Field Test Operator- Excavator

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 and reducing 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.

We’re developing the next generation of smart construction equipment, and we want the people who know excavators best helping us get it right. As our Field Test Operator, you’ll run a John Deere excavator outfitted with cameras and sensors at a test site, working alongside our field and engineering teams to test new machine technology in real digging conditions.

This isn’t a typical production seat. The goal isn’t to move the most dirt. It’s to do each task safely, smoothly, and consistently, and to tell our engineers what you’re seeing and why you run the machine the way you do. Your experience and feedback will directly shape how this equipment is designed, and you’ll get in early on the technology side of the industry.

You don’t need a tech background. You need to know excavators inside and out, put safety first every day, communicate clearly, and be curious about where the industry is headed.

Other responsibilities could include serving as the in-cab safety operator during early technology testing, helping prep the test site and move machines, mentoring new operators as the team grows, and giving feedback on controls, attachments, and tooling. If the work calls for it, we’ll support you in earning additional certifications, such as an FAA Part 107 drone license.

The Field Test Operator reports to a Field Operations Manager or Field Test Site Manager, and takes day-to-day direction from the excavator program lead and engineering team during testing. The contract term is 12 months, with the possibility of extending or transitioning to full time. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

• Run a John Deere excavator through planned tasks from startup to shutdown, including digging, swinging, dumping, loading, trenching, and grading, following the data collection plan for each session
• Repeat the same task smoothly and consistently, run after run, so the data we collect is clean and reliable
• Talk through your work as you operate: what you see, what you plan to do next, and why you chose a certain bucket angle, approach, swing path, dig depth, or machine position
• Follow session procedures, including run naming, data logging steps, stop criteria, and incident reporting
• Write short notes after each session on what happened, what changed, and what you recommend next
• Perform daily walkarounds, routine preventive maintenance, and basic troubleshooting on the machine, including a check before each session that cameras and sensors are clean and recording
• Help engineers sort out whether a problem came from the machine, the site conditions, the plan, the sensors, or the test setup