EVP, Marine Environmental Impact

Panthalassa • Portland, OR

3d • $250,000 - $350,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Panthalassa is seeking an EVP, Marine Environmental Impact to guide the environmental profile and impact of its ocean energy technology. The role focuses on understanding how the company’s technologies interact with ocean ecosystems and minimizing ecological impacts as the technology develops and deployments scale. The EVP will build and lead the company’s environmental impact function, establish standards and measurement practices for pilot and large-scale deployments, and work closely with engineering, physics, science, and marine operations teams. The position reports directly to the CEO.

The EVP will develop scientific research strategies and environmental assessment protocols, help determine how scientific uncertainty should inform company and deployment decisions, and support independent research and third-party validation. The role also entails building partnerships with scientific and research organizations, enabling data-sharing and collaborative research, and communicating findings, uncertainties, potential benefits, and tradeoffs to public and academic audiences.

This is a full-time, on-site position in Portland, Oregon, with flexibility for fieldwork and occasional remote work. Exceptional candidates may be considered for remote or hybrid positions. Travel for fieldwork, partner visits, and conferences is required, and occasional extended hours may be needed to support deployments.

Requirements

• Doctorate in marine science, oceanography, ecology, environmental science, or a related discipline.
• Substantial record of scientific research and leadership, with at least five years of relevant postdoctoral professional experience.
• Experience studying effects of human activities or technologies on marine mammals, fish, seabirds, benthic ecosystems, or other marine organisms.
• Experience leading scientific teams, research programs, or multidisciplinary initiatives.
• Extensive experience designing, conducting, or leading rigorous scientific research in marine or offshore environments.
• Strong scientific judgment and willingness to communicate uncertainty and inconvenient findings clearly.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, operations, design, and manufacturing teams.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong commitment to scientific integrity, ocean health, and responsible development of technologies intended to operate at large scale.
• Ability to travel for fieldwork, partner visits, and conferences.
• Ability to work occasional extended hours to support deployments.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading a significant research program, laboratory, scientific organization, or research institution, or building major scientific partnerships with research institutions.
• Experience with ocean sensing and environmental monitoring systems, including passive hydrophones, temperature and salinity sensors, underwater cameras, eDNA, or other marine sensing technologies.
• Experience building, analyzing, and publishing large scientific datasets.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead Panthalassa’s internal environmental impact function as the company and its deployments scale.
• Expand the company’s scientific research strategy, including determining which research to conduct internally and where to facilitate independent research.
• Help determine how scientific uncertainty should affect company strategy, engineering priorities, and deployment plans.
• Lead scientific evaluation of how open-ocean technologies interact with marine ecosystems and identify key environmental questions as the technology evolves.
• Develop and implement environmental assessment protocols, monitoring strategies, and mitigation measures for at-sea deployments.
• Establish environmental metrics and standards to evaluate successive generations of technology and deployments.
• Lead documentation and publication of environmental research methods, findings, and uncertainties.
• Develop approaches for independent scientific review and third-party validation of environmental impact.
• Collaborate with engineering and design teams to integrate environmental considerations into hardware design and operation.
• Develop internal guidance to help engineering teams understand environmental tradeoffs and incorporate findings into device design, deployment methods, operations, recovery, and end-of-life planning.
• Work with engineering teams to determine how technologies can measure their own environmental interactions and the surrounding ocean environment.
• Build partnerships with universities, research institutions, independent scientists, nonprofits, government researchers, and other scientific organizations.
• Create opportunities for independent researchers to study the technologies, challenge assumptions, and publish useful findings.
• Develop approaches for sharing scientifically valuable system data with the broader research community.
• Represent Panthalassa in the scientific community, including attending conferences and contributing to working groups.
• Create scientifically accurate materials for internal and external audiences.
• Communicate findings about Panthalassa’s environmental footprint and the characteristics, potential advantages, and tradeoffs of open-ocean wave energy compared with other large-scale energy options.

Benefits

• Equity in the company.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Health insurance, with the company paying 100% of a gold-level PPO plan for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents.
• Dental insurance, with the company paying 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents.
• Vision insurance, with the company paying 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents.
• Disability insurance, with the company paying 100% for a policy providing long-term financial support if the employee becomes disabled.
• Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including a 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA.
• Relocation assistance to facilitate a move to Portland, if needed.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree