Senior Liaison Engineer

Description Senior Liaison Engineer

Liquid Robotics is seeking a Senior Liaison Engineer to join our Potomac Region team as an on-site engineering lead focused on sustainment and manufacturing liaison activities. The Senior Liaison Engineer will manage a small sustainment engineering team, serve as the primary engineering representative and point of contact for Manufacturing and Quality Assurance, and have authority to modify designs to resolve manufacturing or sustainment issues. This role requires strong cross-discipline experience in product sustainment, engineering change management, and production support for maritime systems.

Essential Responsibilities

• Manage a small sustainment engineering team responsible for production support, design updates for manufacturability, and corrective actions.
• Serve as the engineering representative and primary point of contact to Manufacturing and QA organizations; facilitate rapid communication and resolution of production, test, and quality issues.
• Review production and QA feedback, lead root cause analyses, and implement design changes or process improvements to resolve manufacturing issues.
• Execute engineering change requests (ECRs/ECOs) and maintain configuration control for sustainment design revisions.
• Lead cross-functional troubleshooting during production runs and field returns; prioritize fixes to minimize downtime and cost.
• Author and approve technical documentation required for manufacturing and quality processes including assembly instructions, test procedures, and maintenance guides.
• Coordinate with systems, mechanical, electrical, and software engineering teams to ensure design modifications are validated and verified prior to release.
• Maintain and improve design for manufacturability (DFM) and design for testability (DFT) practices across products.
• Support proposals and planning for sustainment-related activities, including cost and schedule estimates for design changes and production support.
• Mentor and develop sustainment engineers; drive continual improvement in sustainment processes.

Key Attributes

• Strong practical engineering judgment with the ability to balance manufacturing, quality, cost, and schedule constraints.
• Clear, concise communicator; able to present technical status and recommendations to engineering, manufacturing, and leadership audiences.
• Hands-on disposition and willingness to engage directly with production, test, and field teams to resolve issues.
• Proven ability to lead small teams and influence cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.
• Strong attention to detail and systems-thinking; understands how component- and subsystem-level changes affect overall product performance and reliability.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, or related field). Advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of engineering experience in maritime, robotics, or complex electro-mechanical systems, including sustainment, production support, or manufacturing engineering.
• 3+ years of experience leading or managing small engineering teams.
• Demonstrated experience working with manufacturing and QA teams; experience with production support, ECR/ECO processes, and configuration management.
• Experience modifying mechanical, electrical, and electronics (e.g., PCBA) designs to resolve manufacturing or field issues, and validating those design changes through test.
• Familiarity with the Liquid Robotics Wave Glider system is a strong discriminator.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills; experience preparing technical documentation and presenting recommendations.
• U.S. Person status required.
• Ability to obtain a US Secret Clearance required. Preference given to candidates with active security clearance at time of hire.

Summary pay range: $112,000 - $199,000

Liquid Robotics designs and manufactures Wave Gliders®, the first wave and solar powered autonomous ocean robots. With our partners we address many of the planets greatest challenges, by transforming how to assess, monitor, and protect the ocean. We solve critical problems for defense, commercial, and science customers. Visit us at www.liquid-robotics.com to learn more.

Liquid Robotics is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.