Mission Lead - USV Software

Vannevar Labs; Norfolk (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Remote friendly with WeWork access

Unlimited PTO and year-end downtime

401(k) match

Salary top-up during military reserve

Fully paid parental leave

Child and pet care reimbursement

Job summary

Vannevar Labs in Norfolk is hiring a forward-deployed Mission Strategist to embed with the Navy's unmanned surface vessel community. This is an on-site role requiring you to work with USV operators at least 3 days per week, including relocation or weekly travel to Norfolk.

You will understand operator goals, decompose operational problems into software needs, drive capability development, and implement that capability with the Navy alongside mission and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Experience with unmanned systems or software for planning/execution/monitoring hardware operations.
• Ability to decompose problems into component parts and creatively use technology to impact them.
• High ownership amid ambiguity; ability to work independently.
• Experience with autonomous or unmanned platforms.

Responsibilities

• Embed with USV operators on-site in Norfolk to build deep intuition for unmanned surface operations.
• Synthesize USV operational problems to prioritize the mission work.
• Configure and prove high‑value workflows through iterative configuration.
• Test and troubleshoot releases on deployed government systems with engineering.
• Generate mission wins by leveraging deployments with Navy counterparts.
• Operate independently, setting priorities on site and advancing work without waiting for direction.

Skills

Unmanned systems experience

Problem decomposition

Ownership amid ambiguity

Independent work

Autonomous platforms

Job description

Vannevar builds AI systems for the Department of War's most consequential missions. We have 125 deployments across every branch and combatant command spanning our core platform and five distinct products. An an example of how we work, when major combat operations started with Iran, we fielded a new product supporting 24/7 operations and 9,000+ users in three months.

How we build is our advantage: we deploy forward with the people who own the mission. Our engineers, product team, and CTO deploy forward to the point of friction, including visiting units in Ukraine. We focus on embedding directly with operational units supporting great power competition with China, combat operations with Iran, and counter-narcotics missions.

About the role

Most of the companies in the USV space build hulls. We are building the software that enables the planning, operational monitoring, and post-mission analysis for what these hulls do.

We're hiring a forward-deployed Mission Strategist to embed with the Navy's unmanned surface vessel community in Norfolk. This is an in-person, on-site role requiring you to work alongside USV operators at least 3 days per week - whether you're based locally, willing to relocate, or able to travel to Norfolk weekly. This includes waterfront and operational testing time that may involve additional travel during experimentation periods. The doctrine for USV operations is being written right now by the operators you'll be working with.

This is a 0 to 1 role. How these systems best operate and what software is required to most effectively enable these operations has not yet been determined. You will be on the cutting edge figuring this out with the Navy and with our mission and engineering teams.

Your job will be to understand what USV operators and mission commanders are trying to accomplish, decompose ambiguous operational problems into specific software problems, drive the capability development required to solve them, and implement that capability with the Navy. Some of that is configuration and workflow design in existing products. A meaningful share of it is net-new capability that we will be developing side-by-side our mission partners.

This is not a traditional customer success, solutions, or product role. You will be forward deployed with access to government systems and operational environments that most of the company will not have access to. You will translate between these USV teams and our engineers, identify and prioritize mission problems to solve from first‑hand observation and test and troubleshoot releases. Some of this work will be gritty. Configurations may take hours and multiple iterations to get right. The impact of your work on the people operating these vessels and the future employment of these systems across the Navy will be high.

You will often operate independently on site. You will have support from product, engineering, mission development, and leadership, but you will be responsible for deciding where to focus and how to maximize mission impact.

What you’ll do

• Embed with USV operators. Sit on‑site with operators and mission planners in Norfolk and build deep intuition for how unmanned surface operations work including underway and during fleet experimentation.
• Synthesize USV operational problems. Leverage the expertise you will develop by being on -site to help distill and prioritize the mission problems for us to work on.
• Configure and prove workflows. Stand up high‑value workflows through creative, iterative configuration and validate them against real mission tasks.
• Test and troubleshoot releases. Debug product issues on deployed government systems and work with engineering to resolve them.
• Generate mission wins. Leverage what we deploy during operations to generate wins with our Navy counter‑parts.
• Operate independently. Set priorities on site and push work through without waiting for perfect direction.

What we’re looking for

• This role is required to be in person in Norfolk every week. This can be because you are local, through relocation - which we will cover, or via traveling each week.
• Experience or strong demonstrated interest in unmanned systems, unmanned surface vessels, manned surface vessels, or software relating to planning, executing, or monitoring hardware operations (e.g., space, etc.)
• Experience using technology to solve difficult problems - either through previous development experience (e.g., product or engineering) or previous operational experience fielding new technology on problems (e.g., in the military). Previously demonstrated ability to decompose problems into component parts and creatively using technology to impact those parts.
• High ownership amid ambiguity. You take responsibility for outcomes and operate independently.
• Grit and persistence. You work through ambiguity, iteration, and friction until you get to impact.
• Experience working with autonomous or unmanned platforms.

What we value

TS/SCI clearance. Must be eligible and willing to get cleared, but clearance is not required.

What we offer

We’re proud to offer competitive benefits that support our employees. Some key highlights of our benefits package include:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Remote friendly with WeWork access
• Unlimited PTO, shared downtime during the federal holiday calendar, and company‑wide off time at the end of each year
• 401(k) match
• Salary top‑up during military reserve duty
• Fully paid parental leave
• Child and pet care reimbursement during travel

Vannevar is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.

We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, even if you don't feel like you're a perfect fit. If you're passionate about contributing to our mission, we'd love to hear from you!