Senior Software Engineer (Maritime Optimization)

• We are looking for an experienced Senior Software Engineer to work on maritime route optimization, vessel performance modeling, and voyage analysis capabilities for U.S. Government and defense customers
• This is a hands-on software engineering role working directly on the software that models vessel performance and evaluates candidate maritime routes
• Depending on the problem, you may be refining optimization algorithms, translating vessel performance and fuel-consumption models into software, building simulation and evaluation tooling, or improving how route recommendations are scored and explained
• Maritime voyage optimization and route evaluation
• Vessel performance and fuel-consumption modeling across varying operating and environmental conditions
• Voyage constraints, transit time, fuel efficiency, and operational considerations
• Optimization algorithms and the software that supports them
• Simulation and evaluation capabilities used to understand optimizer behavior and route quality
• Clear, explainable results that allow users to understand and evaluate optimization recommendations
• You’ll contribute to both existing Sofar technology and new software developed for government maritime applications as these capabilities evolve
• Maritime route optimization means balancing competing considerations: fuel consumption, transit time, vessel performance, environmental conditions, voyage constraints, and operational needs
• You’ll collaborate with engineers, product experts, and maritime domain specialists to translate those real-world problems into practical software solutions
• Your work will focus on the core engineering behind voyage analysis and optimization — improving models, algorithms, simulation capabilities, and the software that connects them — with the goal of producing recommendations that are useful, understandable, and defensible
• Our optimization, modeling, and simulation software includes Rust and Python. You may work across both high- and low-level languages while contributing to algorithms, models, services, APIs, testing, and related software components
• This position supports U.S. Department of Defense customers

Benefits

• Comprehensive health, vision, dental plan
• Volunteering program
• Home office stipend
• Hybrid work schedule (for most roles)
• Flexible time off (including World Oceans Day!)
• A strong internal community of ocean-lovers!- Candidates should be comfortable working on technology used in defense and military applications. Previous defense experience is not required
• Must be able to successfully pass a background check
• U.S. citizenship is required for this position
• Comfortable working on software supporting U.S. Government and Department of Defense customers
• Experience with Python and/or a compiled language such as Rust, C++, C, or similar
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset when working across engineering and domain disciplines
• Ability to translate domain or mathematical concepts into maintainable, testable software
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and experience contributing to production software
• Comfortable working with algorithms, data structures, and computational problems
• We don’t expect candidates to arrive with maritime route optimization experience
• What matters is your ability to take complex real-world problems and translate them into software that can model, evaluate, and help solve them
• Relevant experience may come from robotics, logistics, aerospace, autonomy, transportation, scientific computing, operations research, simulation, or other domains involving optimization of physical systems
• We know great candidates don’t always check every box. If this role interests you and you believe your experience translates well to the problems we’re working on, we encourage you to apply
• A degree in physics or a related technical field
• Maritime or naval domain experience
• Experience developing optimization, modeling, or simulation software for real-world systems
• Previous experience supporting U.S. Government or Department of Defense customers
• A personal connection to or passion for the oceans!