---
title: 'Class A CDL Driver / Heavy Equipment Operator at Terranova'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/class-a-cdl-driver-heavy-equipment-operator-terranova-berkeley-qkce286xq7kp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-09'
---

# Class A CDL Driver / Heavy Equipment Operator at Terranova

- **Company:** Terranova
- **Location:** Berkeley, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-11-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Terranova/4f0e795a-d1d1-4b74-bd1b-568c223dc9c0

## Job description

Company: Terranova Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA Job Type: Contract with opportunity to convert to full-time Compensation: $40–$55/hour, depending on experience

## About Terranova

Terranova is a hard-tech company developing innovative ground engineering technologies to reshape the world. We design, build, and operate specialized equipment for large-scale earthmoving and subsurface engineering projects. We're looking for a versatile, hands-on Class A CDL Driver / Heavy Equipment Operator to support our field operations. This role combines commercial truck driving, heavy equipment operation, material transportation, and general jobsite support. The ideal candidate is comfortable operating large machinery, solving practical problems in the field, and taking on a variety of responsibilities throughout the day.

## Key Responsibilities

Commercial Truck Driving & Material Transport

- Operate Class 8 semi-trucks with trailers to transport woodchips, bulk materials, and equipment between suppliers and project sites.
- Safely connect, disconnect, maneuver, and position trailers in active construction environments.
- Transport and unload materials using hydraulic live-floor or chain-floor trailers.
- Perform pre-trip and post-trip inspections and maintain compliance with applicable DOT regulations.
- Coordinate material deliveries, loading, and unloading to support daily operations.

Heavy Equipment Operation

- Operate excavators, telehandlers, forklifts, skid steers, and other construction equipment.
- Load, unload, move, and stage materials around project sites.
- Assist with excavation, material handling, and equipment positioning.
- Perform routine equipment inspections and basic maintenance.
- Safely operate machinery in changing jobsite conditions.

Field Operations & General Support

- Support daily site operations, including equipment setup, material movement, and site preparation.
- Assist with operating and maintaining specialized hydraulic and mechanical equipment.
- Help troubleshoot basic mechanical and equipment issues.
- Work alongside engineers and field technicians to improve jobsite efficiency.
- Maintain a clean, organized, and safe working environment.

Required Qualifications

- Valid Class A Commercial Driver's License (CDL).
- Experience operating tractor-trailers, including maneuvering and backing in confined spaces.
- Demonstrated experience operating excavators and other heavy construction equipment.
- Safe driving record and ability to meet applicable DOT driver qualification requirements.
- Familiarity with construction jobsite safety practices.
- Ability to perform physically demanding fieldwork and work outdoors.
- Reliable, adaptable, and comfortable performing both driving and hands-on equipment work.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience transporting bulk materials such as woodchips, mulch, aggregates, soil, or construction debris.
- Experience operating hydraulic walking-floor, chain-floor, or live-bottom trailers.
- Experience operating telehandlers, forklifts, and skid steers.
- Experience in excavation, grading, utilities, agriculture, or civil construction.
- Mechanical aptitude, including basic hydraulic systems troubleshooting and maintenance.
- Experience loading and transporting heavy equipment using lowboy or flatbed trailers.

## What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who enjoys operating machinery and is willing to take ownership of a wide range of field responsibilities. This isn't a traditional long-haul trucking position. You'll spend time both driving commercial vehicles and working directly on-site with excavators, telehandlers, and other equipment. The right candidate is safety-conscious, mechanically inclined, independent, and comfortable working in a fast-paced engineering environment.

## Compensation & Benefits

- $40–$55/hour, depending on experience and qualifications.
- Potential for full-time position with opportunities for overtime.
- Opportunity to work with specialized machinery and emerging ground engineering technologies.
- Collaborative, hands-on engineering environment.

## About Terranova

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Terranova builds car-sized terraforming robots that inject a wood slurry deep underground to lift land out of flood zones, providing permanent elevation without surface disturbance.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Berkeley, California, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available
- **Founders**: Trip Allen (CEO/Executive Chairman), Laurence Allen (Forward-Deployed CEO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Robotics Engineering, Climate Adaptation, Construction Technology
- Target customers: Real estate developers, infrastructure contractors, government agencies, defense organizations, and wetland conservation groups operating in flood-prone regions
- Mission or purpose statement: “To terraform the earth and usher in a new era of resilience and societal abundance” — Laurence Allen, CEO

## Products & Services
- **Terraforming Robot System**: A fleet of three car-sized injection robots and one “mothership” that can lift one acre by one foot per day. The robots inject a wood slurry deep underground to permanently elevate land with minimal surface disturbance.
- **Site Suitability Predictor**: An AI-driven tool that analyzes soil composition and flood risk to determine optimal project locations.
- **AI Injection Campaign Designer**: Machine learning reasoning models that design the precise injection pattern needed to achieve a desired surface topology.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $25.1 million (post-seed round)
- **Key Metric**: $7 million in seed funding (closed three times oversubscribed)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Outlander VC (co-lead), Congruent Ventures (co-lead), GoAhead Ventures, Gothams, Ponderosa (Galvanize Climate fund), and angels including Palmer Luckey
- **Growth Signals**: Emerging from stealth in 2025 with a $7M seed round; targeting costs up to an order of magnitude less than levees or seawalls; actively hiring across robotics, embedded systems, and business development roles

## Competitive Advantages
- **Cost advantage**: Targeting costs up to 10x cheaper than traditional levees or seawalls
- **Speed**: Projects completed in 2–8 weeks versus 3–36 months for conventional methods
- **Minimal environmental impact**: Uses waste biomass (wood slurry) as fill; no surface disturbance; minimal ecological disruption compared to surface fill or seawalls
- **Permanent solution**: Elevation is permanent, providing proactive flood protection rather than reactive defense
- **Unique technology moat**: Proprietary combination of heavy robotics, geotechnical engineering, and AI/ML for subsurface injection

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling from prototype to full-scale production of robot systems
- Beginning first commercial elevation projects in flood-prone regions (e.g., San Rafael, CA)
- Growing core engineering and field deployment teams
- Expanding into multiple verticals: real estate development, infrastructure, defense, mining, and wetlands restoration

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Mission-driven climate tech startup tackling a massive global problem (flooding costs the U.S. economy over $180B/year)
- **Work model**: In-office, based in Berkeley, CA (HQ) with a secondary office in Miami Beach, FL
- **Team size**: ~22 employees (as of mid-2025); tight-knit, early-stage environment
- **Engineering focus**: Heavy emphasis on robotics, controls, embedded systems, and mechanical engineering — a hardware-heavy startup building physical robots
- **Recent job openings**: Robotics Controls Engineer, Embedded Systems Engineer, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Director of Business Development, and multiple intern positions
- **Growth trajectory**: Early-stage with strong investor backing and clear product-market fit; opportunity to shape the company’s technical direction and culture

## Sources
1. [terranova.inc](https://www.terranova.inc/)
2. [LinkedIn - Terranova](https://www.linkedin.com/company/terranova-inc)
3. [Built In - Terranova Careers](https://builtin.com/company/terranova)
4. [The Robot Report - Seed Funding](https://www.therobotreport.com/terranova-gets-seed-funding-deploy-terraforming-robots/)
5. [Ashby Jobs Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Terranova)

## Other roles at Terranova

- [AI Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-intern-terranova-berkeley-rcwsnmbgfeyb) — Berkeley, CA
- [Back End Data Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/back-end-data-infrastructure-engineer-terranova-berkeley-hv6xbxqazxta) — Berkeley, CA
- [Software Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineering-intern-terranova-berkeley-02z7w5wf45rq) — Berkeley, CA
- [Embedded Systems Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/embedded-systems-intern-terranova-berkeley-nkafcx1ay0fm) — Berkeley, CA
- [Mechanical/Test Engineering Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-test-engineering-intern-terranova-berkeley-mtpxk49w2aqg) — Berkeley, CA
- [Controls/Robotics Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-robotics-intern-terranova-berkeley-8rnqgs5jrqvr) — Berkeley, CA
- [Field Equipment Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/field-equipment-operator-terranova-berkeley-cjq6v60x6vq0) — Berkeley, CA
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-terranova-berkeley-dymtafz15146) — Berkeley, CA
- [VP of Ops](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-ops-terranova-berkeley-8kxwk9hmgcmm) — Berkeley, CA
- [Embedded Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/embedded-systems-engineer-terranova-berkeley-0v4yajf3gvmt) — Berkeley, CA