Radar Perception 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.

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

Blue River Technology is based in Santa Clara, CA. This position can be remote in the United States.

Summary

We are seeking a talented Radar Perception Engineer to join our team to develop and optimize the Radar Perception stack. You will play a critical role in enabling robust autonomy for our engineering machines, focusing on radar perception and data fusion with camera-based perception systems to advance our autonomous agricultural technology capabilities. You will work across the full stack, from hardware integration to algorithm development and validation.

• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Work Location: Remote in the United States
• Visa sponsorship: Available for this position.

Job Responsibilities

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

• Software Development & Coding
  • Design and write robust, production-quality C++ code for real-time radar perception algorithms and robotics pipelines.
  • Apply modern software engineering best practices to maintain reusable, testable, and high-performance autonomy codebases.
• Architecture & Integration
  • Architect and support scalable radar fusion pipelines for autonomous systems.
  • Lead the development and integration of radar data products within broader autonomy perception stacks.
  • Drive cross-functional collaboration to enhance sensor fusion performance and system reliability.
• Algorithm Development
  • Develop and refine point cloud processing methods, including tracking and object classification and identification algorithms.
  • Implement odometric solutions and data fusion points for INS.
• Validation & Metrics
  • Lead verification and validation efforts for radar perception systems through comprehensive field testing.
  • Drive system performance optimization and regression testing to ensure robust perception capabilities.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to validate system safety and performance against rigorous field operational requirements.
• Safety & Reliability
  • Develop strategies for safety-critical edge case detection, ensuring the perception system maintains robust performance in diverse agricultural environments.
  • Maintain high-quality technical documentation for perception architectures, test results, and deployment guidelines to ensure code maintainability across the team.
  • Proactively profile system bottlenecks (CPU/memory/latency) and implement optimizations to ensure perception pipelines meet real-time constraints on deployed robotic platforms.

Required Experience and Skills

• BS/MS in Robotics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 3+ years of professional experience in perception system development, with a strong focus on radar, robotics, and embedded systems.
• Strong proficiency in C++ and Python, with the ability to write production-level embedded code.
• Experience optimizing perception algorithms for real-time performance on resource-constrained embedded hardware (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson, ARM-based platforms, or similar).
• Proficiency with middleware like ROS or ROS2, and familiarity with Linux/POSIX development environments.
• Familiarity with point cloud processing, sensor fusion, and coordinate system transformations, including object identification, classification, and tracking.
• Ability to work in a collaborative, cross-functional environment (e.g., interacting with hardware, perception, and autonomy teams).

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience working with autonomous agricultural machinery, construction equipment, autonomous vehicles, or off-highway robotics platforms.
• Experience with radar-camera sensor fusion, including sensor calibration, time synchronization, and multi-sensor data integration.
• Experience with radar-camera sensor fusion, including sensor calibration, time synchronization, and multi-sensor data integration.
• Familiarity with safety-critical perception systems, edge-case analysis, and robustness testing under challenging environmental conditions.

At Blue River, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. For this position, the reasonably expected pay range is between $131,000 - $228,000/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.

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