About us

Ulysses is the ocean company. We design, manufacture, and operate autonomous vehicles for surface and subsea operations — taking on the most critical tasks across defense, commercial, and scientific missions. Our vertically integrated platform includes Mako, a modular AUV with 72-hour endurance and more onboard compute than any vehicle in its class; Leviathan, an autonomous surface vessel mothership; and Kraken, our automated launch-and-recovery system that closes the loop between surface and subsea with zero human intervention.

The ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface and drives a $2.6 trillion global economy, yet it remains the least monitored domain on the planet. We're changing that — building autonomous systems that collapse the cost of ocean operations by orders of magnitude so that persistent coverage becomes the baseline, not the exception. We operate globally today across defense, ocean science, and commercial survey, working with partners including the U.S. Navy, the Government of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in San Francisco, Ulysses has raised $48 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Booz Allen Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, Pebblebed, Lowercarbon Capital, and others. Our team is lean, hands-on, and fast — we prototype in the shop, test on the water, and ship. If you want to work at the frontier, there's no frontier bigger than the ocean.

About the Role

We're hiring our first Head of Talent at Ulysses. We're scaling across hardware, software, acoustics, manufacturing, field operations, and business development simultaneously. We need someone who can fill all of those seats while building the system that makes hiring repeatable as we grow.

You'll own the full recruiting function: sourcing strategy, pipeline, process, candidate experience, closing, and employer brand. You'll work directly with the founders and engineering leads to define roles, map talent markets, and bring in the people who will build the next generation of ocean robotics. You'll be the person who makes sure we're not just hiring fast, but hiring right.

The right candidate treats recruiting as a craft and a competitive advantage. You're a closer who can also build infrastructure. You source engineers others can't find, you run a process candidates respect, and you're energized by the chaos and ownership of being the first hire in the function.

What You’ll Do

• Own full-cycle recruiting end-to-end across all disciplines: mechanical, electrical, embedded software, acoustics, manufacturing, field ops, and commercial/defense BD

• Build and execute the hiring strategy from role definition and talent mapping through pipeline creation and closing

• Partner deeply with the CEO, President, CTO, COO, and engineering leads to understand hiring needs, shape role scopes, and influence org design

• Source proactively and creatively — outbound, referrals, personal networks, events, niche technical communities, and unconventional channels to find people who build things for the ocean

• Set the bar for candidate experience: a thoughtful, high-signal process from first outreach through offer that reflects who we are as a company

• Lead offer strategy, compensation discussions, negotiation, and closing for senior and hard-to-hire technical talent

• Help shape and amplify Ulysses' employer brand within defense, maritime, robotics, and ocean engineering ecosystems by working closely with our marketing lead

• Stand up recruiting infrastructure, implement processes, tools, metrics, and reporting that can scale post-Series A

• Act as a trusted advisor to leadership: bring data, market insight, and honest feedback on what's working and what isn't

About You

You've built recruiting functions at companies where hiring was existential, not administrative. You've personally filled hard roles in hard markets, and you've also built the systems that let a team do it at scale. You're as comfortable cold-sourcing a sonar engineer as you are advising a founder on org design.

Requirements

• 5+ years of technical recruiting experience, with meaningful time spent hiring across hardware, embedded systems, robotics, or other physically complex engineering disciplines

• Proven track record of recruiting for high-bar engineering teams at fast-growing startups or technically demanding companies

• Strong technical fluency, you can engage engineers credibly, understand what they actually do, and earn their trust

• Exceptional sourcing instincts, you find, engage, and close talent that doesn't show up on job boards

• Experience operating as the first or early recruiting hire, building structure where none exists

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent searches across very different disciplines without dropping quality

• Strong communicator who can influence across levels, from first-time managers to founders

• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and data-driven in how you track and improve your pipeline

• A self-starter who identifies problems, proposes solutions, and executes without being asked

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience recruiting in defense, aerospace, maritime, or federal-adjacent environments

• Familiarity with the specific talent markets we hire from: subsea engineering, acoustics, marine robotics, or ocean tech

• Prior engineering, technical PM, or hands-on technical background

• Experience building employer brand and recruiting content from scratch

• Comfort with international hiring or candidates requiring visa sponsorship