Senior Product Manager (Autonomous Construction)

Blue River Technology; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

John Deere in Santa Clara seeks an experienced product manager to partner with engineering and GTM teams on a zero-to-one journey for construction autonomy.

You will define the autonomy strategy from concept to MVP, validate early concepts through rapid customer-facing experiments, and build deep empathy for customers, the business, and the market.

Collaborate with leadership on long-term vision while owning the data collection strategy and model development to support performance and safety.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in CS/engineering or related field.
• 5+ years of experience as a product manager in a technology company.
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum and modern product management methodologies.
• Excellent communication and ability to influence and collaborate across diverse teams.

Responsibilities

• Help define, validate, and shepherd the construction autonomy strategy from concept to success.
• Collaborate with Deere Product & Engineering teams to define the right early target customer, ODD, and MVP.
• Drive rapid customer-facing experimentation to validate ideas.
• Build empathy and understanding of customer, business, and market through qualitative and quantitative research.
• Define requirements for perception, SLAM, ODD, collision hazard detection, and safety system adherence for the Core Autonomy System.
• Define in-field machine behavior requirements: path planning, guidance, controls.
• Define system performance criteria and ensure product meets evolving customer expectations.
• Define and execute data collection strategy to support model development; own the test set.
• Collaborate with leadership on long-term product vision and roadmap.
• Drive whatever it takes to make the product successful.

Skills

Robotics

AI/ML

Product management

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor’s or advanced degree in CS/Engineering

Job description

• Large scale construction is the next huge industry to be revolutionized by autonomous machines
• At John Deere, we’re positioned to be a key player in creating that future
• We are seeking an experienced product manager to partner with our engineering leaders & the GTM teams on this zero to one journey
• To succeed in this role, you’ll need to love making sense out of ambiguous problems, thrive when charting a new course, and possess the cultural athleticism to work effectively in both the worlds of hard iron and Silicon Valley
• If you’re excited about building enormous robots that help shape the earth, this role is for you
• Help define, validate, and shepherd the construction autonomy strategy from concept to success
• Collaborate with the Deere Product & Engineering teams to define the right early target customer, ODD, and MVP
• Drive rapid customer facing experimentation in order to validate / invalidate early concepts
• Build a deep empathy and understanding of the customer, the business, and the market through qualitative and quantitative research
• Core Autonomy System – Define requirements for perception, SLAM, ODD, collision hazard detection, and adherence to safety systems
• Precision Tech & Guidance – Define requirements for in-field machine behavior: path planning, guidance, machine controls, etc
• System Performance & Monitoring – Define system performance criteria, ensuring product meets customer expectations as they change throughout the adoption curve
• Data Collection & Model Development: Define and execute our data collection strategy to support model development. You own the test set
• Collaborate with leadership on the long-term product vision and roadmap
• Whatever it takes to make this product successful!

The ability to collaboratively solve unstructured, ambiguous problems with curiosityStrong technical competency, specifically in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) systemsBachelor’s or advanced degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field5 or more years of experience as a product manager in a technology companyFamiliarity with software development methodologies (Agile, Scrum) and modern product management methodologiesThe ability to galvanize a team around a missionExcellent communication skills and ability to communicate technical product information in a clear, concise, and creative mannerDelivery focus and a forward-looking understanding of the software development challenges faced by cross-functional engineering teamsProven ability to influence, collaborate, and engage with others from diverse backgrounds

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

Experience with or knowledge of the autonomy spaceEntrepreneurial experience taking a product from ideation to commercializationExperience working on a Platform teamMBA or MSE