Systems Engineer – Autonomy & Control

Overview

Sub Sea Craft is a fast-growing, privately funded, UK-founded innovative maritime technology company specialising in next-generation, high-performance watercraft and systems. As we expand internationally, we are establishing a presence in the United States and are seeking US-based talent to support this growth. Operating at the intersection of advanced engineering, cutting-edge design, and user-centric innovation, we deliver safe, effective, and enabling solutions for both defence and commercial applications.

• Paid Time Off (PTO) – 10 days of paid time off annually, plus public holidays.
• Sick Leave – 7 days of paid sick leave per year.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Access to a 401(k) plan to support your long-term financial wellbeing.
• Health Insurance – Comprehensive medical coverage to support your overall wellbeing.
• Dental & Vision Insurance – Additional coverage for routine and specialist care.
• Disability Insurance – Short-term and long-term disability cover to provide financial protection if you’re unable to work.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Access to confidential support services for personal, financial, and mental wellbeing.
• Professional Development – Commitment to ongoing learning and career growth.
• Inclusive Culture – A professional environment that values diversity, innovation, and collaboration.

The Systems Engineer – Autonomy & Control is responsible for ensuring our autonomous vessels and their operator interfaces behave predictably, safely and credibly in all customer‑facing opportunities. The role owns the mission‑system side of the craft: the autonomy stack, guidance, navigation and control, vehicle operating modes, and the integration and performance of key perception sensors as well as the control software and human–machine interfaces used by operators.

Working as part of the Mission Success team, the role bridges software engineering and field operations by preparing, verifying and executing software loads and configuration changes, conducting rigorous pre‑mission functional checks, and tuning system parameters so that the vessels perform as required. Leading in‑field diagnosis of autonomy, control and sensor issues, implementing safe workarounds to protect customer events, and capturing high‑quality data and findings so that system behaviour, safety and performance continuously improve.

• Autonomy and mission configuration
  • Prepare, configure and verify autonomy, guidance, navigation and control software, operating modes and failsafe behaviours, maintaining clear version and parameter records across vessels and control stations.
  • Translate test plans and customer objectives into mission configurations, set up and validate mission profiles and provide real‑time technical support to operators during missions.
• Diagnostics, troubleshooting and recovery
  • Monitor telemetry and logs to detect anomalies in autonomy, sensor fusion and control performance, and diagnose issues that span software and hardware.
  • Implement safe, rapid workarounds or reconfiguration to restore correct behaviour and prevent visible failures in front of customers, but collate lessons learned to mitigate reoccurrences.
• Sensors, perception and human–machine interaction
  • Verify and maintain the performance of key perception sensors, ensuring they are correctly configured, calibrated and integrated into the autonomy stack.
  • Configure and optimise operator control stations and workflows, capturing user feedback to improve situational awareness and usability.
• Trials, data and feedback to engineering
  • Plan and support structured trials and demonstrations, including defining configurations, data‑capture requirements and safety measures.
  • Curate logs and observations into clear technical reports and recommendations, including proposed parameter changes, software updates and new feature requests.
• Configuration control and professional standards
  • Enforce disciplined control of autonomy software, parameters and mission templates in the field, ensuring only approved configurations are used and temporary workarounds are documented and reversible.
  • Act as the on‑site technical authority for autonomy…