Role: Defense Solutions Manager

Location: San Diego, CA (in-office with travel)

Salary: $135,000-170,000/ yr + stock options, 401k matching, relocation assistance within the U.S. (if applicable), and other benefits.

Role Overview:
Seasats builds long-endurance ASVs that support maritime security, naval defense, and commercial and scientific innovation. As a Defense Solutions Manager, you'll be one of the public faces of Seasats, helping generate interest and excitement and then convert it into signed contracts. You’ll make strong impressions at industry events, military exercises, program office briefings, and customer trials, focusing primarily on engagements with defense customers. You’ll also send emails, use a CRM, and build a deep understanding of customer needs and our product offerings.
This is a hands-on role where relationship building, operational fluency, and follow-through are essential. You’ll work directly with our executive team and engineers, making sure information flows where it needs to and suggesting creative solutions when appropriate.

Role Details:
Seasats is at the crest of a historical wave of opportunity. Your primary goal will be to make sure we capture and capitalize on as much of that momentum as possible, making high-quality products available to new users around the world. You’ll contribute to commercial and research business development, but we expect you to bring particular effort and expertise to the defense market. Some specific tasks might include:

• Representing Seasats at top-tier trade shows, conferences, and in-water demos (~6–10/year)
• Building and managing relationships with program offices and other government customer groups (e.g., SOCOM, USCG, USMC, PMS-406, DIU, NOAA, etc.)
• Owning opportunities from first contact through contract negotiation and close
• Keeping deals in our CRM clean and current
• Leading pricing discussions and coordinating with our Proposals Manager and leadership team
• Training and coaching channel partners to ensure resellers are set up for success

About You:
You’re an action-oriented person excited to drive growth in a rapidly growing and competitive industry. You can dress up or get your hands dirty, and you’re personable enough to make allies wherever you go. You also:

• Are familiar with DoD (particularly Navy, USCG, or USMC) acquisition processes
• Are familiar with business development, account management, or field sales (ideally in defense, robotics, or technical products)
• Are comfortable briefing government stakeholders and navigating multi-level buying processes
• Enjoy field work and are willing to travel for demos, shows, and customer engagements (~25–40%)
• Prioritize integrity and long-term client relationships over padded stats
• Can write a good email or pull together a slide deck
• Get excited about autonomous technology
• Thrive in a fast-moving, hands-on environment with a small team and high trust

Additionally, you likely have one or more of the following qualifications:

• Served in the military (particularly Navy or USMC)
• Worked with startups
• Know your way around CRM systems (we use Salesforce) and understand how to keep a pipeline forecastable
• Engineering, oceanographic, or other technical background
• Worked in the maritime industry

Active Secret clearance or eligibility required. Candidate must be a U.S. citizen and capable of obtaining and maintaining a clearance.

About Seasats

At Seasats, we're passionate about delivering maritime robotics solutions to redefine the maritime industry. Our primary products are autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), designed to carry sensors at sea for months at a time. Our ASVs provide persistent monitoring and data acquisition to defense, scientific, and commercial customers, and have autonomously crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. After thousands of years in which the only way to gather information from the ocean was to put people on a boat, these uncrewed vessels are transforming how humanity monitors and interacts with the ocean. Here, you’ll find the space and opportunity to do your life’s best work.

Along with your salary, you’ll receive perks including:

• Competitive insurance (including a 99% employer-covered Gold HMO plan or other options)
• 401k matching up to 4% of salary
• Four free lunches per week
• An employee activity fund
• A pet-friendly office
• Unlimited/Flex PTO

Hiring Notes:

When applying, you’ll be asked to provide a resume and answer a few screening questions.

Please note that we are currently unable to sponsor employment visas, so candidates must be independently authorized to work in the United States.

We appreciate diverse perspectives and life experiences, and we’re committed to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds. Seasats provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination of any type based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under federal, state, or local law.

We look forward to reviewing your application!