Demo

Senior Vehicle Software Engineer

Seasats
San Diego, CA Full Time
POSTED ON 1/10/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 2/8/2026
Role: Senior Vehicle Software Engineer

Location: San Diego, CA (in-office)

Salary: $160,000-$210,000 base stock options, and other benefits

Role Overview

The vehicle software team is responsible for integrating all of the onboard subsystems into a cohesive whole. As part of the team, you'll be responsible for creating and integrating the software that drives our ASVs -- from integrating new sensors and payloads, to developing new navigation algorithms, to building robust communications pipelines, to optimizing power management. This team is critical to the successful operation of our ASVs, whether they’re navigating through harbors or operating with limited communication hundreds of miles offshore.

Role Details

In this role, you’ll work across the stack, from writing low-level drivers to implementing higher-level decision-making logic. As a senior member of the team, you’ll be expected not only to help set the technical direction of the team, but also to collaborate closely with teammates, share knowledge, and continuously help raise the bar for software engineering practices across the company.

On a Day-by-day Basis, You Will Be

  • Designing, implementing, and testing new features to make our boats smarter, more robust, and easier to use
  • Developing and validating new autonomy algorithms to safely guide our boats through channels and across oceans
  • Working hands-on to integrate new sensors and payloads
  • Continuously adding to and improving our automated test suite, tooling, and health checks
  • Supporting vehicle checkout, testing, troubleshooting, and demonstrations by making trips to our local launch points with a laptop to provide hands-on support
  • Spending time mentoring teammates and collaborating to shape the team’s technical path

This is an excellent opportunity to do high impact work, see your code go into live field robotics applications, and join a fun and hard-working team on the cutting edge of ocean autonomy.

About You

  • 6 years of professional software industry experience, with 3 years developing embedded software
  • Mastery of Python
  • Strong proficiency in C
  • Experience integrating a variety of sensor data in autonomous systems (ex. IMU, GPS, RADAR, LiDAR, etc.)
  • Demonstrated experience designing software architectures and algorithms for systems with tight resource limits
  • Excellent leadership, collaboration, and teamwork skills, with a side of humility

Additionally, you may have one or more of the following qualifications:

  • Proficiency working in Linux environments
  • Experience with messaging/middleware frameworks (ex. MQTT, ZeroMQ, ROS)
  • Familiarity with common sensor communication protocols (ex. RS-232, RS-485, TCP/IP, NMEA-2000, CAN, I2C, SPI)
  • Familiarity with relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL)

About Seasats

At Seasats, we're passionate about delivering maritime robotics solutions to redefine the maritime industry. Our primary products are autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), designed to carry sensors at sea for months at a time. Our ASVs provide persistent monitoring and data acquisition to defense, scientific, and commercial customers, and have autonomously crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. After thousands of years in which the only way to gather information from the ocean was to put people on a boat, these uncrewed vessels are transforming how humanity monitors and interacts with the ocean. Here, you’ll find the space and opportunity to do your life’s best work.

Along With Your Salary, You’ll Receive Perks Including

  • Competitive insurance (including a 99% employer-covered Gold HMO plan or other options)
  • 401k matching up to 4% of salary
  • Four free lunches per week
  • An employee activity fund
  • A pet-friendly office
  • Unlimited/Flex PTO

Hiring Notes

When applying, you’ll be asked to provide a resume and answer a few screening questions.

Please note that we are currently unable to sponsor employment visas, so candidates must be independently authorized to work in the United States.

We appreciate diverse perspectives and life experiences, and we’re committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds. Seasats provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination of any type based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under federal, state, or local law.

We look forward to reviewing your application!

Salary : $160,000 - $210,000

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