Software Engineer, Entry Level
Summary
Entry-level software engineer at BurnBot, working across the stack (autonomy tooling, backend services, operator interfaces, data pipelines) on remotely operated machines that apply prescribed fire and clear wildfire fuel. Code ships to real machines in the field within weeks, with a senior mentor alongside.
About BurnBot
Wildfire has stopped being a season. BurnBot builds the machines that get ahead of it — remotely operated systems that apply and contain prescribed fire, and platforms that clear heavy fuel on terrain that isn’t safe for crews.
Our fleet is at work today for PG&E, CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, Caltrans, fire districts, and tribal nations across California, Oregon, and Washington — treating land at up to 40x the pace of conventional methods. We’re roboticists, engineers, and career fire practitioners. Hardware we design in South San Francisco is in the dirt within weeks, and the people who designed it are usually standing next to it.
THE ROLE
This is an unusually good first or second software job. The machines are real, the feedback loop is short, and nobody here will hand you a narrow slice and tell you to stay in it.
You’ll work across the stack with a mentor — autonomy tooling, backend services, operator interfaces, and the data pipelines connecting them — and you’ll see your code run on a machine in a field within weeks.
WHAT YOU’LL OWN
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Features end to end, with a senior engineer alongside you — design, build, review, ship
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Tooling and tests that make everyone else faster. This is how you learn the system.
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Field data triage: something looked wrong on a burn yesterday, and you’ll help figure out what
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Real bugs on real machines, which is the fastest engineering education available
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
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0–5 years of experience. New graduates are genuinely welcome here.
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Strong fundamentals in at least one language — Python, C++, TypeScript, Go, or Rust
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Evidence you can build something and finish it: internships, coursework projects, robotics teams, open source, or something you made because you wanted it to exist
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Curiosity and comfort with ambiguity. A lot of this is not documented yet.
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Willingness to get on a plane, wear boots, and see the machines work
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B.S. in computer science or a related field, or equivalent self-taught experience
NICE TO HAVE
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Robotics coursework, a competition team, or ROS exposure
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Machine learning or computer vision projects
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Geospatial or mapping work
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Anything you built for a physical device
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An interest in wildfire, forestry, or climate work