Principal SLAM Engineer

We’re Blue River, a team of innovators driven to radically change agriculture by creating intelligent machinery. We empower our customers – farmers - to implement more sustainable solutions: optimize chemical usage, reimagine routine processes, and improve farming yields year after year. We believe that focusing on the small stuff – pixel-by-pixel and plant-by-plant - leads to big gains. By partnering with John Deere, we are innovating computer vision, machine learning, robotics, and product management to solve monumental challenges for our customers.

We have teams from diverse backgrounds in robotics, computer vision, machine learning, agriculture, and business. As a pioneer in the space, we have designed and deployed See & Spray machines that apply pesticide only where needed, reducing herbicide use by 90%.

Our people are at the heart of what we do. Through cross-discipline collaboration, this mission-driven and daring team is eager to define the new frontier of mobile robotics. We are always asking hard questions, rapidly iterating, and getting our boots in the field and on-site to figure it out. We won’t give up until we’ve made a tangible and positive impact on the planet.

This position is eligible to be fully remote. Join us to help enable the future of Smart Industrial and develop tech that leaves a visible fingerprint on the world. Blue River Technology is based in Santa Clara, CA. 

Summary

We are looking for a highly skilled and innovative Principal SLAM Engineer to join a dynamic new venture in autonomy at Blue River Technology. This person will be responsible for leading the development on a multi-modal SLAM capability to enhance vehicle localization in challenging production environments. This role will range from developing initial prototypes all the way to scaling for production. We’re looking for an experienced, motivated, and collaborative individual to work on probabilistic localization and semantic mapping capabilities.

Job Responsibilities

• 30 days: Leverage existing capabilities within the Blue River stack to build a version 0 visual odometry capability. 
• 60 days: Work with program leadership to develop a visual SLAM strategy for the program. 
• 90 days: Begin development of our long-term enterprise-level SLAM stack. Partner with John Deere engineers. 

Required Experience and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree or higher degree in robotics, computer science, or a related field.
• Deep expertise in SLAM, numerical optimization, multi-view geometry, computer vision, and computational geometry.
• Strong software development skills with strong familiarity with modern C++.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• 8-10 years of experience in developing and deploying production mapping and localization software.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Masters or PhD in robotics, computer science, or a related field.
• Deep hands-on experience in relevant algorithms or methods, such as Factor Graph SLAM, or Sparse Bundle Adjustment.
• Experience with CUDA.
• Familiarity with ROS2, DDS, or similar IPC software.
• Comfortable working with git.

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 $142,000 - $293,000, along with eligibility for Blue River’s bonus and benefit programs.

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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