Field Test Engineer
Albacore
- Location
- Onsite (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
- Employment
- Full-time
- Level
- Mid Level
Posted 1 week ago
About the Role
Albacore builds mass-producible long-range drone submarines to support military operators with underwater systems. The Field Test Engineer will own test planning and execution for the Ghostfin UUV, conducting in-water testing, maintenance, and customer training in challenging field conditions.
Skills
Test Planning And Execution
Field Testing
UUV Operations
Equipment Preparation
Inspection And Systems Checks
Launch And Recovery Operations
Maintenance And Repair
Troubleshooting
Customer Training
Mission Planning
Electromechanical Systems Integration
Hardware And Software Troubleshooting
Networking
Technical Documentation
Boating
Problem-Solving
Full job details
About the Team
Albacore is bringing our passion to innovation in the subsea domain, and we are looking to add a Field Test Engineer to join the Ghostfin Field Operations team.The Field Test Engineer will own the discipline of test planning and execution including writing and documenting test plans for every deployment, running in-water testing, and facilitating forward deployed activities with overseas customers. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role where you will leverage your technical expertise to test and operate this modern subsea platform in the most challenging and dynamic conditions.
What you'll do
- Prepare for field exercises by identifying, sourcing and preparing UUV test and support equipment
- Write and execute day to day test operations plans and capture detailed daily operations and test reports
- Conduct daily UUV inspections and systems checks for the Ghostfin both before and after operations
- Coordinate regular UUV launch and recovery operations–you’ll be in the water most weekdays as we rapidly mature the platform
- Become the vehicle subject matter expert in the field, able to perform maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, and upgrades in austere conditions
- Travel to client sites to train customer operators on vehicle functionality, deployment, retrieval, and mission planning capabilities
- Bring an operator's perspective to augment development, bringing constructive feedback to Engineering for UX/UI considerations, Standard Operating Procedures, and user documentation
Qualifications
- 4+ years working hands-on with a technical team through the full arc of integration, test, and field verification of a complex electromechanical system
- Comfortable becoming the go-to expert on a technical platform end-to-end
- Sharp, practical problem-solver who is at ease working across hardware, software, and networking boundaries, who can take an ambiguous, half-defined issue and work it methodically to a real answer
- Genuinely curious individual who picks up new technical systems and concepts on their own rather than waiting to be taught
- Highly organized and methodical, especially under pressure — someone who gets more deliberate, not reactive, when things get stressful
- Willing to be hands-on and in the field, not just planning from a desk
- Comfortable and confident working on the water — driving a boat, towing a trailer, handling dock lines, and generally at ease around marine equipment
- Ability to lift and maneuver test equipment and vehicle components up to 50 lbs
- Travel 25-50% as needed
Preferred Qualifications
- Engineering Degree or comparable experience preferred
- Comfortable reading and working from technical documentation including mechanical drawings, wiring diagrams, work instructions or equipment schematics
- Experience running functional checkouts or acceptance tests and knowing when to fix an issue on the spot versus flag it up the chain
- General Boating License