Principal Robotics Software Engineer

Blue River Technology develops intelligent machinery and autonomous solutions for agriculture, construction, and forestry. The Principal Robotics Software Engineer will provide technical leadership and architectural vision for complex software systems supporting autonomous platforms, vehicle control, safety-critical production software, and robotics innovation. The role also includes cross-functional collaboration, mentoring engineers, and guiding system architecture and deployment.

Responsibilities:

• Work across multiple Deere engineering groups to change vehicle safety behavior, control the vehicle, and unlock valuable data signals that improve machine intelligence, autonomy, and customer outcomes
• Drive the technical vision and software architecture across multi-quarter robotics initiatives, establishing design patterns and engineering best practices for the team
• Architect, design, and maintain high-performance, fault-tolerant software systems for robotics (e.g., motion planning, controls, state estimation, spatial awareness, or fleet management)
• Partner closely with Robotics, Perception, Machine Learning, Hardware, Systems Engineering, and Product teams to define software requirements, hardware-software interfaces, and system-level validation plans
• Champion software quality through rigorous coding standards, automated testing, continuous integration, and real-world software deployment protocols to ensure high reliability in production environments
• Guide, coach, and elevate senior, mid-level, and junior engineers through technical design reviews, clean code practices, and system-level troubleshooting
• Stay ahead of industry trends in robotics, AI/ML, dynamic controls, and real-time computing to continually evolve the robotics platform

Requirements:

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 4+ years in a Principal or Staff-level capacity within robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, or heavy machinery automation
• Expert-level proficiency in modern C++ and Python within Linux-based development environments
• Deep hands-on experience with core robotics frameworks (e.g., ROS / ROS 2, CyberRT) and key domains such as motion planning, kinematics, trajectory generation, localization, perception, or control theory
• Demonstrated experience with multi-threaded C++ applications, basic IPC, and writing software that interfaces with physical hardware or sensors (e.g., LIDAR, cameras, IMUs, GPS)
• Exceptional ability to zoom out to high-level system architecture and zoom in to debug complex hardware-software integration edge cases
• Strong capability to balance long-term architectural beauty with short-term shipping velocity
• Ability to build alignment across multi-disciplinary engineering, product, and leadership teams through technical excellence and clear communication
• Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field
• Experience with real-time operating systems (RTOS), low-latency system optimization, memory management, and real-time networking stacks (e.g., CAN, Ethernet)
• Experience with physics simulation environments (e.g., Isaac Sim, Gazebo, Webots)
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) setups and complex multi-sensor fusion pipelines
• Familiarity with safety-critical system design or functional safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262, IEC 61508)