Senior Marine Robotics Engineer

Role overview A coastal-focused robotics program is hiring a senior engineer to lead the design and field deployment of autonomous surface vessels that operate in challenging maritime environments. The work centers on building long-duration robotic platforms for environmental restoration, including collecting floating sargassum while minimizing ecological impact. The role blends hands-on engineering, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and prototype-to-production development.

Responsibilities - Direct the development of autonomous marine robotic platforms from concept through operational deployment - Design propulsion, steering, vessel dynamics, and control systems for surface vessels - Engineer mechanisms for collecting floating biomass such as sargassum - Integrate marine navigation sensors including GPS, RTK GPS, IMU, LiDAR, radar, sonar, AIS, and cameras - Build autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, and mission planning software - Specify corrosion-resistant, waterproof, and long-term-reliable hardware designs - Plan and execute coastal and offshore field tests - Mentor engineers and set technical direction across multidisciplinary teams - Support the transition from prototype builds to production-ready systems

Requirements - PhD in Marine Robotics, Ocean Engineering, Naval Architecture, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related discipline - At least five years of post-PhD industry experience developing autonomous marine robotic systems - Hands-on experience with Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs), Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs), or comparable marine platforms - Strong grasp of vessel dynamics and marine navigation - Expert-level proficiency in C++ and Python - Practical experience with ROS2 - Demonstrated ability to integrate marine sensors with autonomous control stacks - Solid systems engineering background with real-world field deployment experience

Nice to have - Background in sonar integration, computer vision, sensor fusion, SLAM, RTK GPS, marine communications, edge AI, or corrosion-resistant mechanical design - Publications at venues such as ICRA, IROS, RSS, OCEANS, CVPR, or NeurIPS - Prior leadership of marine robotics projects, ideally in a startup or advanced R&D setting - Patents, open-source contributions, or operational deployments of autonomous marine systems

Benefits and work setup - Remote or hybrid work arrangement available - Full-time engagement on a mission-driven environmental robotics program - Opportunity to shape next-generation marine autonomy alongside robotics, AI, electrical, mechanical, and environmental science teams