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Sofar Ocean is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to work directly with U.S. Navy Fleet Weather Center users, adapting and maturing Sofar's marine weather sensor technology for Government maritime workflows and systems. This is a hands-on role sitting close to end users, workflows, and external systems, with hybrid work based in either San Diego, CA or Norfolk, VA (2–3 days per week onsite expected).
You will translate observed Fleet workflows into practical software improvements, working on problems including: understanding existing routing and voyage-planning workflows and pain points; improving workflows for ship selection, voyage planning, and route review; developing clear presentation of route, weather, vessel, and operational information; building role-aware application behavior; integrating and visualizing routes and data from external Government systems; evaluating unfamiliar Government APIs, data formats, and authentication mechanisms; prototyping interoperability between Sofar technology and Navy/Government systems; and testing alongside Fleet users and Government engineering teams.
The work is intentionally iterative—requirements may begin with observed workflows, operational problems, or ideas that need user testing rather than finished specifications. You'll help figure out what should be built, build it, put it in front of users, and refine based on feedback. Some concepts may first be developed in Sofar's commercial software before adaptation for Government environments.
The goal is to make Sofar technology meaningfully usable within representative Fleet Weather Center workflows, bridging the gap between Sofar's capabilities and the systems, data, workflows, and operational constraints encountered by Fleet users. A significant part of the work is discovery—understanding workflows, investigating unfamiliar interfaces, determining available data/APIs, developing prototypes, and refining solutions based on user feedback.
The work spans traditional software engineering, user-facing application development, and systems integration. You may contribute to TypeScript/React applications, Python backend services, APIs, data integrations, application configuration, testing, and supporting components. You don't need to specialize in every layer but should be comfortable following problems across software boundaries. The software will be exercised in Government-provided classified research environments; you'll work with Sofar and Government teams to understand environment-specific behavior and troubleshoot integrations.
Requirements: 5+ years professional software engineering experience; strong fundamentals in building and maintaining production software; experience developing user-facing software and supporting backend services/APIs; proficiency with TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, or similar modern languages; experience integrating software with APIs, data sources, backend services, or external systems; strong visual and product sense with ability to design clear, intuitive user interfaces. U.S. citizenship required; active or recently active U.S. Government Secret security clearance required; must pass background check and be willing to work onsite with U.S. Navy Fleet Weather Center users.
