The engineers and techs building and flying robot subs, ocean drones, sonar, and the sensors that watch the sea.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
ROV Superintendent: Leads the crew running deep-sea robots from an offshore ship or platform. Typical pay $135k.
Subsea Robotics Engineer: Designs the underwater robots that explore, inspect, and work in the deep ocean. Typical pay $125k.
Underwater Acoustician: Studies how sound travels underwater, for submarines, whale research, and seafloor mapping. Typical pay $135k.
Sonar Systems Engineer: Designs sonar systems that let ships, subs, and robots 'see' underwater with sound. Typical pay $120k.
Ocean Robotics Software Engineer: Writes the code that lets ocean drones and robot boats navigate and make decisions on their own. Typical pay $133k.
Subsea Controls Engineer: Designs the electronics and software that control equipment on the seafloor, from oil valves to cable systems. Typical pay $121k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
ROV Pilot / Technician: Flies remotely operated underwater robots from a control room on a ship. Typical pay $88k.
AUV Operations Specialist: Launches, programs, and recovers autonomous underwater vehicles that survey the ocean on their own. Typical pay $80k.
Uncrewed Surface Vessel Operator: Remotely supervises robotic boats that map the seafloor or patrol the ocean, sometimes from thousands of miles away. Typical pay $75k.
Subsea Cable Engineer: Plans and installs the undersea cables that carry the internet and offshore wind power. Typical pay $105k.
Marine Seismic Observer: Runs the equipment that maps rock layers under the seafloor from survey ships. Typical pay $85k.
Subsea Cable Jointer: Repairs and splices the undersea fiber-optic and power cables that carry the internet between continents. Typical pay $85k.
Offshore Survey Positioning Specialist: Runs the satellite and underwater acoustic systems that tell ships, ROVs and cable layers exactly where they are. Typical pay $85k.
Undersea Test Range Technician: Tracks and recovers practice torpedoes and underwater drones on Navy test ranges using boats, divers and hydrophones. Typical pay $70k.
Starter: fastest way in
Ocean Glider Technician: Prepares and remotely 'flies' robotic gliders that collect ocean data for months at a time. Typical pay $54k.
Ocean Buoy Technician: Deploys and maintains ocean buoys that measure waves, weather, and water quality. Typical pay $52k.
Marine Electronics Installer: Installs radar, GPS, sonar, and radio systems on boats and yachts. Typical pay $52k.
Subsea Electronics Assembler: Assembles and tests circuit boards and cables for underwater equipment. Typical pay $42k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.