Sr Software Engineer, Data Platform

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. 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. 

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 Sr Software Engineer to join our Data/CVML platform team at Blue River. The hire will be responsible for expanding and optimizing our data and data pipeline architecture/infrastructure, as well as optimizing data flow and collection for cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate is an experienced data platform builder and data wrangler who enjoys optimizing data systems and building them from the ground up. The Engineer will support our software developers, data analysts,  data scientists, and ML Engineers on data initiatives and will ensure optimal data delivery architecture is consistent throughout ongoing projects. The Engineer should be comfortable with MLOps approach and technologies and be able to design and implement pipelines. They must be self-directed and comfortable supporting the data needs of multiple teams, systems, and products. The right candidate will be excited by the prospect of optimizing or even redesigning our company’s data platform to support our next generation of products and data initiatives. The ideal candidate will be passionate about creating rapid proof-of-concepts and iterating with stakeholders until the best solution is found. We would be interested in hearing from you if you are a driven Software Engineer with a solid background in data and a desire to develop effective and scalable data solutions. Join us to help create a data-driven future.

Job Responsibilities

The main job responsibilities are noted below. 

• Create and maintain optimal data platforms for ingesting machine logs, image data, and various other types of datasets.
• Assemble large, complex data sets that meet functional / non-functional business requirements.
• Identify, design, and implement internal process improvements: automating manual processes, optimizing data delivery, re-designing infrastructure for greater scalability, etc.
• Build the infrastructure required for optimal extraction, transformation, and loading of data from a wide variety of data sources using Python, SQL, Databricks Spark, and AWS ‘big data’ technologies.
• Build and enhance CVML pipelines, and integrate data within Kubeflow and Databricks using pyTorch and its ecosystem.
• Work with stakeholders including the Product, Data, and Infra teams to assist with data-related technical issues and support their data infrastructure needs.
• Create data tools for analytics and data scientist team members that assist them in building and optimizing their workflows.
• Triage and fix support issues related to data anomalies.
• Collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including data scientists, analysts, software engineers, and product managers, to understand data requirements and deliver data solutions that align with business goals.
• Documentation: Create and maintain technical documentation, including data flow diagrams, architecture designs, and standard operating procedures.
• Technology Evaluation: Stay up-to-date with industry trends and emerging technologies related to data engineering, recommending and implementing new tools and frameworks as appropriate.

Required Experience and Skills

• 10+ years of experience building data platforms/data backends. 
• 5+ years of experience working with Python.
• Experience building and optimizing ‘big data’ data pipelines using Spark, architectures, and data sets.
• Familiar with best practices in building CVML pipelines.
• Strong analytic skills related to working with unstructured datasets.
• Working knowledge of message queuing, stream processing, and highly scalable ‘big data’ data stores.
• Experience supporting and working with cross-functional teams in a dynamic environment.
• They should also have experience using the following software/tools:
  • Experience with relational SQL and NoSQL databases, including MongoDB
  • Experience with data pipeline and orchestration platforms such as Airflow
  • Experience with AWS cloud services: EC2, RDS DBs
  • Experience with Terraform.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to troubleshoot complex data-related issues.
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Attention to detail and commitment to producing high-quality, well-documented code.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience with image processing and labeling platforms.
• Can understand some C++ or Go, or talk with people that do.
• Prior experience in the autonomy and robotics space is a huge plus.
• Experience with image processing pipelines.
• Familiarity with robotics logs.
• Knows how to use git and/or other versioning systems. 

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 - $250,000, 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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