Staff Mechanical Engineer - Platform Lead Naval Architect

Saildrone • Alameda, CA

8h • $183,000 - $225,000

About The Position

Saildrone is seeking a Staff Mechanical Engineer to join its Mechanical Design team. Reporting directly to the VP Hardware Engineering, this role leads the design, integration, and regulatory compliance of complex electromechanical systems for uncrewed surface vehicles. The position guides projects from early architecture through full-scale production and combines marine engineering expertise with technical leadership and proactive problem-solving.

The role owns vehicle-level system performance, interfaces, naval architecture calculations, development budget and cost performance, and regulatory compliance. It works across engineering, production, manufacturing, product, operations, and sustainment teams to support platform development, production readiness, and deployed-system improvements. The position also provides hands-on prototyping, maintains drafting and configuration standards, and mentors and helps grow the engineering team.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Marine Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent field experience.
• At least 7 years of industry experience, with a strong emphasis on the marine industry, composite structures, and complex mechanisms.
• Extensive experience as a project lead or manager driving execution across diverse engineering disciplines.
• Experience taking projects, programs, or products from prototype design and testing through new product introduction and production transition.
• Practical experience interpreting marine regulatory frameworks and third-party guidelines, including ABS, DNV GL, and Bureau Veritas.
• Demonstrated success managing multiple product launches and working directly with fabrication shops and contract manufacturers.
• Hands-on fabrication and assembly skills for prototype buildout and testing.
• Proactive problem-solving skills and experience serving as a technical lead and mentoring junior engineers.
• Ability to stand, walk, bend, reach, push, pull, and lift up to 50 pounds during assembly and staging operations.
• High manual dexterity to operate peripheral computer devices, hand tools, and mechanical testing equipment.
• Ability to work in office, hangar, and waterfront dock settings.

Responsibilities

• Own the vehicle system, its interfaces with other systems, and performance against program and product requirements for a new platform.
• Lead naval architecture within Hardware Engineering, including vehicle static (CG-CB) and dynamic (RAO) calculations and analysis, with oversight by regulatory agencies such as ABS and DNV.
• Manage vehicle development budget and cost performance, ensure subsystem compliance, and pursue cost reductions in accordance with the system cost plan.
• Provide technical leadership at the vehicle-system level, including responsibility for technical performance, design principles, and issue resolution.
• Represent the vehicle system in leadership and customer meetings and other appropriate forums.
• Lead vehicle-team meetings at appropriate cadences, including standups, sprint planning, retrospectives, monthly meetings, and all-hands meetings.
• Work with the VP Hardware Engineering and other system leads to address technical challenges and resolve issues.
• Coordinate with Production, Payloads, Mission Systems, Field Operations, Product Management, and Sustainment to align execution with the product-level schedule.
• Drive platform-level trade studies across critical systems and subsystems to inform architectural updates.
• Interpret and apply requirements and guidelines from third-party authorities, including ABS, DNV GL, and Bureau Veritas, to support marine regulatory compliance.
• Partner with shipyards, manufacturing engineering teams, and contract manufacturers on handoffs, design for manufacturability, and scalable production.
• Build and assemble hands-on proof-of-concept prototypes using basic fabrication skills to validate designs.
• Maintain drafting standards across Hardware Engineering and mentor junior engineers.
• Promote accountability, ownership, collaboration, and engineering excellence across the hardware group.
• Own the total vehicle bill of materials across sensor configurations, including part-number accuracy, revision control, and assembly details.
• Coordinate with Electrical, Firmware, and NPI teams on PCBA enclosures, thermal cooling paths, and sensor mounting.
• Monitor mechanical risks through tolerance analysis, vibration testing, and thermal cycling, and mitigate potential failures during long-duration ocean deployments.
• Apply design-for-manufacturing and serviceability standards and support pilot production builds to validate requirements before full-scale production.
• Provide timely updates on field failures and technical blockers, lead root-cause analysis, and drive continuous improvement for deployed systems.
• Help scale the organization by recruiting and mentoring talent and fostering technical polish, rapid iteration, and operational accountability.

Benefits

• Competitive paid time off accrual, an annual holiday schedule, and paid sick leave.
• Medical, dental, and vision plans with company contributions for employees and dependents.
• Equity grants.
• 401(k) retirement plan with pre-tax and Roth payroll contribution options.
• Annual professional development reimbursement.
• Relocation assistance for eligible roles.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior