Junior Mission Operations Engineer (Product)

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Job Summary:

Saronic Technologies is a leader in revolutionizing defense autonomy at sea, dedicated to developing state-of-the-art solutions that enhance maritime operations for the Department of Defense (DoD). As a Mission Operations Engineer, you will be responsible for the deployment, validation, and iterative improvement of autonomous surface vessels, ensuring systems meet rigorous technical and operational standards through testing and data analysis.

Responsibilities:

• Develop deep understanding of vehicle HW and SW architecture, and how the vehicle operates as a integrated system.

• Lead planning and execution of structured field tests for vessel performance pertaining to autonomous navigation, perception, communications, and sensor integration, among other vessel functionalities.

• Diagnose and perform real-time troubleshooting of autonomy, networking, and onboard hardware or software during test events.

• Implement solutions for testing, safety of vessel operations, and system robustness to maximize efficiency.

• Own data logging and telemetry monitoring systems; ensure data integrity for post-test analysis.

• Contribute to root cause analysis (RCCA) and issue triage workflows after field anomalies, with reporting to relevant review boards to eliminate repeat issues.

• Maintain autonomous vessels and test environments, including vessel and support craft operations, through the use of telemetry tools and onboard diagnostics to enhance reliability of all equipment and products.

• Ensure testing aligns with DoD performance, compliance, and safety standards when applicable.

• Lead planning and execution of test cases to validate software updates, autonomy behaviors, and integrated system functionality.

• Interface with autonomy, software, hardware, and systems teams to translate product requirements into field-validated test objectives.

• Foster a collaborative and positive team environment, promoting open communication, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.

• Develop test procedures, checklists, and safety protocols to support repeatable and safe vessel operation and overall mission execution while eliminating process waste.

• Create post-mission reports with detailed logs, data plots, issue summaries, and engineering feedback.

Qualifications:

Required:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field

• 1 years of hands-on engineering experience (design teams and previous internships qualify)

• Job requires up to 50% travel.

• Ability to certify as “fit for work” by demonstrating ability to swim and tread water

• Frequently and repetitively, lift, push and carry up to 75 lbs.

• Will be exposed to marine environments, including sun, wind, rain, cold, and saltwater spray, often for extended periods

• Must be able to operate in daylight, low-light, and night conditions using marine navigation systems and visual cues

• Ability to perform physically demanding work for extended periods of time, up to 12 hours/day

• The ability to carry 20 lbs. up and down stairs

Preferred:

• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills (HW/SW) and ability to work effectively in challenging field conditions such as off-shore in open water

• Experience and knowledge of best practices in planning and execution of complex test operations involving autonomous systems

• Knowledge of networking protocols and communication systems used in autonomous vessels

• Systems engineering experience, ability to understand multi-disciplinary integrated systems

• Experience with sensor integration such as EO/IR, radar, IMU, and data processing

• Experience with integration and testing of multi-disciplinary integrated systems

• Experience with robotics, AI, or machine learning applications

• Familiarity with software development in Rust, Python, or other languages and CLI environment

• Familiarity with maritime operations

• Understanding of DoD requirements and standards for autonomous systems

• Experience working with embedded systems and real-time computing

Company:

Saronic is building cutting-edge unmanned surface vehicles that enable maritime security and domain awareness by combining best-in-class hardware, software and artificial intelligence into one scalable, fully integrated platform. Founded in 2022, headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA, team size 201-500 employees, currently Growth Stage.