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Salary: USD 14,450 - 322,742 / annual
Saildrone is a maritime defense company and global leader in autonomous unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). The company operates combat-deployed systems supporting national security and force projection worldwide, with manufacturing and R&D headquarters in Alameda, CA, and deployment hubs in Europe and the Middle East.
As a Vehicle Software Engineer, you will develop production C++ software that runs onboard autonomous vessels, directly interfacing with sensors, onboard computers, power systems, and control systems. This is a hands-on systems role at the boundary of software and hardware, working from sensor and subsystem integration through testing, deployment, and field troubleshooting. You will solve problems on autonomous vehicles operating for extended periods far from human operators.
Key responsibilities include:
- Develop and maintain production C++ software running onboard autonomous vessels
- Integrate sensors and physical vehicle subsystems into the onboard software stack
- Interface with power, battery-management, propulsion, and other vehicle control systems
- Diagnose complex vehicle and software issues using telemetry, logs, testing, and direct system investigation
- Develop software supporting vehicle configuration, deployment, upgrades, and fleet migration
- Validate software and hardware integrations on real vehicles and improve reliability in field operations
Qualifications:
- Strong C++ software engineering skills and experience building production systems
- Strong systems understanding and comfort working across software and hardware boundaries
- Experience developing software that interfaces with sensors, actuators, or other physical systems
- Experience debugging complex systems using logs, telemetry, test data, and system behavior
- Experience deploying and maintaining software on physical products or systems operating in the field
- Ability to understand and reason about interactions between software, hardware, and larger system behavior
Nice to have:
- Experience with robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defense, maritime, industrial systems, or other complex physical products
- Experience with embedded Linux, real-time systems, hardware bring-up, or vehicle communications
- Experience with remote software deployment, configuration management, or fleet diagnostics
