Engineering Lead – HAUV Systems

About the Company

Fontes is recruiting on behalf of a Singapore-based deep-tech company that designs and operates hovering-class autonomous underwater vehicles used to inspect and safeguard subsea infrastructure across the maritime, energy, and defence sectors. Their systems are delivered through a robotics-as-a-service model and are built on years of hands-on operational experience in demanding offshore waters. The mission is to give asset owners a dependable way to manage the integrity of the infrastructure they rely on, while sharply cutting the emissions of conventional inspection methods.

Why Join Now

The sectors they serve are actively looking for better ways to solve long-standing operational problems, and my client sees a real opportunity to deliver those solutions today. Building something genuinely new is difficult, and it takes exceptional people to do it well.

The team is tight-knit and multi-disciplinary, driven by a shared appetite for ambitious engineering and comfortable operating in fast-changing environments. If you want your work to have real-world impact, this is a place to do it.

You will enjoy this role if you:

• Thrive in a fast-moving start-up setting and value long-term growth over quick wins
• Are equally happy working on your own or alongside colleagues from other sub-teams
• Learn quickly and stay curious when tackling unfamiliar problems
• Can weigh risk and make time-sensitive calls when conditions are less than ideal

Your Role

Reporting to the CTO, the Engineering Lead will own the mechanical design and integration of my client's subsea vehicle platforms, taking them from initial concept all the way through to field deployment. This is a hands-on leadership position: you will guide a team of mechanical and mechatronics engineers, make the key calls on pressure housings, propulsion and payload integration, and work side by side with electrical and software colleagues to move vehicles from the workshop into the water. Because mechanical and electrical integration are closely intertwined in these platforms, a solid grasp of electrical and electronic systems is expected.

Job Scope

1. Lead the mechanical and electrical design, analysis and integration of the vehicle platforms — covering pressure housings, modular frames, buoyancy and trim systems, multi-DOF thruster arrangements for hovering and station-keeping, and mounts for inspection payloads and sensors such as cameras, sonar and NDT instruments.
2. Own the decisions on design-for-manufacture, tolerancing and material selection for subsea inspection duty — corrosion resistance, dynamic sealing and pressure ratings — together with the electrical choices around wet-mateable connectors, penetrators and power distribution suited to hovering-class vehicles.
3. Design, integrate and troubleshoot wiring harnesses, connectors, penetrators and power/signal routing throughout the vehicle, keeping the interface between mechanical housings and electrical subsystems (thrusters, sensors, control electronics) clean and reliable.
4. Drive structural and electrical validation — FEA, pressure testing, load testing, continuity and insulation testing — to qualify designs for their rated operating depth, hovering and manoeuvring duty cycles, and power-system reliability.
5. Manage the complete engineering lifecycle across both mechanical and electrical workstreams: requirements, CAD and schematic design, prototyping, testing, field trials and handover to production.
6. Lead and mentor a cross-disciplinary team of mechanical, electrical and mechatronics engineers, reviewing designs across all three areas and growing the technical depth of the group.
7. Support and, when needed, personally run pool and open-water trials — vehicle assembly, pre-dive electrical and mechanical checks, hovering and station-keeping performance validation, and post-dive teardown and inspection.
8. Diagnose and resolve mechanical, electrical and electro-mechanical faults during field operations, including service deployments, and drive the root-cause corrective actions.
9. Keep engineering documentation current: mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, BOMs, wiring diagrams, test reports and design-change records.
10. Work with engineering, production and operations colleagues so that the vehicles meet reliability, maintainability and manufacturability targets across their mechanical and electrical systems for service delivery.
11. Support procurement and vendor management for mechanical components, electrical and electronic parts, fabrication and machining partners specific to these builds.

Desired Qualities

• A Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical, Marine/Offshore, Mechatronics, Electrical or a related engineering discipline
• 5+ years of hands-on mechanical engineering, including direct experience designing, building or maintaining ROVs, AUVs or other subsea/marine robotic systems
• A sound working knowledge of electrical and electronic fundamentals — wiring, connectors, basic circuit troubleshooting, power distribution — enough to work hands-on across the mechanical-electrical boundary
• Proficiency with 3D CAD, and familiarity with FEA and simulation tools
• Practical experience with pressure-housing design, sealing (O-rings, potting) and testing of subsea equipment
• Comfortable in a workshop: fabrication, assembly, machining coordination and troubleshooting
• Some prior experience leading or mentoring a small engineering team
• Willingness to travel for field trials and deployments
• A strong problem-solving instinct and ease in a fast-moving, resource-constrained start-up

Good to Have

• Experience integrating underwater sensors (sonar, cameras, DVL, IMU)
• Familiarity with marine and offshore industry standards and certification processes
• Experience with composite materials or specialised manufacturing methods for marine use
• Exposure to autonomy and control systems and how they interface with mechanical and electrical subsystems

Remuneration Package

• Market-competitive salary
• Growth opportunities tied to the impact you make, rather than a fixed corporate ladder
• ESOP / equity participation
• Healthcare support
• Special access to industry events
• A well-stocked pantry with good snacks
• Support for skills upgrading and learning credits