Customer Solutions Engineer

About Us

At Saildrone, we sustainably explore, map, and monitor the oceans to understand, protect, and preserve our world. We provide real-time access to critical data from any ocean on earth, 24/7/365, and use proprietary software applications to transform that data into actionable insights and intelligence. Our fleet of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), powered by renewable wind and solar power, have a minimal carbon footprint and operate without the need for a crewed support vessel. Saildrone works with governments, civil agencies, foundations, universities, and private companies around the globe to drive better information about our oceans and seas—from sailing into the eye of a category 4 hurricane to obtain new data about how storms intensify, collecting new CO2 data in hard-to-reach areas, and counting fish biomass to inform sustainable fishery management, to mapping the ocean floor and reducing illegal fishing and drug trafficking. As a result of our work, Saildrone has been included on Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, earned an Ocean Awards’ Innovation Award, won Best Tech For Good from the Timmy Awards, and was recognized by Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism 50 list of the Top 50 Companies Kickstarting American Renewal. Our first-annual Atlantic hurricane mission with NOAA was included as one of The New York Times’ 21 Things That Happened for the First Time in 2021 and Popular Science's 100 Greatest Innovations of 2021.

We are based in Alameda, CA, with offices in Washington DC and St. Petersburg, FL, and operate our missions worldwide. Saildrone is backed by top-tier investors in the frontier tech and sustainability sectors, including Social Capital, Capricorn, Lux Capital, BOND Capital, and Emerson Collective.

This is an exciting opportunity with a fast-growing team at the cutting-edge intersection of big data services and autonomous hardware. You will be an integral part of a high-performing multi-disciplinary delivering high impact for humanity and future generations.

The Role

Saildrone is seeking an experienced individual to support our most strategic customers to get maximum value and use of our platform. We are seeking engineers that enjoy solving problems, working with customers, and have a strong technical background in API integrations and software development including Git, JIRA and python or C programming. You’ll work with other teams across our matrixed organization to ensure proper integration of customer systems with our API, automate data processing and reporting from our autonomous vehicles and scale our customer support systems. In this role you will be a customer-facing technical expert working across our ocean science, ocean mapping and defense and security customers. You will engage customer leadership and other key stakeholders. We will rely on you to understand and improve the current data management, analysis, and reporting from our fleet of autonomous vehicles. You are good at establishing relationships with internal and external users, especially strategic customers, to define and deliver valuable outcomes with clear DONE criteria. You will partner across the Product team at Saildrone and help grow our solution engineering team.

Responsibilities

• Engage and onboard customers at the beginning of their contracts to reduce friction between customer systems/workflows and Saildrone’s platform
• Provide feedback to the broader product team regarding customer needs and pain points
• Integrate data products from Saildrone’s platform into our customers’ local or cloud environment
• Automate and scale the processing and packaging of oceanographic and atmospheric data for delivery to customers
• Generate standard reporting for intelligence performance analysis of operational saildrones
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to improve customer experience
• Partner with engineering management and tech leads to scope timelines and level of effort for customer integrations and deliveries

Required Skills and Experience

• Proficient user of AWS cloud services, Linux command line tools and RESTful APIs
• 5+ years of programming work and 2+ years python programming experience
• Proficiency in working with Figma, Jira, Confluence and Atlassian tools in detail
• Experience with agile software development methodologies
• Experience working with complex cross-functional/matrixed team structures
• Experience working on products with close connection to electromechanical systems
• Proficiency in performing market research and business analyses to guide prioritization and product decisions
• Experience working on B2B products
• Ability to quickly pick up new concepts, and dive into a problem with a solutions-oriented, outcome-focused mindset
• Strong technical understanding and ability to establish credibility with engineers
• A clear and concise communicator, who can ensure that all parties are on the same page and working towards a shared plan
• Bachelors degree in computer science or work equivalent
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time

Nice to Have

• Active duty with the US Navy or US Coast Guard in direct or indirect support to maritime operations
• Experience in the US intelligence community or generation of intelligence products
• GIS or mapping experience
• Robotics or autonomous vehicle experience

Physical Requirements

• Work is performed on a computer and requires ability to operate a keyboard and other peripheral devices. Ability to travel up to 25% annually (domestic and international).
  

Location: This position is based in Washington, D.C. Saildrone’s DC office is conveniently located at Metro Center in downtown Washington, D.C., between the White House and Capitol Hill. Only candidates with proper permits to work in the United States and a willingness to report to the office in-person will be considered.

Benefits:

• Medical, dental and vision plans for you and your dependents.
• Short and relaxing ferry ride from the Ferry Building for SF residents
• Enhanced Parental Leave Programs
• Competitive benefits including excellent medical, life insurance, 401k plan
  
  

Catch up on the latest news about us:

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea – The New York Times
Alameda's Saildrones collect hurricane data - KTVU Fox 2
Record Setting: Saildrone Explorer SD 1045 Entered into Guinness Book
Saildrone Takes the Wraps Off its Voyager Autonomous Research Vehicle – TechCrunch
An Underwater Mountain was Newly Discovered off California Coast – San Francisco Chronicle
The Quest for CO2: You Can’t Capture What You Can’t Find – Inside Unmanned Systems
Hacking the Anthropocene with Survivalist Robots [VIDEO] – Freethink
Here’s What Hurricane Fiona’s Surf Looked Like, from Atop a 50-foot Wave – The Washington Post
An Unprecedented View Inside a Hurricane – EOS
They Sailed Into a Hurricane, Now These Unmanned Saildrones are Seeking Data on Our Carbon Uptake – CNN
Saildrone Featured Videos Playlist

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

At Saildrone, we value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes people from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that a diverse and inclusive team leads to innovation and better problem-solving. We encourage applications from candidates of all genders, ethnicities, races, sexual orientations, disabilities, and backgrounds.

Individual compensation packages are based on geographic location, scope of the role, relevant experience, and the ability to deal with complexity and problem solve within our organization, among other factors.

All employees are required to provide proof of authorization to work in the U.S. within their first 3 days of work. Please note that the Company does not sponsor employees for work visas or permanent resident cards to work in the U.S. If you need sponsorship for a work visa or green card, you will not be qualified for employment with Saildrone.

Any unsolicited resumes/candidate profiles submitted through our website or to personal email accounts of employees of Saildrone are considered property of Saildrone and are not subject to payment of agency fees.

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