Director of ASO, Maritime Applications

About Overwatch

Overwatch Imaging is an imagery intelligence technology company working to bring sensor autonomy to time-critical airborne search, detection, tracking and monitoring missions. Our Automated Sensor Operator (ASO) software, native to our own line of purpose-built Smart Sensors and as an upgrade for airborne video gimbal platforms, brings Superhuman Vision and Workload Reduction to users of real-time imagery intelligence systems. We fundamentally believe that modern edge processing and AI-enabled autonomy can perform an important set of time-critical imagery intelligence missions better, faster and more safely than humans can alone.

Founded in 2016 in Hood River, Oregon, we support private sector companies as well as federal, state and local agencies around the world with missions ranging from wildfire mapping and disaster response to law enforcement, border security, maritime domain awareness and tactical intelligence.

About this Role

Overwatch Imaging is hiring a Director of ASO for Maritime Applications to drive the adoption and growth of our Automated Sensor Operator product line across maritime domain awareness, maritime patrol, search and rescue, border and coastal security, counter-narcotics, fisheries enforcement, and related missions.

Working both as an Integrated Product Team Leader and a collaborator across company functional teams, this Director will lead and influence the iterative process of understanding maritime user needs, developing and delivering capabilities that solve those needs, capturing and successfully executing contracts, learning from operational customer feedback, and converting successful deployments into growth opportunities.

This role is built for a lead-from-the-front executive who can earn trust with maritime operators while also leading a team of product developers and customer success professionals. The successful candidate will understand the operational realities of wide-area maritime search and surveillance and be able to translate those realities into differentiated product capabilities, successful deployments and sustained revenue growth.

Success in this role is defined by customer success and adoption of ASO across the maritime ISR community. This leader will work closely with business development, marketing, demonstrations, product development, test, and quality teammates across the company. This role reports directly to the CEO and will be accountable for substantial growth within the maritime mission area.

What You’ll Do

Turn Maritime User Needs into Product and Business Success

• Maintain close working relationships with maritime operators, program offices and industry partners to deeply understand mission workflows, capability gaps and emerging requirements.
• Identify opportunities to expand ASO adoption across maritime domain awareness, maritime patrol, search and rescue, counter-narcotics, border security, fisheries enforcement and related missions.
• Translate operational requirements into product capabilities that improve wide-area search, vessel detection, classification, tracking and actionable intelligence delivery.
• Deliver product prototypes and feature releases that demonstrate measurable operational value and lead to follow-on growth.
• Develop a strong understanding of adjacent sensors and data sources—including EO/IR, AIS and radar—and identify opportunities to create increasingly integrated maritime workflows.

Oversee the Maritime Applications Integrated Product Team

• Identify, recruit and lead a cross-functional team capable of prototyping new capabilities, demonstrating and iterating on those capabilities, and transitioning successful concepts into long-term product offerings.
• Own product priorities and roadmap decisions for the maritime mission area based on customer value, competitive differentiation, technical feasibility and revenue potential.
• Connect the work of the Maritime team with broader company functional teams to maintain codebase integrity, architecture and quality standards.
• Act as a delivery leader by tracking progress, mitigating risks, removing blockers and ensuring commitments to customers are met.

Drive Maritime User Community Adoption and Growth

• Contribute to the broader product vision for sensor autonomy while owning the roadmap necessary to drive frequent operational use and revenue growth in the maritime segment.
• Speak the language of maritime operators and translate effectively between customers, engineering, business development, marketing and company leadership.
• Build expertise in how ASO can improve long-range maritime search, vessel detection and classification, AIS-assisted workflows, multi-target surveillance and autonomous sensor operation.
• Represent Overwatch Imaging at relevant Navy, Coast Guard, maritime security, UAS, defense and intelligence conferences, exercises and government events.
• Develop a deep understanding of competitors, alternative solutions, acquisition pathways and evolving maritime ISR requirements.

Collaborate Cross-Functionally and with Company Leadership

• Coordinate closely with BD Directors covering Navy, Coast Guard, DHS and international maritime accounts to identify opportunities and build coordinated account and capture strategies.
• Partner with Marketing on maritime-specific messaging, materials, customer stories, demonstrations and campaigns.
• Work with external platform, sensor and technology partners to expand ASO's reach across maritime ISR architectures.
• Collaborate with other Integrated Product Teams to ensure product architectural integrity and maximize reusable capabilities across mission areas.
• Team with Training, Documentation, Helpdesk and Demonstrations staff to ensure successful customer adoption and operational support.
• Assist with management reporting and support executive-level customer, partner and board briefings as needed.

What You’ll Bring

Experience and Education

• 10+ years of product development, customer management, business development, maritime ISR or operational experience relevant to maritime applications.
• Deep familiarity with maritime surveillance and ISR missions through prior operational service, program experience, product leadership or direct support to Navy, Coast Guard, DHS, international maritime forces or commercial maritime operators.
• Strong understanding of airborne maritime search and surveillance workflows, including the operational challenges of searching large ocean and littoral areas and identifying, classifying and maintaining awareness of vessels of interest.
• Experience with airborne ISR platforms such as P-8, HC-144, C-27J, MQ-9, ScanEagle, maritime patrol aircraft, UAS platforms or comparable ISR aircraft is strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of identifying, winning and delivering opportunities within defense, homeland security or maritime markets.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance; active Secret clearance preferred.

Technical Competence

• Comfort with agile software development workflows and tools.
• Ability to deliver messages confidently to audiences ranging from software engineers and sensor operators to acquisition officers, program managers and senior decision-makers.
• Familiarity with maritime ISR technologies and data sources such as EO/IR sensors, AIS, maritime radar, geospatial intelligence and tactical data-sharing systems.
• Understanding of the relationship between sensor performance, search area, probability of detection, resolution, environmental conditions and mission effectiveness.
• Comfort with AI/ML, autonomy, computer vision and geospatial workflows; able to engage credibly in technical discussions involving edge processing, automated vessel detection, classification and tracking.
• Familiarity with relevant government acquisition and contracting mechanisms and the ability to navigate programs from initial demonstration through operational adoption.

Character Attributes

• Thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced, venture-backed startup business environment.
• Motivates and inspires teammates through a strong work ethic and high personal accountability.
• Combines strong product judgment with a commercial mindset and understands that successful product decisions must ultimately drive customer adoption and business growth.
• Collaborates well in a small-team environment with teammates, customers and industry partners.
• Enjoys hands-on work, learning new technologies and missions, and taking responsible risks.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and making decisions with imperfect information.
• Takes pride in seeing new capabilities move rapidly from concept to operational use.

What We Offer

• Growth Opportunities: As a team member of a true startup, you will learn by doing and shape our future. The opportunities are limitless for those who want to grow their career.
• Impact Opportunity: We work on missions that matter to keep people safe and make the world better, and we do it without bureaucracy at the speed of a startup.
• Team Collaboration: Work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment with amazing teammates. The Overwatch Imaging leadership team believes in an open-door policy, meaning everyone has a voice and access to guidance, advice, feedback, and the ability to pitch crazy new products or ideas.
• Late Start Wednesday: A weekly block to have focus time away from meetings and calls. An opportunity to work from home, flex your schedule or use self-directed time for training and development.
• Time Off: Generous PTO to empower employees to make decisions about work-life balance based on work and home needs.
• Holidays: Overwatch Imaging recognizes 10 company holidays.
• Ownership: Equity/Stock Options in our rapidly growing company.
• Health Benefits: Medical/Dental premiums 100% covered by Overwatch Imaging for employees and their families, plus an available pre-tax health savings account.
• 401K: Employer matching contributions up to 4% of pay.

All applicants must be authorized to work on a permanent basis in the United States.

Overwatch Imaging is an equal opportunity workplace and makes employment decisions based on merit and business needs, regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, Veteran status, or any other protected personal characteristic.

Export Control Compliance Notice

This position may involve access to data, technology, or software that is subject to U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As such, employment is contingent upon the applicant’s ability to obtain any necessary export authorization, as determined by an export compliance assessment conducted by the company.