Staff ML Engineer: Edge AI for Maritime Autonomy

Saildrone; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 215,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous Time Off

Comprehensive Health Coverage

Equity grants

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Saildrone is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to design, deploy, and scale ML systems enabling autonomy across its global fleet. You will own the ML lifecycle for edge deployments, drive sensor fusion across cameras, radar, lidar, hydrophones, and bathymetric sensors, and lead critical initiatives in a mission‑driven environment.

You will report to the Director of Software Engineering, and this onsite Alameda role emphasizes end‑to‑end execution, technical leadership, and collaboration

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in Machine Learning or Software Engineering across the full ML lifecycle.
• Technical authority for edge AI in mission-critical environments.
• Proven track record leading cross-functional autonomy, robotics, or large-scale distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy production‑grade ML models for real‑time perception to enable 24/7 operation of USVs in harsh maritime environments.
• Own the full ML lifecycle architecture for edge deployment on NVIDIA Jetson/AGX platforms.
• Lead multi‑modal sensor fusion integrating cameras, radar, lidar, hydrophones, and bathymetric sensors.
• Drive rapid expansion of proprietary maritime datasets and robust evaluation frameworks.
• Architect and scale cloud‑based training pipelines and CI/CD workflows for end‑to‑end ML operations.
• Guide system‑wide optimization of onboard compute using runtime libraries like TensorRT.
• Direct large‑scale ML projects from concept to fielding and mentor engineers across teams.
• Collaborate across Perception to Frontend to deliver actionable ML insights for mission pilots.

Skills

Python

Cross-functional leadership

Edge AI systems

CI/CD

System-level architecture

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/EE or related

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

TensorRT

Linux

Job description

Saildrone is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer to design, deploy, and scale ML systems enabling autonomy across its global fleet. You will own the ML lifecycle for edge deployments, drive sensor fusion across cameras, radar, lidar, hydrophones, and bathymetric sensors, and lead critical initiatives in a mission‑driven environment.

You will report to the Director of Software Engineering, and this onsite Alameda role emphasizes end‑to‑end execution, technical leadership, and collaboration