Boat Captain

Dover; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Ulysses in San Francisco seeks a Boat Captain to manage vessels supporting marine robot tests and customer missions. You’ll oversee the boat, the crew, and operations safety, planning trips with the team and ensuring readiness between deployments.

You will work with operations and engineering to deploy, recover, and maintain robots, while keeping meticulous trip records and ensuring ongoing safety at sea for the tests and missions.

Qualifications

• Professional experience taking responsibility for small vessels and crew.
• Confident boat handling and sound judgment about weather and sea state.
• Knowledge of navigation, marine radio, and emergency procedures.
• Experience planning water-work and making decisions under changing conditions.
• Ability to inspect and maintain boats and identify faults.
• Clear communication with varying boating experience levels.
• Comfort with hands-on testing and vessel safety responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Plan each trip with the mission team: operating area, weather limits, crew, equipment, communications, recovery plan and stop conditions.
• Command the vessel during tests and deployments, maintain lookout and safe separation from robots and other vessels.
• Brief everyone aboard on deck procedures and emergency actions; raise concerns early.
• Coordinate robot launch and recovery with the deck team, including lifting gear and launch hardware.
• Keep boats ready to operate through routine checks, servicing, and repairs; arrange specialist maintenance when needed.
• Prepare safety equipment, fuel, spares, tools and deployment kits for trips and travel.
• Keep trip records, report incidents and provide feedback on equipment performance.

Skills

Vessel operation

Crew leadership

Navigation and comms

Decision making

Safety awareness

Communication

Hands-on equipment

Job description

About us

Ulysses is building the autonomy platform for the ocean with mass-deployable, fully autonomous surface and subsea robots with dual-domain, read-and-write capabilities. Our oceans are in trouble; we’ve neglected them, and we allow bad actors to misuse them. Ulysses will manage our oceans effectively, persistently, and cheaply. We're developing autonomous surface and subsea drones, robotics, and AI systems to tackle critical challenges across nature, infrastructure, and maritime security. Our first product line is a suite of autonomous drones and attachments that makes restoring seagrass ecosystems cheaper and easier. We are currently working with governments in the US and Australia and leading environmental groups like The Nature Conservancy. We are a Series A company backed by top VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

About the Role

We're hiring a Boat Captain to run the vessels supporting our marine robot tests and customer missions. You'll be responsible for the boat, the people aboard and the decisions that keep an operation safe.

You'll work with operations and engineering to plan trips, deploy and recover robots, and keep boats ready for the next outing. The role is based on-site in San Francisco, with work in the Bay and travel for deployments. Between trips, you'll handle inspections, maintenance, equipment preparation and repairs.

What You’ll Do

• Plan each trip with the mission team: agree on the operating area, weather limits, crew, equipment, communications, recovery plan and conditions for stopping work.

• Command the vessel during tests and deployments, keeping a lookout, managing traffic and maintaining safe separation from robots, lines, swimmers and other vessels.

• Brief everyone aboard on deck procedures, emergency actions and their part in the operation. Speak up early when a test plan does not fit the boat or conditions.

• Coordinate robot launch and recovery with the deck team, including lifting equipment, towlines and launch hardware. Keep vessel handling and deck work in step.

• Keep boats ready to operate through routine checks, servicing, defect tracking and practical repairs. Arrange specialist maintenance when a problem needs it.

• Prepare and check safety equipment, fuel, spares, tools and deployment kits. Support loading, transport, mobilization and cleanup after a trip.

• Keep clear vessel and trip records, report incidents and near misses, and give engineers useful feedback on equipment that is awkward, unreliable or unsafe at sea.

About you

Requirements

• Professional experience taking responsibility for small vessels and crew, with the credentials appropriate to the vessels and waters you operate.

• Confident boat handling in confined water, alongside other vessels and during close-position work, with sound judgment about wind, current and sea state.

• Working knowledge of navigation, collision avoidance, marine radio communications and emergency procedures.

• Experience planning work on the water and making clear decisions when weather, equipment or crew readiness changes.

• Practical ability to inspect and maintain boats, identify mechanical or electrical faults, and know when to bring in a specialist.

• Clear communication with people who have different levels of boating experience. You can explain a concern calmly and stop an operation when needed.

• Comfort working hands-on with unfamiliar equipment and following a test procedure while keeping responsibility for vessel safety.

• Availability to work on-site in San Francisco, support early starts around weather and tides, and travel for deployments.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience supporting subsea robots, survey equipment, scientific work or other technical operations from small vessels.

• Familiarity with San Francisco Bay, local launch facilities and coastal operations.

• Experience with cranes, winches, towing, rigging or trailerable workboats.

• First aid, offshore safety or other relevant marine training, and experience helping a small team improve its operating procedures.

Think you're our next teammate? Tell us about the boats you've operated, the work you supported and a time your judgment made a difficult day on the water go well.