The Company

Sofar is on a mission to connect the world’s oceans. We design, build, and deploy the largest privately owned network of marine weather sensors to power the world’s best marine weather forecasts. Our data helps our customers to increase efficiency and reduce emissions, delivering tools to governments and other stakeholders to understand impacts of climate change on extreme weather and ocean health. We live on Planet Ocean, and our goal is to create the ocean intelligence needed to ensure a sustainable future.

The Mission:

We believe that the future of ocean understanding and predictability will be increasingly data-driven. We build the data acquisition infrastructure to power that. The next frontier is the seamless integration of observations with traditional weather forecasts and data-driven (machine learning) techniques. We are looking for an exceptional and energizing senior research scientist in the field of Machine Learning/AI to shape this vision and make this a reality.

The Role:

Sofar Ocean, builds and deploys ocean sensing hardware at unprecedented scale. We use the data we collect to power the next generation of ocean intelligence products towards a more sustainable future. We are looking for someone to help us make the most of the data we gather by developing new signal processing algorithms to improve data fidelity, extracting meaningful insights from noisy raw data, and coming up with novel applications for new sensing methods and modalities. You will join the growing Ocean Science team at Sofar, and work collaboratively with our hardware and product teams to help create the most impactful distributed sensing network in our oceans.

Competencies:

• We are looking for an enthusiastic, proactive person who is able to make decisions and operate with minimal oversight. You must have strong analytical skills and good work ethic and a strong willingness - when needed - to work hard and get the job done.
• Priorities may change, especially since this is a new role at Sofar (and we are still a startup!), so an ability to adapt quickly to new priorities is key.
• Lastly, we are looking for someone who has the ability to develop and coach others on the team to improve performance and prepare them for future roles.

About You:

• PhD in Oceanography and ability to bring in the relevant physics knowledge in the support, design, and research process.
• Experience working with sensors and signal-processing.
• Has previously written successful grant applications and performed as PI on those grants.
• An ability to represent Sofar to the outside world (sales calls etc.).
• Proficiency in Python, data processing and visualization.
• Onsite 5 days a week in our San Francisco office.

Bonus points:

• Experience as a PI on (government) grants.
• Experience using or interpreting output of Earth system models.
• Experience with AWS, Apache Airflow.
• Broader knowledge in the AI/ML space

Estimated Salary Range

• $150,000 - $180,000
• The range listed is what we reasonably expect to pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and may be modified in the future. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, and equity package.

Sofar's Commitment to Climate Justice

We at Sofar Ocean acknowledge that careers in the marine sciences “... have traditionally been, and remain, non-diverse work environments”, thereby limiting the entry and prosperity of underrepresented groups in the space. (Johri et al., 2021) Many of these same groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, and are often excluded from decision-making that directly address their interests and needs.

We are committed to addressing these climate injustices and highly encourage people who identify as women, LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to apply.

Employee Conduct

It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.