Field Test Engineering Lead (Autonomous Marine Systems)

Location: West Palm Beach, Stuart, and Fort Pierce, Florida through the end of the current calendar year; Fort Pierce, Florida becomes the permanent duty location at the start of the following calendar year. The role is site-based, includes routine movement between facilities, up to 50% travel to customer sites, government test ranges, and OCONUS locations, and may involve early starts, extended days, weekends, and holiday work.

Compensation: Salary plus annual equity package and potential bonuses.

Company

Blue Ops, part of hirify.global, designs, builds, and fields autonomous unmanned surface vessels for defense and national security customers.

What you will do

• Lead, schedule, mentor, and evaluate engineering technicians across vessel construction, integration, commissioning, maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair.
• Plan and execute formal at-sea and shoreside tests, including procedures, instrumentation, acceptance criteria, data collection, analysis, and technical reporting.
• Direct installation and checkout of propulsion, steering, autopilot, power distribution, NMEA 2000/CAN, RF, SATCOM, radar, AIS, EO/IR, and onboard computing systems.
• Lead structured root-cause investigations across mechanical, electrical, network, RF, sensor, power, wiring, and software faults.
• Maintain build travelers, wiring diagrams, checklists, calibration instructions, maintenance documentation, tooling, test equipment, spares, and consumables.
• Support customer visits, government test events, OCONUS deployments, OEM and supplier coordination, proposals, estimates, and compliance activities.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent; a bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, ocean, systems, aerospace engineering, or a related discipline is preferred.
• At least five years of hands-on field service, field testing, systems integration, or technical operations experience; ten or more years is preferred.
• Experience leading technicians or field crews and diagnosing complex electronic and electromechanical systems using structured troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
• Strong practical skills in mechanical assembly, marine and low-voltage DC electrical work, wiring, connectorization, networked electronics, and diagnostic equipment.
• Working proficiency in Python, MATLAB, or equivalent data analysis and scripting; strong written communication and the ability to work independently in field environments.
• U.S. driver's license, ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense SECRET security clearance, U.S. citizenship, U.S. work authorization without current or future visa sponsorship, valid U.S. passport or ability to obtain one, background check, and drug screening are required.

Nice to have

• Experience with unmanned vehicles, autonomy and remote-operations testing, ArduPilot, ArduRover, PX4, MAVLink, or comparable autopilot systems.
• Marine electronics and networks experience, including NMEA 2000/CAN, radar, AIS, EO/IR, GNSS/INS, SATCOM, and Starlink maritime.
• Experience with marine propulsion and vessel-control systems, COLREGS-based navigation testing, collision avoidance, or maritime autonomy assessment.
• OEM certifications, USCG credentials, professional mariner or small-boat qualifications, military maritime experience, CAD, engineering drawings, configuration management, or expeditionary deployments.

Culture & Benefits

• Hands-on work across vessel build, test, deployment, maintenance, and repair activities.
• Direct collaboration with engineering, operations, production, customers, OEMs, suppliers, and integration partners.
• Work involves open-ocean and coastal environments, extended days underway, industrial facilities, PPE, and physical activity including lifting up to 25 lbs.
• Test operations are schedule- and weather-driven, with occasional off-hours and emergency response work.
• Annual equity package and potential bonuses are included with the salary.