We are looking to hire a part-time mechanical engineer to pursue asymmetric-upside designs. We have numerous engineering projects that have the potential to dramatically add value to Voltic, and thus shipping as a whole. However, the current team doesn’t have the bandwidth to pursue all of them at a high fidelity level. You would own one of these projects.
These are ambitious projects that are extremely high-upside. We have done the initial work proving they are physically and economically possible. However, this is novel engineering. You would be starting with something at (roughly) TRL 3. The goal would be to progress it to (roughly) TRL 6. This will mostly consist of refining designs and building initial prototypes.
Example Projects
Port infrastructure to enable large vessels to call shallow-water ports
Semi-autonomous routing of Voltic vessels
Novel hull designs to substantially reduce weight & drag
3D printing vessel hulls
Core responsibilities
Lead the design, analysis and prototyping of asymmetric upside engineering projects
Conduct analyses of such systems to ensure survivability in the maritime environment
Create and maintain technical drawings to be shared with colleagues and manufacturers
Develop and manage Bills of Material (BOMs) for costing and system build-out
Physically assemble prototypes in Boston to prove viability of designs.
Qualifications
Ability to take design from concept to prototype to mass-production
Willingness to move quickly and build things in the real world
Experience with Design for Manufacturing/Assembly principles and manufacturing processes (sheet metal, welding, machining, 3D printing, etc.).
Proficiency in a CAD software such as SolidWorks or Fusion 360
Proficiency in a FEA software package such as Abaqus or Ansys
Comfortable working in an early-stage startup environment with evolving requirements and limited precedent
Who we are
João Seixas de Medeiros - CTO
João is a Naval Architect and Ocean Engineer with a PhD from MIT and over a decade of experience in hydrodynamics research and vessel design. He has developed advanced software to simulate nonlinear ocean wave behavior, applying it to optimize innovative vessel and wave energy converter designs. His work has earned recognition, including the MIT De Florez award for best graduate design.
Karl McLetchie - Founding Mechanical Engineer
Karl is a Mechanical and Ocean Engineer with two master's degrees from MIT and more than two decades of design and at-sea experience. He has been on over 30 research expeditions; operating underwater vehicles and towed systems for deep-sea exploration. His design work has covered a broad spectrum of applications, from traditional naval architecture to the mechanical design of hydraulic sampling mechanisms and vehicle launch and recovery equipment.
Prosser Cathey - Founder
Prosser graduated from MIT in three years, completing three majors. Upon graduation, he won a Fulbright Research Fellowship to study the German auto industry's transition to EVs in Munich. He also rowed for MIT's D1 Heavyweight Crew team, with whom he won a Gold Medal at Head of the Charles.
Since our physical engineering and assembly takes place at our workshop in Boston, some travel is likely necessary. Compensation and equity-package is highly dependent on proposed project. We expect the work to begin as part-time.
About Voltic
Voltic is launching US-built cargo ships that are 4x more profitable than diesel vessels.
We have $100M+ in sales to companies including the largest US shipping company and the largest global shipper by volume. We are on pace for our first commercial deployment in early 2026. The team previously started two shipping lines and has decades of experience in maritime innovation. Our patented battery & solar tech stack was spun out of MIT’s Ocean Engineering department. We are backed by top investors like the largest maritime VC in the world.
