Software Engineer, Platform

About Us

Saildrone is a defense company delivering maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance products to military, homeland security, and commercial customers. Saildrone unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are extreme-endurance platforms equipped with advanced sensors and proprietary AI to provide persistent insights above and below the sea surface. Insights that support border security, law enforcement, undersea infrastructure protection, hydrography, and naval power applications. With more than 2,000,000 nautical miles sailed and 50,000 days at sea, Saildrone USVs are trusted by governments across the planet and set the standard for cost-efficient maritime intelligence in the world's harshest environments.

We are based in Alameda, CA, with offices in Washington DC and St. Petersburg, FL, and operate missions worldwide. This is an exciting opportunity with a fast-growing team at the cutting-edge intersection of big data services, autonomy, and AI. You will be part of a high-performing, multidisciplinary team delivering data, intelligence, and firepower for strategic superiority.

The Role

The Platform team manages the foundational systems that keep our fleet running and enable our customer deliverables. The team is responsible for customer-facing APIs, authentication and authorization systems, automated drone configuration, fleet monitoring systems and much more! With our wide swath of ownership, this team is critical to the growth of our company, meaning your impact will be immediately felt.

As part of this role, you’ll lead complex, multi-team projects, make critical architectural decisions, and ensure the stability and scalability of our platform. Beyond high-level responsibilities, we’re seeking an engineer who’s hands-on and ready to dive in to help us build faster.

Required Skills and Experience

• 7+ years of professional software development experience
• BA/BS in related field or equivalent experience
• Proven ability to lead multi-team projects
• Experience in mentoring senior engineers, fostering both technical and professional growth.
• Strong expertise in Python and/or Type Script.
• Mastery of programming theory and practical application.
• Fluency in code design patterns and their appropriate use cases.
• Experience with Event Driven and Microservice architectures
• Extensive experience with REST APIs, microservices, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, SNS/SQS, Lambda).
• Experience with authentication and authorization mechanisms (e.g. OAuth, OIDC, API Gateways)
• Mastery of relational databases, ideally Postgre
  
  SQL.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes and container orchestration.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Proficiency with Linux/Unix environments
• Experience with infrastructure automation tools (ideally Ansible).
• Experience with gRPC and Protobuf
• Familiarity with frameworks like Hapi (JavaScript), Django REST (Python), and FastAPI (Python).

Physical Requirements

• Work is performed on a computer and requires ability to operate a keyboard and other peripheral devices.

Location:
This position is hybrid in Alameda, CA. Our waterfront office offers beautiful views of San Francisco Bay in always sunny Alameda.

Benefits:

• Paid time off, including vacation, bereavement, jury duty, sick time and parental leave
• Comprehensive and competitive medical, dental and vision plans, and HSA with employer matching.
• Company sponsored life insurance
• Stock Options
• Annual stipend for continued learning and development
• Quarterly company BBQs at our Alameda HQ (bring your friends and family!)
• Free Bay Area Public Transportation via Alameda
  
  TMA with the Bay Pass Clipper Card
• Plenty of snacks in our 3 office locations
• Dog-friendly work environment

A reasonable estimate of the current range is $149,400-$198,000 annually.

Catch up on the latest news about us:

The British Engineer Behind the US Navy’s High-tech Ocean Drones – The Times of London

Denmark to Field Unmanned Vessels for Monitoring Busy Shipping Routes – Defense News

Counter-drug Sea Drones Utilized by Navy as Trump Ramps Up Military Resources at the Border

Saildrone, Palantir Partner to Use AI to Streamline USV Manufacturing, Operations – Breaking Defense

An Underwater Mountain was Newly Discovered off California…