of joining – lots of white board sessions, numerous emails and meetings, more than a few invaluable lessons learned and a couple of trips to China. I loved this time at Apple and the people I met!

At Rivian, Alves will work as a senior director of battery engineering. As RivianTrackr points out, he’ll also be reunited with two of his former Apple colleagues, Jonas Reinke and DJ Novotney. Both Reinke and Novotney left Apple for Rivian earlier this year.

There have been whispers of a potential partnership between Apple and Rivian, but I’m still skeptical of that rumor.