Rivian Hires Jenny Lewis as New VP of Marketing and eCommerce

Rivian has filled a gap that’s been open since last fall. The company announced today on LinkedIn that Jenny Lewis is joining as VP, Head of Marketing and eCommerce, ending the stretch where RJ Scaringe was effectively wearing two hats after taking on the interim CMO title back in October 2025.

One thing worth flagging right out of the gate. The title here is VP, Head of Marketing and eCommerce, not Chief Marketing Officer, which is what Rivian had reportedly been searching for when RJ stepped into the interim role. Whether that’s a deliberate structural call or just a starting point, it does say something about how Rivian is thinking about this seat. Marketing and direct-to-consumer commerce are getting bundled under the same leader, which actually makes a lot of sense given how much of the Rivian buying experience runs through the app and the website rather than a traditional dealer network.

Lewis is coming over from The Knot Worldwide, where she spent the last four years as CMO. On paper a wedding planning platform feels like a stretch from EVs, but the underlying playbook lines up better than you’d think. Building brand love around a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, running a heavily digital customer journey, and balancing content with ecommerce are all things Rivian is going to need a lot more of as R2 ramps up. She also sits on the boards of March of Dimes and Semester At Sea, which fits the mission-forward thing Rivian has always leaned into.

In its post, Rivian framed the hire around evolving how the brand connects with its community and scaling the marketing ecosystem, which is the kind of language that usually doesn’t mean much but actually does this time. R2 first drives are coming in June at Rivian Spaces and Service Centers, the R2 Block Party tour is starting to roll, and the company is heading into what’s basically the most marketing-heavy stretch of its existence. R2 has to land with buyers who aren’t already Rivian people, and that’s a different challenge than what got the brand to this point.

What changes, if anything, is the part to watch. Rivian’s voice has been pretty consistent for a while now. Adventure, sustainability, that quiet tech-forward feel. It works. Lewis isn’t walking into a brand that needs fixing, she’s walking into one that needs to scale without losing what makes it Rivian, and those are very different jobs. Whether that means bigger ad spend on Instagram, a heavier push into lifestyle content, a more aggressive R2 campaign tone, or something none of us are expecting, we’ll find out soon enough.

For now, the interim era is over and Rivian finally has a permanent marketing lead heading into its biggest year yet.