Software Engineer at Albacore (Philadelphia, PA)

Albacore· Philadelphia, PA·6d ago

Role details

Work type

Onsite

Employment

Full-Time

Job description

Role description:

Develop software systems that enable autonomous operation, perception, planning, and control for underwater vehicles.
Design and implement systems software that interfaces directly with vehicle hardware, sensors, and embedded compute platforms.
Work closely with mechanical and electrical engineers to integrate software with real robotic systems and validate performance through lab testing and field deployments.
Develop software infrastructure for autonomy, communications, and system monitoring using modern systems programming languages.
Participate in system bring-up, debugging, and iterative testing on physical hardware platforms.
Contribute to the architecture, reliability, and performance of the vehicle software stack.

Desired qualifications:

B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or related technical field.
1-7 years of experience developing software for robotics, embedded systems, or autonomous platforms.
Proficiency with Linux and the Linux command line.
Experience developing software with ROS (Robot Operating System).
Hands-on experience building perception, planning, or control systems for autonomous robots.
Experience writing systems software in low-level languages such as C, C++, Rust, Zig, or similar.
Proficiency with Python and C++.
Experience integrating software with sensors, hardware interfaces, and embedded compute systems.
Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills across software and hardware interfaces.
U.S. work authorization and ability to obtain a security clearance.

High-impact defense mission: Directly contribute to national security and maritime defense with a young, mission-driven team
Early-stage ownership: Join post-seed, pre-scale startup (25 employees) where engineers have outsized influence on product and architecture
Location: Based in Philadelphia, PA
Open roles: Mechanical Engineer, Software Engineer, Electrical Engineer (plus past openings for Powertrain Engineer, Forward Deployed Engineer, Head of Supply Chain, and internships)
Technical culture: Hands-on work spanning robotics, AI, propulsion, battery systems, manufacturing, and defense contracting — a broad, fast-paced engineering environment
Backing: Y Combinator-backed with meaningful seed funding to support growth

One-liner: Albacore Inc. builds mass-producible, long-range autonomous drone submarines (unmanned underwater vehicles) designed to support military operators with ocean-spanning, scalable undersea missions.
Entity Type: Private (Seed stage)
Headquarters: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Founded: 2025
Founders: John Huddleston (Co-Founder, mechanical engineer & unmanned systems expert) and Dante Vaisbort (Co-Founder, second-time defense founder, previously founded Haylon Technologies)

Primary industry: Defense and Space Manufacturing — specifically autonomous underwater vehicles (UUVs) / drone submarines
Target customers: B2G — U.S. Navy, Special Operations Forces, intelligence community, allied foreign militaries; also open to commercial entities with undersea needs
Mission: Build the next generation of unmanned underwater vehicles to prevent maritime invasions and provide asymmetric undersea dominance at scale

Ghostfin (Expeditionary Drone Submarine): A 6-foot autonomous underwater vehicle designed for mass production and long-range deployment. Specs: 102 in base length, 12.75 in outer diameter, 425 lbs dry weight, 200 lbs max payload, 1,000 nautical mile range (10x greater than comparable vehicles), 30-day endurance. It is scalable (built from commercial off-the-shelf components), modular (configurable mission modules for survey, logistics, and strike), persistent (longer transit/loiter via novel energy storage and propulsion), and autonomous (embedded analytics and navigational software). Capable of rapidly launching from boats, piers, or beaches; supports persistent undersea sensing, observation, and communication, and can deliver kinetic strike effects across ocean distances. Also supports swarm deployment and high-bandwidth data relay to support vessels.

Valuation/Market Cap: Not publicly available (private company)
Key Metric: Total Funding — $6.6M ($6,625,000) across 2 seed rounds
Funding History:
- Seed Round (June 2025): $125,000, 1 investor
- Seed Round (September 2025): $6.5M, 15 investors
Notable Investors/Partners: Y Combinator (led), Outlander VC (led)
Growth Signals:
- Headcount: 25 employees, with +3.6% monthly growth
- Team talent sources include Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Boston Consulting Group, and the University of Pennsylvania
- Founding team has led >$9B in unmanned systems manufacturing/procurement efforts (Huddleston) and >$10M in DoD contract efforts (Vaisbort)
- Actively hiring for Mechanical, Software, and Electrical Engineering roles

10x range advantage: Ghostfin offers 1,000 nautical miles of transit distance versus other vehicles of comparable size
Mass-producibility: Designed from widely available commercial off-the-shelf components requiring minimal specialized machinery — a key cost and scale advantage
Modular architecture: Configurable mission modules enable rapid maintenance, upgrade pathways, and mission-specific payloads (survey, logistics, strike)
Experienced team: Engineering heritage includes Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, and Johnson & Johnson; combined 20+ years in space flight technology, autonomous vehicle AI, medical robotics, and robo-submarine competitions
Founder track record: Repeat defense founder with existing DoD relationships and active company (Haylon Technologies) in the autonomous power space

Go-to-market: Deliver solutions to the Navy, Special Operations Forces, intelligence community, and allied foreign militaries; also exploring commercial applications
Product priorities: Continued development of Ghostfin's energy storage and propulsion technology to maintain the endurance/range edge; expanding modular payload capabilities for strike, logistics, and survey missions
At-scale deployment: Emphasizing swarm operations, rapid launch from minimal infrastructure, and ocean-wide autonomous precision effects
Manufacturing: Building out supply chain and production capabilities for true mass production of undersea systems

Sources