Ocean robots that stay at sea for months
Online Oceans builds Scout, a 2.4 m solar-electric robot boat that collects ocean data for months at a time. No ship. No crew. One person launches it from a beach. Tether, our web platform, runs the fleet from any browser.
Survey companies, instrument makers and research programmes use Scout to watch the sea, listen for vessels and marine mammals, and measure waves and weather. We are a small, venture-backed team in Southampton, growing fast.
The job
Customers bring their own instruments to Scout: hydrophones, cameras, weather stations, CTD chains, USBL systems and acoustic modems. Each one needs a mount, power, a data link and software before it produces useful data. You will handle all four, then test the result at sea, often with the customer alongside. Past integrations include a USBL system on Scout's keel for tracking underwater vehicles, metocean sensors for a 40-day offshore mission and hydrophones for acoustic monitoring. Each integration you finish becomes something we can offer the next customer.
What you will do
- Scope each integration with the customer: what it measures, and what it needs for power, data and mounting.
- Design brackets, housings and cable routes in CAD, then 3D print or machine them.
- Wire instruments into the sensor bay using its regulated power, network and serial links.
- Write drivers and parsers in Python on Linux so each instrument's data reaches Tether.
- Test on the bench and at sea until the data is correct and reliable.
- Document each integration so the field team can fit it to the next boat.
What you will bring
- 5+ years integrating sensors or instruments onto vehicles or platforms.
- Mechanical skills: CAD, 3D printing, sealing and connectors.
- Software skills: Python on Linux.
- Electronics skills: wiring, power and serial protocols.
- The ability to explain technical work clearly to customers, whether they are engineers or not.
Nice to have
- Ocean instruments such as hydrophones, CTDs, ADCPs, USBL systems or acoustic modems.
- Drones, robots or other uncrewed vehicles.
- Time at sea on trials or survey work.
Why join
- A different instrument each time One project might be a USBL transceiver for tracking underwater vehicles and the next a hydrophone array or a metocean package, so you keep learning new equipment.
- Work with the makers We have integrated equipment from several ocean instrument makers, and you will work with their engineers and the customers who need the data.
- See it work at sea You test each integration on the water yourself and watch the data arrive in Tether from a boat that can stay out for months.
- Work that becomes a product Our underwater vehicle tracking integration is now in service with customers offshore, and the integrations you build can follow the same path.
How to apply
Email your CV to hello@onlineoceans.com with "Integration Engineer" in the subject line. Add a few lines on what you have built and why the ocean matters to you.
Not a perfect match? Apply anyway. We reply to every application. No agencies, please.
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