Senior Manager -Marine Operations
India
Full timeOn-site
Job description
Senior Manager Marine OperationsLocation: Goa (primary), with occasional travel to Bangalore/ other trial sites
Experience: 10-15 Years
About Rekise Marine
Rekise Marine is building autonomous ships and submarines that operate in the world's most hostile environments. We're executing India's flagship autonomous submarine project the Jalkapi XLAUV on order from the Indian Navy. This is an unmanned submarine weighing over 20 tons that can travel 5,000+ kilometers autonomously and operate in the ocean for 30+ days at a time.
We're creating some of the largest autonomous robots in the world, machines with direct impact on the global economy and national security. While autonomous cars in India may still be a dream, autonomous ships and submarines are already a reality, and it is possible to build for the world from India.
The Role
We are looking for a Lead - Marine Operations to own the safe and efficient conduct of our harbour & sea trials and operations across our autonomous fleet - currently the MPAUV and Jalkapi programmes, with more platforms on the way. You are the single point of accountability for safe, successful trials as per plan and schedule.
This is a field-first, command-grade role. You are the senior marine voice in the room. You plan and command trial campaigns, own marine HSE and in-water safety, and serve as the bridge between the autonomy and robotics engineers and real-world seamanship, navigation rules, and regulatory coordination. When the engineering team wants to push a trial envelope and conditions don't agree, your call decides what happens. You will also build the marine-operations playbook and crew as we scale from single trials to a fleet.
You may not get a detailed playbook to get started. If you can stand up safe marine operations from a blank page, make the call on a weather window or an abort, and bring genuine discipline to safety of operation on the surface and depths of sea - keep reading.
Key Responsibilities
Trial Planning & At-Sea Command
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Plan and command sea trial campaigns end to end - concept of operations, dive plans, vessel and crew arrangements, launch and recovery (LARS), sea-state limits, weather windows, and contingency and abort criteria.
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Hold go/no-go authority on marine operations at the trial site - safety is the first goal, technical objectives the second.
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Coordinate with local authorities- Port, Coast Guard, Navy, and fishing/traffic stakeholders for clearances and safe operating areas.
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Apply COLREGs and good seamanship to operations involving autonomous and remotely operated assets.
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Safety of Vessel Testing (primary mandate)
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Be the single accountable owner of marine HSE during all testing - dive safety, surface-craft safety, and the safety of the autonomous vehicle, tooling, and third-party personnel.
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Run risk assessments, toolbox talks, permit-to-work, and emergency/abort drills before and during every sortie; enforce stop-work authority without exception.
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Oversee in-water safety during vehicle testing - diver supervision, man-in-the-water protocols, exclusion zones, and recovery of distressed or non-responsive vehicles.
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Maintain trial safety logs, incident reporting, and post-trial debriefs; close out corrective actions before the next campaign.
Underwater & Subsea Operations
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Lead deployment, recovery, and on-water troubleshooting of UUV/AUV/USV and subsea payloads.
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Support subsea survey and subsea-acoustics operations - positioning, navigation, and data-acquisition runs.
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Direct dive and ROV support where required for inspection, recovery, and safety oversight of the vehicle under test.
Crew, Process & Readiness
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Build and lead the marine-operations crew; define roles, watch-keeping, and competency standards.
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Author the marine-operations and trials-safety playbook (SOPs, checklists, emergency procedures) and keep it current.
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Work with engineering team to translate vehicle readiness into operational readiness; feed field observations back into design.
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Own the trial-site safety equipment and the readiness of crewed support craft operating alongside autonomous and underwater assets.
What You Won't Own
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Overall field logistics - vessel hire, containers, fuel, food, accommodation - sits with the field-operations executive. Your focus is the plan, the vessel and people in the water, and the call on the day.
Required Qualifications
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Master Mariner (Class I Certificate of Competency) OR equivalent command-grade marine background (ex-Navy command, or a senior offshore Marine Superintendent / OCM).
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8-15 years at sea and/or in offshore marine operations, with demonstrable command and HSE accountability.
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Hands-on exposure to at-sea trials, offshore operations, or underwater operations - and comfort working alongside autonomy and robotics engineers.
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Deep, instinctive discipline around safety at sea; able to run risk assessments and own go/no-go and abort decisions.
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Strong familiarity with operating in monsoon and coastal conditions; Indian coast experience preferred.
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Physically fit, comfortable on and in the water, and willing to work field hours at coastal sites during trial campaigns.
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Strong documentation and clear communication; an Indian national, eligible for defence-related clearances.
Preferred Experience
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Ex-Navy submariner + diver:an officer from the submarine arm with a clearance/ship's diver background, who has owned in-water safety and can lead the safety aspects of vessel testing - man-in-the-water control, dive supervision, and recovery operations. This is our strongest-fit profile for the role.
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ROV / subsea operations:ROV Supervisor/Superintendent or marine-operations lead with IMCA / BOSIET / HUET certification and offshore campaign experience.
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Offshore / oil & gas:DP vessels (DSV/construction/survey), sea trials, commissioning at sea, and subsea inspection (IMR).
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Defence / oceanography:AUV/UUV programmes (DRDO/NSTL/NPOL/NIOT), hydrographic or oceanographic survey, and mine-countermeasure or underwater-systems trials.
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Dynamic positioning (DP) awareness, and familiarity with marine robotics, subsea acoustics, and survey data acquisition.
What Success Looks Like
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Zero safety incidents across the trial calendar.
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A trial-planning framework that engineering and field teams trust and reuse.
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You are the first person teams turn to when conditions change and a call needs to be made.
Why Join Rekise Marine
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Mission-critical work: you will own the safe execution of sea trials for India's first large autonomous submarine programme.
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Rare exposure: very few people in India run marine operations for autonomous vessels at this scale and class of environment.
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Real ownership: you own safety and execution at sea - and you build the crew, the playbook, and the standards from a blank page.
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Front-row seat to deep-tech: work alongside autonomy, software, and hydrodynamics engineers on problems without textbook answers.
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Benefits: compensation benchmarked to top-quartile for the role, health insurance for you and your family, site allowances, and other benefits.