Electrical Engineering Manager

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

• Directly manage a team of electrical engineers tasked with creating new vehicle control systems and new sensor payloads.
• Ensure that the requirements for new components are clearly defined, documented, and reviewed by cross-functional stakeholders.
• Work closely with your mechanical and firmware engineering counterparts to scope and schedule product development work, and ensure a smooth development pipeline.
• Supervise the transition of new modules and subsystems from prototype development to full production.
• Collaborate with manufacturing and hardware test engineering teams to ensure that as new products are introduced, work instructions and test procedures are developed on matching timelines.
• Participate in design reviews and provide feedback from the perspective of business needs, with a focus on reliable product delivery.
• Work closely with technical program managers to understand and mitigate risks, schedule and coordinate tasks, and ensure that scoped work is progressing towards delivery.
• Align work priorities and roadmaps with business needs, and deliver to agreed-upon goals.
• Develop and enforce engineering processes that ensure quality and completeness on a regular cadence.
• Work with your team to define and administer design rules and style guides for schematic capture and PCB layout, library management and footprint creation.
• Conduct weekly or biweekly 1:1s with reports and complete annual or semi-annual performance reviews with feedback delivery.
• Find and resolve issues which are blocking forward progress within, or adjacent to, your organization.

Required skills and experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent field experience.
• Solid foundation in analog and digital circuits, power electronics, and computer system architectures.
• 7+ years in project management with a focus on electronic systems.
• 4+ years of team/people management experience.
• Experience in transitioning electronic hardware from prototype phase to series production at moderate volumes.
• Working knowledge of electronics industry manufacturing methods and materials.
• Strong oral and written communication skills to help explain concepts and educate others, including whiteboarding and diagramming.

Location: This position is in Alameda, CA. Our waterfront office offers beautiful views of San Francisco Bay in always sunny Alameda. Even our walls have good karma, our offices mix software development with a hardware production line in the former airplane hangar used to film 'The Matrix'.

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

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 

Meet the sailing robots trying to solve climate change – The Hill 

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.

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

Individuals who require employer sponsorship to remain employed in the United States now or in the future will not be considered for hire for certain positions.

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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