Senior Vessel Controls Engineer — On‑Water & Autonomy Lead

Motive Workforce; Southfield (MI); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

PTO

Equity consideration

Job summary

Motive Workforce is seeking a Senior Controls & Software Integration Engineer in Southeast Michigan. You will own vessel control software end-to-end, from VCU to helm, across consumer and defense platforms, with hands-on bench, boat, and water time.

You will integrate high‑voltage powertrains, build data pipelines, and ensure robust fault handling and safe on‑water operation. This role includes leadership of junior staff and close work with the CTO.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in vehicle/vessel controls or embedded powertrain software.
• Hands-on with model-based toolchains (Simulink or similar).
• MATLAB experience required; strong CAN/J1939 knowledge.
• HV system integration and safe HV work practices.
• BS in Electrical/Computer/Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Own vessel control software end-to-end from VCU to helm screen.
• Integrate powertrain over CAN/J1939 and manage BMS, inverters and OBC.
• Design fault handling, derating, and safe on-water states.
• Build data pipelines to UI and telemetry, including NMEA 2000/J1939 mapping.
• Coordinate bench, HIL, and on-water validation and releases.
• Support demos, sea trials, and defense exercise events.
• Lead junior engineers and collaborate with harness design team.

Skills

Vessel controls

Embedded powertrain

Model-based development

MATLAB

CAN/J1939 familiarity

HV integration

Hardware debugging

ITAR/EAR awareness

Education

BS in Electrical, Computer, or Mechanical Engineering

Equivalent experience

Tools

MotoHawk

EcoCoder

OpenECU

Simulink

Vector/Kvaser/PCAN

NMEA 2000

Job description

Motive Workforce is seeking a Senior Controls & Software Integration Engineer in Southeast Michigan. You will own vessel control software end-to-end, from VCU to helm, across consumer and defense platforms, with hands-on bench, boat, and water time.

You will integrate high‑voltage powertrains, build data pipelines, and ensure robust fault handling and safe on‑water operation. This role includes leadership of junior staff and close work with the CTO.