Senior Mechanical Engineer

Seasats; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive insurance

401k matching

Four free lunches per week

Employee activity fund

Pet-friendly office

Unlimited/Flex PTO

Job summary

Seasats in San Diego, CA is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to lead design and fabrication of unmanned surface vessels. You will own parts and assemblies, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate with leadership to streamline processes.

You should have 5+ years in high‑performance parts, Solidworks proficiency, and a maritime background. Expect autonomy, hands‑on CAD work, supplier interactions, and a focus on cost, quality, and schedule.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in high performance/volume parts in a team environment.
• Autonomy and a get-stuff-done attitude.
• Strong communication skills with vendors and internal teams.
• Excellent organizational skills focusing on BOMs and supplier follow-ups.
• Attention to detail and familiarity with GD&T and drawings.

Responsibilities

• Designing parts and assemblies.
• Leading junior engineers and assisting in timeline and plan creation.
• Shaping design and processes within the engineering team.
• Reviewing, detailing, and configuration management of CAD models.
• Designing CAD fixtures, tooling, and jigs.
• Sourcing and communicating with suppliers and evaluating production options.
• Filling out vehicle BOM and assessing procurement options.
• Seeking speed and process refinements to improve production efficiency.
• Assembling and QA of parts from suppliers.
• Testing new and existing designs of vehicle components.

Tools

Solidworks

Job description

Role: Senior Mechanical Engineer

Location: San Diego, CA

Salary: $120,000 - $160,000 / yr + stock options, 401k matching, and other benefits

Role Overview:
Seasats deploys unmanned surface vessels (USVs) on multi-month missions that rely on top-quality mechanical systems. Our mechanical engineering team designs and builds these systems, providing customers with products they can count on. Our team has grown to keep pace with rapidly multiplying projects, and now we’re looking to recruit a senior engineer. This person will remove bottlenecks and execute plans, work with mechanical and vehicle design leadership, and mentor and coach junior engineers.

Role Details:
Each person on this team has a lot of autonomy and responsibility. Some tasks will include:

• Designing parts and assemblies
• Working with junior engineers
• Assisting in timeline and plan creation
• Shaping design and organizational processes within the engineering team
• Reviewing, detailing, and configuration management of CAD models
• Designing (CAD) fixtures, tooling, jigs
• Sourcing and communicating with suppliers
• Filling out vehicle BOM and evaluating production/procurement options
• Searching for speed and process refinements to increase production efficiency
• Assembly and Q&A of incoming parts from external suppliers
• Testing new and existing designs of components of the vehicles

About You:
You’re a self-starter, an expert in mechanical engineering and fabrication, and have experience in the maritime space. Specifically, you have:

• 5+ years of experience working on high performance and/or high volume parts in a team environment
• A high degree of individual autonomy and a get-stuff-done attitude
• Expertise in Solidworks
• A deep understanding of mechanical engineering, structures, assembly and DFM trade offs, and fabrication methods
• Maritime background from extensive work and/or play on and around the ocean
• An understanding of how different manufacturing processes (i.e. CNC milling, 3D printing, waterjet, etc.) affect design
• Experience working in smaller mechanical engineering teams
• The ability to take a napkin sketch, create a first draft CAD model, receive feedback from the team and proceed iteratively
• Experience with outsourcing parts to external vendors/fabricators
• Communication skills – with vendors and internal team
• Organizational skills – tracking BOMs, following up with suppliers etc.
• Attention to detail – understanding of GD&T, creating drawings for suppliers, etc.
• Experience in startups, competitions, or similarly tight-timeline settings
• Basic understanding of electrical and software needs for electro-mechanical systems
• Experience with combustion engines and hybrid systems
• Experience in maritime systems engineering and integration

Due to export control requirements applicable to this position, we are only able to consider U.S. persons, as defined by U.S. export control laws. This includes U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and individuals granted asylee or refugee status.

Bonus:

• An understanding of basic naval architecture
• Basic understanding of composites
• Understanding of autonomous systems

About Seasats:

At Seasats, we're passionate about delivering maritime robotics solutions to redefine the maritime industry. Our primary products are unmanned surface vessels (USVs), designed to carry sensors at sea for months at a time. Our USVs provide persistent monitoring and data acquisition to defense, scientific, and commercial customers, and have autonomously crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. After thousands of years in which the only way to gather information from the ocean was to put people on a boat, these uncrewed vessels are transforming how humanity monitors and interacts with the ocean. Here, you’ll find the space and opportunity to do your life’s best work.

Along with your salary, you’ll receive perks including:

• Competitive insurance (including a 99% employer-covered Gold HMO plan or other options)
• 401k matching up to 4% of salary
• Four free lunches per week
• An employee activity fund
• A pet-friendly office
• Unlimited/Flex PTO

Please note that we are currently unable to sponsor employment visas, so candidates must be independently authorized to work in the United States.

We appreciate diverse perspectives and life experiences, and we’re committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds. Seasats provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination of any type based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under federal, state, or local law.

We look forward to reviewing your application!