Mission Manager, Autonomous Maritime Ops

Saildrone; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 551,000 - 845,000; Full time

Job summary

Saildrone seeks a Mission Manager based in the United Arab Emirates to lead global autonomous maritime missions, coordinating planning, feasibility, and regulatory aspects from a central operations hub.

You will liaise with coast guards, port authorities, and customers, aligning routing and CONOPS while ensuring safe, scalable USV operations and real-time problem solving in a high-stakes environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in maritime operations, autonomous systems, defense, aerospace, or complex technical operations.
• Knowledge of navigation, COLREGS and maritime safety practices.
• Experience in command-and-control operations centers or real-time mission environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication across technical, operational, and executive stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel to support missions and engagements; 50% travel; potential for off hours and on‑call.
• Based in United Arab Emirates; fluency in Arabic is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Mission Planning & Feasibility: Plan and coordinate global mission operations to achieve schedule and performance targets, leading feasibility assessments with Sales and Program Delivery.
• Regulatory & Port Authority: Liaise with Coast Guard, Port Captains and VTS, manage access permissions and reporting.
• Technical Customer Interface: Collaborate with customers via Mission Portal to align on routing, CONOPS and troubleshooting with SMEs.
• Fleet Allocation: Coordinate with Fleet Captains to manage drone allocation, deployments and recoveries per mission requirements.
• Operational Monitoring: Monitor fleet navigational anomalies, weather risks and payload status; act to resolve or mitigate with 24/7 piloting support.
• Documentation & Training: Improve Mission Control SOPs and develop customer training materials and internal processes.
• System Roadmap Feedback: Provide updates on vehicle performance to Product and R&D to support improvements and test plans.
• Operational Continuity: Maintain watch and mission commitments, report to executives, ensure COLREGS and safety compliance.

Skills

Mission Planning

Regulatory Liaison

Technical Interface

Fleet Allocation

Operational Monitoring

Documentation Training

System Feedback

Tools

Saildrone

Job description

Saildrone seeks a Mission Manager based in the United Arab Emirates to lead global autonomous maritime missions, coordinating planning, feasibility, and regulatory aspects from a central operations hub.

You will liaise with coast guards, port authorities, and customers, aligning routing and CONOPS while ensuring safe, scalable USV operations and real-time problem solving in a high-stakes environment.