Position Description

About Us

We’re Blue River, a team of innovators driven to create intelligent machinery that solves monumental problems for our customers. We empower our customers 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. With our partners at John Deere, we have the ability to bring innovative computer vision, machine learning, robotics, and product management solutions to scale production, maximizing their potential impact.

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.

Blue River Technology is based in Santa Clara, CA.

 

Position Description:

 

We are seeking an experienced technical program manager to oversee the development and deployment of our autonomy programs for the future in agriculture. The programs will include development in machine learning, robotics, and mechanical engineering.  

 

Position Responsibility:

 

• Drive the overall end-to-end development and delivery of products
• Develop and track progress against project schedules. Stay on top of the development milestones and their status
• Lead Agile sprint activities: backlog grooming, sprint planning, standups, and retrospectives
• Communicate project status, progress, and challenges to stakeholders and leadership
• Identify and manage project risks, issues, and dependencies; develop mitigation strategies
• Recognize when escalation is necessary, and act fast to drive toward resolution
• Facilitate effective communication between technical and non-technical teams
• Remove impediments and enable engineering teams 
• Collaborate with product managers to clarify objectives, scope, and priorities for engineering development 
• Improve and streamline processes to empower engineers and internal and external partners to deliver on time and in full
• Be accountable for lean, high-speed execution and the reliable delivery of innovative software-enabled product capabilities

 

Required Experience:

 

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant technical field (e.g., Computer Science, Engineering) or equivalent work experience. Master's degree is a plus
• 5~8 years of experience in end-to-end technical program management experience in the tech industry
• Experience with Agile development process, ideally using JIRA
• Open-minded for creativity and ability to promote new ideas and innovation
• Agility and adaptability to work in a dynamic start-up environment
• Ability to scale growing programs and handle complex organizational structures
• Technical insight to identify engineering risks
• Ability to see the needs from both top-down and bottom-up perspectives, from management, product, and engineering, and ability to moderate and find the common ground to achieve the best outcome
• Strong understanding of software development processes and methodologies
• Ability to focus on achieving high-priority objectives by using flexible and efficient processes and systems

 

Preferred Experience

• PMP (Project Management Professional) or other relevant certifications are a plus
• Familiarity with autonomy, computer vision, camera imaging, radar, photometry, robotics, and/or machine learning.

 

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 past 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 on the basis of 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 base salary range for this position is $152,000-$228,000, 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 which you are more suited to. 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.

Blue River offers competitive compensation and benefits, including a great 401(K) match. We believe in a work life balance and offer generous Paid Time Off and Sick Leave as well as Paid Parental Leave and an adoption benefit. Subsidized lunches, flexible work hours, CalTrain passes (with mobile Wi-Fi!) and a collaborative and supportive environment also contribute to making Blue River a great place to work.

 

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