Trainer, Heavy Equipment

TerraFirma; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

TerraFirma, a startup focused on accelerating infrastructure, is seeking a Training Program Lead to design and run an elite operator onboarding bootcamp for heavy civil equipment. You will train operators on bulldozers, excavators, and semi-autonomous systems, setting rigorous standards and certifying performance from day one.

The role requires hands-on expertise, curriculum design experience, and a passion for safety and excellence in a startup environment.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience operating heavy civil equipment (bulldozers, excavators, graders).
• Direct experience designing and/or running a heavy equipment operator training program, school, or certification curriculum.
• Proven ability to train and evaluate others on safe, proficient equipment operation.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to build structured, disciplined training programs from scratch.

Responsibilities

• Design and own TerraFirma's operator training curriculum from scratch, including a high-intensity onboarding program for new operators.
• Personally instruct and evaluate trainees on safe operation of bulldozers, excavators, and other heavy civil equipment.
• Set and enforce measurable performance and discipline standards for trainees, tracking progress and certifying operators against clear criteria.
• Train operators on traditional equipment operation and TerraFirma's semi-autonomous and remote-controlled systems.
• Build out training documentation, safety protocols, and certification standards that scale with team growth.
• Continuously refine the curriculum based on field performance, incident data, and evolving equipment capabilities.
• Instill a culture of discipline, safety, and operational excellence from day one.

Skills

Heavy equipment operation

Curriculum design

Training evaluation

Safety training

Organizational skills

Job description

At TerraFirma, we’re redefining how the world moves earth for construction. Founded by former SpaceX engineers and backed by Kleiner Perkins and Bain Capital Ventures, TerraFirma is automating construction to make it faster, cheaper, and safer.

Our Story & Mission

At SpaceX, we were part of the teams that built the largest rocket in human history, launched the largest constellation of satellites ever made, and delivered connectivity to millions of people worldwide. What we learned was simple: infrastructure is everything.

At Starbase, the biggest barrier to launching missions to Mars was not building the rocket. It was how slow, expensive, and complex it was to build the infrastructure around it. We lacked buildings, roads, water, power, communications, and waste management, and constructing them took far more time and resources than it should have.

From a first-principles perspective, that doesn't make sense. It shouldn't be this hard or costly to create the foundations for progress. That’s when we realized something important: the same engineering mindset that enabled us to tackle space exploration and mass manufacturing could be applied to infrastructure. By bringing the principles of simplification, iteration, acceleration, and automation to construction, we can unlock a new era in how the world builds.

Accelerating infrastructure unlocks progress across every domain, creating a self-sustaining engine for tackling humanity’s toughest challenges. The innovations we develop on Earth will lay the groundwork for the technologies that one day make settlement on Mars possible.

Job Overview

You will build and lead TerraFirma's operator training program from the ground up — turning new hires into genuinely elite heavy equipment operators, fast. This isn't a compliance checkbox. You'll design and run an intensive onboarding bootcamp where operators are trained, tested, and held to a standard most of the industry doesn't come close to. You'll draw on your own hands‑on mastery of the equipment to teach both the fundamentals and the judgment that separates a good operator from a great one, on machines that increasingly combine traditional operation with autonomous and remote-controlled systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and own TerraFirma's operator training curriculum from scratch, including a high-intensity, multi-week onboarding program for new operators
• Personally instruct and evaluate trainees on safe, proficient operation of bulldozers, excavators, and other heavy civil equipment
• Set and enforce a measurable performance and discipline standard for trainees, tracking progress and certifying operators against clear, objective criteria
• Train operators on both traditional equipment operation and TerraFirma's semi‑autonomous and remote-controlled systems
• Build out training documentation, safety protocols, and certification standards that scale as the operator team grows
• Continuously refine the curriculum based on field performance, incident data, and evolving equipment capabilities
• Instill a culture of discipline, safety, and operational excellence that reflects the TerraFirma standard from an operator's very first day

Basic Qualifications

• Extensive hands‑on experience operating heavy civil equipment (bulldozers, excavators, graders, or similar)
• Direct experience designing and/or running a heavy equipment operator training program, school, or certification curriculum
• Proven ability to train and evaluate others on safe, proficient equipment operation
• Strong organizational skills and comfort building structured, disciplined training programs from scratch

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Background running or teaching at a heavy equipment operator school or union apprenticeship program
• Military, first responder, or other high-performance training background (e.g., experience building or running intensive onboarding/bootcamp-style programs)
• Experience training on both traditional and remote-controlled or semi‑autonomous heavy equipment
• OSHA or other relevant safety certifications
• Experience building training programs in a fast-growing or startup environment

Additional Requirements

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced startup environment
• Must be willing to relocate to Austin, TX if not within commuting distance
• Must be willing to work extended hours when needed to support training cohorts and operational deadlines