Director, Software Engineering

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 across industries such as agriculture and construction. 

Summary

The traditional approach to farming, “broadcast spraying,” treats an entire field to solve a problem that exists only in pockets. By identifying weeds in real-time and treating only what is necessary, our See & Spray technology reduces herbicide use by up to 67%, keeping millions of gallons of chemicals out of our ecosystem.

However, a solution only changes the world if it reaches the whole world. Your mission as Director of Software Engineering is twofold: drive additional value for our customers and scale the reach of our technology. You will lead the transition from a specialized high-tech feature to a global standard, ensuring our software architecture can support tens of thousands of machines operating simultaneously across diverse crops, continents, and climates.

• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Work Location: Remote in the United States. Expect to be onsite in Santa Clara, CA, 1-2x per quarter. 
• Visa sponsorship is possible and will be reviewed on a candidate-by-candidate basis. 

Job Responsibilities

The main job responsibilities include: 

• Architectural Ownership: Ensure our software architecture scales to enhance maintainability and developer velocity. You will ensure the codebase is modular, intuitive, and effective for hundreds of engineers to contribute to simultaneously.
• Virtualization & Simulation: Drastically reduce the cost and cycle time of on-machine testing. You will champion robust simulation environments and Hardware/Software-in-the-loop (HIL and SIL) testing to ensure code is field-ready before it ever touches a sprayer.
• Strategic Product Partnership: Work hand-in-hand with Product Management to deliver high-impact customer value while maintaining a healthy balance of engineering excellence. You will navigate the trade-offs between rapid feature delivery and long-term architectural health.
• Team Leadership & Growth: Recruit, mentor, and scale a world-class software engineering organization. You aren't just managing tasks; you are building a culture of empowerment, technical curiosity, and continuous improvement.

Required Experience and Skills

• Technical Leadership
  • Systems Thinking: 12+ years in software engineering, with at least 5 years of experience in technical team management and a proven track record of managing large-scale, complex distributed systems (ideally involving hardware/robotics).
  • Developer Experience: A passion for building software that engineers love to work on. You understand how to pay down technical debt strategically.
  • Validation Expertise: Experience building sophisticated simulation environments to reduce reliance on physical prototyping.
  • The Stack: Deep familiarity with C, C++, Python, Linux-based computing, CAN & Ethernet-based networks, as well as GPU, CPU and AI/ML architecture fundamentals and low-level performance optimizations.
• Communication & Influence
  • The "Technical Translator": You can distill complex architectural challenges (such as latency, technical debt, or sensor fusion) into clear, actionable narratives for non-technical stakeholders and executive leadership.
  • Radical Candor: You provide direct, empathetic feedback to your team and aren't afraid to "disagree and commit" or challenge the status quo to protect engineering integrity.
  • Cross-Functional Diplomacy: You excel at building bridges among hardware, software, and operational teams, ensuring everyone speaks the same language for the See & Spray mission.
  • Public Advocacy: You can represent See & Spray’s technical vision at conferences, recruiting events, and internal town halls with a compelling, authentic voice.
• Operational Excellence
  • The "Multiplier" Effect: You have a history of scaling products while increasing (not decreasing) delivery speed.
  • Mission-Driven: A drive to use your technical expertise to drive positive environmental impact through large-Ag systems.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience developing on ARM-based NVIDIA platforms.
• Proven experience managing geographically distributed teams.
• Startup experience.

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

At Blue River, 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. 

The US annual base salary range for this position is $200,000 - $352,000, along with eligibility for Blue River’s bonus and benefit programs. This is a salary range. Please note that our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process. 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.

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