Oceanographic Program Data Lead - Saildrone

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, we have been included on TIME's List of the 100 Most Influential Companies in 2024, Fast Company’s list of the "World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2022," and earned the Ocean Awards’ Innovation Award, presented by the Blue Marine Foundation. Saildrone's hurricane mission was included as one of The New York Times' "Top 21 Things that happened (for the first time) in 2021" and Popular Science's "100 Greatest Innovations of 2021," and entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for recording the "highest windspeed recorded by a USV."

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 team that delivers high impact for humanity and future generations.

The Role

Saildrone is seeking a hands-on Oceanographic Program Data lead to fill a central role in the implementation of our missions focused on collecting oceanographic, atmospheric, fisheries, and passive acoustic data. This is an exciting opportunity to champion mission success for customers that include federal agencies, commercial companies, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. In this role you will directly support our Ocean Data business line through data management, data analysis, and customer engagement.

As a member of the Program Management organization this individual will monitor the quality of oceanographic, atmospheric, and other data as it is collected during science missions. They will serve as the data point of contact for customers during missions, and will package and deliver final data products to our customers. This individual will be responsible for enhancing internal processes for the management and organization of data acquired by our fleet of autonomous vehicles.

This individual will interface with our Ocean Data customers and internal Product and Engineering teams on technical improvements to our data flows and technologies. Strong candidates will have a background in physical oceanography, experience working with oceanographic & meteorological sensors, and have experience working across a variety of different data formats and types.

This role reports directly to the Sr. Program Manager for Ocean Data.

Responsibilities

Data Management and Analysis

• Monitoring mission data as it is collected from a range of scientific sensors, including: barometers, thermistors, CTDs, radiometers, CO2 sensors, pH sensors, acoustic doppler current profilers, and echosounders
• Assisting in offboarding and archiving raw data from saildrones and oceanographic sensors
• Serving as Saildrone’s data librarian, maintaining, organizing, and owning our data archive of oceanographic, atmospheric, and drone telemetry data
• Working with Software Engineering and Product teams to ensure data quality and; ensuring internal documentation is updated and accurate
• Migrating data to new file formats, supporting testing, and quality assessment analysis
• Coordinating the development of data quality controls and alerting mechanisms with internal technical teams

Customer Success

• Delivering data to customers and answering questions, requests, and inquiries into available data products throughout the mission lifecycle
• Onboarding customers, including developing and maintaining customer-facing documentation (data management plans and data product user guides)
• Working with our Fleet team to enhance our technical sensor management workflows, focusing on reliability and scale
• Writing and delivering sensor calibration reports for customers
  
  

Program & Product Management

• Working with Product, Operations, Business Development, and other internal teams to track customers’ evolving data needs across science missions, improve our delivery workflows, and harden our data pipelines
• Working with the Product team to develop customer requirements and requests (e.g. sensor requirements, data formats, data delivery pathways, feature requests) for roadmap planning and capability development. Act as an internal customer, testing and validating that the engineering work meets the set requirements.
• Be the voice of the customer to represent data requirements.
• Work with internal teams to ensure that mission success and customer deliverables related to data collection are met.
  
  

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree or higher in Oceanography or related equivalent scientific fields like climate science
• 3+ years of experience working with scientific data and/or sensor data
• Experience working with data quality standards and frameworks
• Disciplined, troubleshooter and highly organized
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to be self-directed and operate in ambiguous situations
  
  

Desired Skills and Experience

• Skilled in conducting research, processing and visualizing data in Python or Matlab
• Experience with oceanographic & meteorological sensors, calibration, and drift
• Experience in customer success or related roles
• Experience working with AWS cloud services
• Experience working with cross-functional teams
• Ability to be self-directed and adapt to ambiguous situations
  
  

Physical Requirements

• Work is performed on a computer and requires ability to attend in-person and/or virtual meetings and operate a keyboard and other peripheral devices.
• Travel Requirements: A willingness to travel to science conferences to represent Saildrone, and engage with potential customers and sensor specialists
  
  

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
TIME 100 Most Influential Companies 2024: Saildrone
An Underwater Mountain was Newly Discovered off California Coast – San Francisco Chronicle
Hacking the Anthropocene with Survivalist Robots [VIDEO] – Freethink
An Unprecedented View Inside a Hurricane – EOS
Saildrone’s First Aluminum Surveyor Autonomous Vessel Splashes Down for Navy Testing – TechCrunch
USVs Could Deter IUU Fishing – USNI Proceedings
Saildrone Vehicles Track Whales around Offshore Wind Power – Workboat
Mullen, Former Joint Chiefs Chairman, to Lead Board for Unmanned Tech Firm Saildrone – Breaking Defense
The Navy Is Using Robot Ships to Deter Human Smuggling out of Haiti – Defense One
Saildrone's Quiet Voyage: Autonomous Vehicle Aids Great Lakes Fish Stock Study – Up North Live
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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