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Salary: USD 142,000 - 250,000 / annual
Blue River Technology, operating within John Deere's innovation mandate, is seeking a Senior Product Manager to lead the autonomous construction initiative—a zero-to-one product effort to revolutionize large-scale construction through autonomous machines.
You will partner with engineering leaders and go-to-market teams to define, validate, and shepherd the construction autonomy strategy from concept through commercialization. This role sits at the intersection of hard robotics and Silicon Valley product thinking, requiring comfort with ambiguity, rapid iteration, and field-based validation.
Key Responsibilities:
• Define and validate the construction autonomy strategy, including target customer identification, operational design domain (ODD), and minimum viable product (MVP).
• Drive rapid customer-facing experimentation to test early concepts and gather market feedback.
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to build deep empathy for customer needs, business constraints, and market dynamics.
• Define technical requirements across core autonomy systems: perception, SLAM, ODD, collision hazard detection, and safety system adherence.
• Establish requirements for precision technology and guidance systems, including path planning, machine controls, and in-field behavior.
• Define system performance criteria and monitoring approaches to ensure the product meets evolving customer expectations across the adoption curve.
• Own the data collection strategy and test set development to support machine learning model development.
• Collaborate with leadership on long-term product vision and roadmap.
• Execute whatever is necessary to drive product success in a mission-driven environment.
The role is based in Santa Clara, CA, with flexibility for remote work given the distributed team structure.
Requirements:
• 5+ years of experience as a product manager in a technology company.
• Strong technical competency in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) systems.
• Ability to collaboratively solve unstructured, ambiguous problems with curiosity and intellectual rigor.
• Proven ability to influence, collaborate, and engage effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills; ability to translate complex technical product information into clear, concise, and creative narratives.
• Demonstrated ability to galvanize teams around a mission and drive delivery.
• Forward-looking understanding of software development challenges and cross-functional engineering dynamics.
• Bachelor's degree or advanced degree in computer science, engineering, or related field.
• Familiarity with software development methodologies (Agile, Scrum) and modern product management methodologies.
Pluses:
• Experience with or knowledge of the autonomy space (automotive autonomy and adjacent robotics experience prioritized).
• Entrepreneurial experience taking a product from ideation to commercialization.
• Experience working on platform teams.
• MBA or MSE degree.
