Subsea Acoustics Engineer

Ulysses; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Ulysses in San Francisco is seeking an Acoustics Engineer to advance low-cost underwater sensing. You will own core acoustic payloads (DVL, MBES, Side Scan, USBL) and drive designs from concept to production for global deployment.

This hands-on role spans physics, signal processing, electronics, embedded software, and production testing. You will collaborate with robotics, autonomy, and manufacturing teams to ensure lab performance translates to ocean reliability at scale.

Qualifications

• Strong fundamentals in underwater acoustics / sonar / signal processing.
• Proven ability to develop working systems, not just theoretical ones.
• Experience shipping acoustic products—ideally in DVL, MBES, Side Scan, USBL or related sonar systems.
• Solid DSP + estimation skills (time/frequency domain analysis, filtering, detection, beamforming, Doppler).
• Strong implementation ability in Python for R&D, and C/C++ for embedded/real-time deployment.
• Hands-on testing: designing experiments, building rigs, field trials, debugging from raw waveforms to system behavior.

Responsibilities

• Own acoustic product development elements end-to-end: architect system elements, prototype quickly, validate performance, and drive designs into production.
• Develop signal processing + estimation pipelines: waveform design, matched filtering, Doppler estimation, beamforming, and sensor fusion interfaces.
• Build the hardware/software stack: transducer design tradeoffs, analog front-end, timing, firmware/drivers, logging/observability.
• Scale to production: cost-down iterations, DFx, supplier selection, manufacturing documentation, calibration procedures, automated test fixtures.
• Test in the real world: tank/bench characterization, environmental testing, field deployments, sea trials.

Skills

Underwater acoustics

Signal processing

Python

C/C++

DSP

Autonomous systems

Job description

About us

Ulysses is the ocean company. We design, manufacture, and operate autonomous vehicles for surface and subsea operations — taking on the most critical tasks across defense, commercial, and scientific missions. Our vertically integrated platform includes Mako, a modular AUV with 72‑hour endurance and more onboard compute than any vehicle in its class; Leviathan, an autonomous surface vessel mothership; and Kraken, our automated launch‑and‑recovery system that closes the loop between surface and subsea with zero human intervention.

The ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface and drives a $2.6 trillion global economy, yet it remains the least monitored domain on the planet. We’re changing that — building autonomous systems that collapse the cost of ocean operations by orders of magnitude so that persistent coverage becomes the baseline, not the exception. We operate globally today across defense, ocean science, and commercial survey, working with partners including the U.S. Navy, the Government of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in San Francisco, Ulysses has raised $48 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Booz Allen Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, Pebblebed, Lowercarbon Capital, and others. Our team is lean, hands‑on, and fast — we prototype in the shop, test on the water, and ship. If you want to work at the frontier, there's no frontier bigger than the ocean.

About the Role

We’re searching for an Acoustics Engineer to build the next generation of low‑cost, high‑performance underwater sensing—designed from day one for manufacturing scale. You’ll own core acoustic payloads and algorithms (DVL, MBES, Side Scan Sonar, USBL, and adjacent modalities) and turn them into robust, repeatable, calibratable products that can be produced in volume and deployed globally.

This is a hands‑on, full‑stack role spanning physics, signal processing, electronics, embedded software, mechanical integration, and production test. You will be part of the Ulysses Acoustics Team. You’ll work closely with robotics, autonomy, and manufacturing teams to ensure our acoustic systems are not only impressive in the lab but also reliable in the ocean and economically viable at scale.

What You’ll Do

• Own acoustic product development elements end-to-end: architect system elements, work with a team to prototype quickly, validate performance, and drive designs into production. Design low‑cost, performative sonar systems across one or more of:

  • DVL (bottom/water‑track velocity, aiding INS)

  • MBES (bathymetry, obstacle/terrain mapping)

  • Side Scan Sonar (imaging/classification support)

  • USBL (relative positioning/tracking, aiding navigation)

• Develop signal processing + estimation pipelines: waveform design, matched filtering, Doppler estimation, beamforming, multipath/false return rejection, uncertainty characterization, and sensor fusion interfaces

• Build the hardware/software stack: transducer selection/design tradeoffs, analog front‑end considerations, timing/synchronization, embedded compute constraints, interfaces (Ethernet, serial, CAN, PPS), firmware/drivers, and logging/observability

• Scale to production: cost‑down iterations, DFM/DFT, supplier selection, manufacturing documentation, calibration procedures, automated test fixtures, yield and reliability improvements

• Test in the real world: tank/bench characterization, environmental testing, field deployments, sea trials, and structured performance reporting

About you

Requirements

• You’re an ambitious self‑starter with an insatiable drive to win.
• You have an entrepreneurial mindset and can think like a founder.
• You embrace a gotta go fast mindset and refuse to settle for “good enough.”
• You’re capable of working autonomously in dynamic environments.
• Strong fundamentals in underwater acoustics / sonar / signal processing.
• Proven ability to develop working systems, not just theoretical ones.
• Demonstrated experience shipping (or owning major subsystems of) acoustic products—ideally in DVL, MBES, Side Scan, USBL or closely related sonar systems. Solid DSP + estimation skills (time/frequency domain analysis, filtering, detection, beamforming, Doppler, probabilistic performance metrics).
• Strong implementation ability in Python for R&D, and C/C++ (or similar) for embedded/real‑time deployment.
• Comfortable working across disciplines. Hands‑on approach to testing: designing experiments, building rigs, running field trials, debugging from raw waveforms to system behavior.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with transducer design, array design, acoustic materials, packaging, and underwater connectors/sealing.
• Experience with production test automation, calibration pipelines, and quality systems (e.g., ISO‑9001 style processes).
• Prior work on AUV/ROV/USV platforms and navigation stacks (INS aiding, time sync, data association, mission reliability).
• Experience designing for harsh environments: pressure, corrosion, vibration, temperature, EMC/EMI.