Autonomous Field Test Engineer

We’re Blue River, a team of innovators driven to create intelligent machinery that solves monumental problems for our customers. We empower our customers – farmers, construction crews, and foresters - to implement safer and more sustainable solutions, driving increased profitability with less reliance on scarce labor. We believe that focusing on the small stuff – pixel-by-pixel and task-by-task - leads to big gains. 

Blue River Technology aligns with John Deere’s vision to “innovate on behalf of humanity” by quickly identifying and solving high-value, high-uncertainty challenges in AI, machine learning, computer vision, and robotics. BRT acts as a research and development flywheel, building not only new products but also new platforms that reliably create value for both Deere and its customers. From fully autonomous machines to highly precise farming equipment, BRT and Deere are partnering to create technical breakthroughs in industries like agriculture and construction. 

 

Summary

Our Vehicle Autonomy Team is looking for a highly skilled Software Field Test Engineer to deliver the promise of autonomy to the world’s farm fields. As a Test Engineer, you will be responsible for delivering trust in our autonomous solutions. We are looking for someone who thrives solving unconstrained problems, enjoys probing systems for vulnerabilities, and has a history of breaking things with the intent to make them better. In this role, you will be responsible for defining, developing, and performing feature-level testing on machinery and test setups. The schedule is ambitious and the agricultural season waits for no one. We tackle our objectives with multi-functional engineering teams consisting of systems and embedded software, test and QA, mechatronics, computer vision, and machine learning engineers. Our team is empowered to figure out how to overcome challenges and plan and prioritize work; everyone is a key contributor.

• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Work Location: Iowa, USA.
• Visa sponsorship: Not open to visa sponsorship. 

Job Responsibilities

This person will serve as the lead for reproducing field issues, debugging, documenting, prototyping, and system testing of new technologies that will be revolutionary in robotic and computer vision-based systems for agriculture. The ideal candidate will have system-level curiosity, enjoy a fast-paced environment, and will deliver results regardless of challenges.

A combination, not necessarily all-inclusive, of the following:

• Build detailed test plans; compile and analyze test results. Formulate conclusions and make recommendations.
• Work closely with all Blue River and John Deere engineering teams to establish holistic tests and drive feature improvements. 
• Plan and guide the integration of complex multidisciplinary robotic systems, collaborating with multiple groups of engineers across Blue River and John Deere.
• Evaluate product failures using advanced engineering techniques.
• Integrate and/or install software at a system and subsystem (component) level.
• Perform exploratory testing to understand potential test plan gaps.

Required Experience and Skills

• 2+ years of experience testing high-tech vehicles, robotics, or agricultural products.
• Familiarity with maintenance, repair, and reprogramming of heavy equipment.
• Experience within agriculture operations, operating various types of machinery.
• Experience translating system and customer needs into testable requirements.
• Solid understanding of software complexity and system architecture interaction.
• Advanced experience with complex systems development; hardware- and software-focused understanding of meeting high-level systems needs.
• Capable of creating the documentation for system validation; experienced in complex systems support.
• Scrappiness and perseverance; demonstrated ability to be successful in uncertain situations, and high degree of agility and creativity to adapt and react to learnings.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Linux familiarity, including script programming, CANbus networking and Ethernet networking.
• Excellent brainstorming, creative thinking and communication skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to operate, plan, and execute within the presence of uncertainty.
• Experience debugging electro-mechanical and/or perception systems.
• Comfortable working
  • independently and within teams, in parallel, and asynchronously
  • across team boundaries, with developers and field engineering
  • across products, features and components, in parallel.
• Maintain good rapport with customers and vendors.
• BS or higher in Engineering or related field.
• Design of agricultural equipment.
• Experience with documentation and tracking tools such as Jira, Confluence, Google Docs.
• Experience with code source, build management, and deployment systems (Github/Gerrit, Jenkins, Artifactory).
• Skills in Python or other language.

Only individual applicants will be considered. We do not work with unsolicited third-party agencies or proxy interview services. 

At Blue River, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. For this position, the reasonably expected pay range is between $91,000 – $137,000/year for the level at which this job has been scoped. Your base pay will depend on several factors, including your experience, qualifications, education, location, and skills. This position is also eligible for an annual performance bonus and a competitive benefit package. During the recruitment process, we may identify an alternative role or level to which you are more suited. If your ideal role at Blue River differs from the advertised position, we will provide an updated pay range as soon as possible during the hiring process.

We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. While we have more work to do to advance diversity and inclusion, we’re investing in our programs, including recruiting, mentorship, career development, and learning & development, to ensure they support our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals. We support each employee in living a full life, enabling a thriving career, and accomplishing a meaningful, challenging mission while collaborating with incredible people. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align completely with the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request an accommodation.