As of September 2022, he is the executive vice president for film production at Pixar Animation Studios, overseeing operational issues (as distinguished from creative issues) for all film and streaming production.

Rivera is an alumnus of San Francisco State University and has worked at Pixar since starting there as an intern in 1994.

"[5] Rivera graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Film Production.

[8] Rivera also produced Inside Out (2015) and Toy Story 4, both of which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

During the making of the first Toy Story, he was collecting things used in the production of the movie, a collection which would eventually be known as the Pixar Archives, now counting thousands of objects and stored in a climate-controlled building.