Director of Naval Architecture - Advanced Offshore Systems & Vessel Retrofit

Location:

Location: US Gulf coast region (with domestic and global travel)

About Us

Impossible Metals is building the next generation of offshore systems to unlock critical minerals in a way that is both environmentally responsible and economically superior. Our approach combines autonomous underwater vehicles, advanced robotics, and innovative offshore vessel systems. See an animation of our concept here:

We are not a traditional marine company—we operate at the intersection of robotics, ocean engineering, and venture-scale innovation. Our team is entrepreneurial, hands‑on, and driven by solving problems that have never been solved before.

If you’re looking to work on incremental ship design, this is not the role. If you want to help invent entirely new offshore operating models—this is.

The Role

We are seeking a Director of Naval Architecture to lead a small team in managing the outsourced design, retrofit, and integration of large offshore bulk container vessels that will support autonomous subsea mining operations at scale.

While there is a concept design in place, there is a need to build out the team’s naval architecture capability to refine this solution. You will be responsible for building a small team to support you and with this team you will manage the design, retrofit and commissioning of a number of bulk transport vessels.

You will play a central role in defining how our vessels operate, how equipment is deployed and recovered, and how we safely and efficiently run complex offshore missions in challenging sea states.

This is a high-impact, build-from-scratch role that requires strong skills in three main areas of :

• Technology
• Retrofit & Vendor Project Management
• Team building & management.

What You’ll Do

• Evaluate and select naval architecture engineering firms.
• Manage contracts and relationships with engineering, marine operations / shipping and yards.
• Build a small team of like-minded individuals to support the work.
• Liaise between the other technical development teams within Impossible Metals to ensure compatibility of activity and ship based engineering decisions.
• Develop concept vessel arrangements to support AUV deployment, recovery, and operations
• Lead the externally contracted development of concept, preliminary, and detailed design of offshore vessels.
• Manage the outsourced launch and recovery systems (LARS), cranes, and handling equipment team.
• Work with partners on DP system integration, stability, seakeeping, and operability analysis
• Own classification strategy (e.g., DNV, ABS) for regulatory and insurance compliance
• Support ship acquisition, retrofit planning, and shipyard execution
• Participate in vendor selection and RFP processes for marine systems
• Travel to shipyards, offshore trials, and partner sites globally

What We’re Looking For

• Degree in Naval Architecture or Marine Engineering
• 10–15+ years of experience in offshore vessels with a focus on industrial ship retrofit design and project management.
• Strong understanding of: Vessel retrofit and conversion projects, Offshore crane and handling systems, Stability, hydrodynamics, and seakeeping
• Experience working with classification societies (e.g., DNV, Lloyd’s Register)
• Familiarity with DP retrofits
• Familiarity with offshore operations
• Experience interfacing with shipyards and equipment vendors
• Comfortable operating in high ambiguity, early-stage design environments

Bonus Points

• Experience with autonomous or subsea systems
• Background in heavy lift or offshore construction vessels
• Exposure to novel marine architectures or first-of-kind systems

How We Work (Culture)

• Entrepreneurial: We move fast, make decisions quickly, and take ownership
• Builder mindset: We value people who can go from concept → analysis → execution
• Cross-disciplinary: You’ll work closely with robotics, software, and operations teams
• Low bureaucracy: Small team, high trust, high accountability
• Mission-driven: We are tackling one of the most important critical metals supply chain challenges of our time

This is a place where:

• You will be expected to lead, not wait
• You will have real influence over major technical decisions
• You will help define systems that don’t yet exist in the industry