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Saronic Technologies is seeking a Senior Mission Operations Sustainment Engineer to lead the team responsible for keeping its Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) platforms mission-ready. These low-signature, autonomous vessels are designed to move critical supplies across contested littoral environments without crew aboard.
In this role, you will own the propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and hull systems that keep these platforms operational. You will independently diagnose and repair complex faults in both shore-based and forward-deployed environments, mentor junior engineers and technicians, and lead the training of military personnel to sustain the platforms long-term. This position bridges field maintenance and product development—your hands-on findings directly inform how platforms are engineered for reliability.
Key responsibilities include:
• Lead scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on USV platforms, including propulsion, electrical, hydraulic, and hull systems in shore and forward-deployed settings.
• Independently diagnose and troubleshoot complex mechanical, electrical, and software-interfaced system faults, leading repairs to restore mission readiness within operational timelines.
• Conduct and oversee pre- and post-mission inspections (dockside and waterborne) to verify system integrity, structural condition, and vessel safety prior to launch.
• Own maintenance logs, technical records, and configuration status, ensuring compliance with class society guidance and DoD material condition standards.
• Lead spare parts inventory management, technical documentation, and OEM/vendor coordination for critical propulsion, power, and control components.
• Author and maintain maintenance SOPs, technical manuals, troubleshooting guides, and emergency repair procedures.
• Lead development and delivery of platform maintenance training courses: Technician Fundamentals, Preventive Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance & Troubleshooting, and Advanced Systems Repair.
• Train, qualify, and mentor military personnel and junior sustainment engineers on platform-specific maintenance procedures, including propulsion and electrical system servicing.
• Build train-the-trainer programs that establish long-term organic military maintenance capability.
• Own the liaison relationship between Mission Operations/Maintenance and Saronic's Product and Engineering teams, ensuring field reliability data drives design decisions.
• Lead capture and synthesis of failure modes, MTBF/MTTR data, and technician feedback to shape requirements and system maintainability.
• Lead engagements with government customers and DoD program offices on maintenance status and readiness.
• Own reporting and visualization tools that communicate fleet health, maintenance backlog, system performance, and readiness risk.
• Represent Mission Operations/Maintenance at design reviews as the senior subject-matter authority on reliability and maintainability.
Minimum qualifications include a Bachelor's degree in marine engineering or related field (or equivalent operational experience), a valid U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential as First Assistant Engineer or above with STCW endorsement, 10+ years of marine engineering experience maintaining propulsion, electrical, or mechanical systems aboard vessels in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, or Special Operations, and prior experience in a shipboard engineering leadership role with direct responsibility for an engineering watch, department, or maintenance team. You must demonstrate working knowledge of diesel/electric propulsion systems, hydraulics, marine electrical systems, and shipboard control/automation systems, proven ability to lead technical maintenance training programs, advanced diagnostic and troubleshooting skills, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to obtain an active security clearance. Up to 75% travel is required for field trials, demonstrations, and customer engagements.
