Director Camera Systems Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

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. 

Blue River Technology aligns with John Deere's vision to "innovate on behalf of humanity" by quickly identifying and solving high-value, high-uncertainty challenges in AI, machine learning, computer vision, and robotics. BRT acts as a research and development flywheel, building not only new products but also new platforms that reliably create value for both Deere and its customers. From fully autonomous machines to highly precise farming equipment, BRT and Deere are partnering to create technical breakthroughs in industries like agriculture and construction. 

Our people are at the heart of what we do. Through cross-disciplinary collaboration, this mission-driven team is eager to define the new frontier of robotics. We are always asking hard questions, rapidly iterating, and getting our boots in the field to figure it out. We won't give up until we've made a tangible and positive impact on the planet!

Blue River Technology is based in Santa Clara, CA. 

Summary

We are seeking a senior Camera Systems Engineer on the Camera Systems Team within our platform organization. You will deliver the imaging foundation for the features that enable automation and autonomy in John Deere machinery. You will research and characterize image sensors, develop and optimize image signal-processing pipelines, and shepherd camera deployments through bring-up, validation, and production for hardware operating in harsh, challenging environments. You will engineer camera solutions that serve the needs of a broad and diverse fleet of autonomy efforts, enabling computer vision, machine learning, and perception capabilities, while developing camera architectures that scale across multiple programs and autonomy levels.

• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Work Location: Santa Clara, CA (expect 3 days/wk in the office)
• Visa sponsorship is possible for this position. 

Job Responsibilities

A combination, not necessarily all-inclusive, of the following:

• Drive system-level specifications for camera systems from perception prototypes to production.
• Select and evaluate camera components (sensors, lenses) and manage requirements.
• Validate camera module manufacturing decisions, including active alignment, calibration, and end-of-line testing.
• Lead camera bring-up, sensor tuning, and characterization for perception systems.
• Design and optimize ISP pipelines for machine vision on NVIDIA embedded platforms.
• Develop image-processing algorithms in C++ and CUDA for real-time performance.
• Evaluating using image-quality metrics and correlating them with downstream perception performance.
• Cross-collaboration to facilitate camera perception architectures for autonomy.
• Provide technical leadership across multi-disciplinary engineering teams.

Required Experience and Skills

• M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Vision, or a related field.
• 7+ years in camera systems engineering for perception or autonomous systems.
• End-to-end camera development from requirements through manufacturing and production.
• Expert-level ISP development, sensor tuning, and calibration.
• C++ and CUDA programming for performance-critical image processing.
• Experience with NVIDIA platforms (Jetson, Drive), including TensorRT.
• Camera characterization using industry-standard methodologies.
• Camera manufacturing expertise: active alignment, calibration procedures, end-of-line test.
• Understanding of agentic AI best practices and autonomous decision-making frameworks.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and technical leadership skills.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience with perception architecture design for autonomous vehicles, robotics, or agricultural systems.
• Multi-spectral or hyper-spectral imaging system development.
• Optical design experience using Zemax or Code V.
• Knowledge of automotive camera standards (GMSL, FPD-Link) and safety-critical systems.
• Experience with manufacturing quality standards (SPC, Six Sigma, FMEA).
• Experience with computer vision libraries (OpenCV, VPI).
• Experience with other perception sensors and sensor fusion, including lidar, radar, inertial, ultrasonic, GNSS, etc.

At Blue River, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. For this position, the reasonably expected pay range is between $174,000 - $261,000/year for the level at which this job has been scoped. Your base pay will depend on several factors, including your experience, qualifications, education, location, and skills. This position is also eligible for an annual performance bonus and a competitive benefit package. 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.

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.