Principal Engineer - Remote and Autonomous Navigation Systems (USVs)
About The Position
We are seeking an experienced Principal / Lead C++ Engineer to play a defining role in the evolution of our Remote and Autonomous Navigation System for uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). This is a hands-on technical leadership role at the intersection of remote vessel operations, autonomous navigation, and safety critical maritime systems. You will help shape the architecture that enables a clear pathway from remote navigation today to increasingly autonomous operations at fleet scale. This role is ideal for someone who is excited by autonomy, enjoys working close to real hardware, and wants to build navigation systems that operate in the real world: At sea, under regulatory scrutiny, and across an operational fleet.
Requirements
- Significant professional experience in modern C++ (C++14/17/20)
- Strong background in embedded, edge, or hardware integrated systems
- Demonstrated experience designing or integrating autonomous or semi‑autonomous navigation systems, ideally within: Maritime / USVs Automotive (ADAS, autonomy, vehicle control) Robotics or similar safety critical domains
- Solid experience with networked and distributed systems (TCP/IP, UDP, unreliable links, comms loss handling)
- Proven ability to operate as a hands-on technical lead or principal engineer, influencing architecture across multiple teams
Nice To Haves
- Autonomy frameworks or middleware (e.g. DDS, ROS, or similar)
- Maritime or industrial control systems and protocols (e.g. NMEA, Modbus, OPC, Profibus)
- Designing navigation or autonomy systems subject to regulatory or classification requirements
- Containerisation or deployment tooling where appropriate (Docker, Kubernetes, edge deployments)
- Experience working with autonomy roadmaps, simulation environments, or data driven improvement loops
Responsibilities
- Define and lead the architecture of performance critical C++ systems forming the core of our Remote / Autonomous Navigation System
- Design and implement software spanning: Onboard, hardware integrated control and navigation systems Interfaces to autonomy, decision support, and navigation logic Networking, communications resilience, and distributed services
- Lead the technical evolution from remote manual navigation → assisted decision-making → autonomous navigation behaviours, supporting a human-on-the-loop operating model
- Architect clean, modular integration layers between the navigation system and onboard vessel systems (navigation sensors, propulsion, safety systems, payloads)
- Make system level decisions across latency, determinism and fault handling in safety critical environments
- Work closely with systems, autonomy, and operations teams to translate operational and regulatory constraints into robust, production ready designs
- Act as a technical authority across teams, setting standards, reviewing designs, and mentoring other engineers
- Challenge and refine engineering practices to support long term reliability, upgradeability, and fleetwide deployment
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
501-1,000 employees
