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Director of Marine Environmental Impact

Panthalassa· Marine Operations
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full-timePosted today

About the role

Director role focused on building and leading Panthalassa's environmental impact function, advancing environmental standards, and guiding open-ocean wave energy development with minimal ecological footprint. Reports to CEO and collaborates with engineering, science, and deployment teams to integrate environmental considerations across the technology lifecycle.

Responsibilities

  • Build out and lead Panthalassa's internal environmental impact function as the company and its deployments scale
  • Expand Panthalassa's scientific research strategy around environmental impact, including determining where the company will conduct research internally and facilitate independent research
  • Help determine where scientific uncertainty should change company strategy, engineering priorities, or deployment plans
  • Lead the scientific evaluation of how Panthalassa's open-ocean technologies interact with marine ecosystems, including identifying the most important environmental questions as the technology evolves
  • Develop and implement environmental assessment protocols, monitoring strategies, and mitigation measures for at-sea deployments
  • Establish environmental metrics and standards to evaluate successive generations of Panthalassa's technology and deployments
  • Lead the documentation and publication of environmental research methods, findings, and uncertainties
  • Develop approaches for independent scientific review and third-party validation of Panthalassa's environmental impact
  • Collaborate with engineering and design teams on integrating environmental considerations into the design and operation of hardware
  • Develop clear internal guidance so engineering teams can understand environmental tradeoffs early and incorporate findings into device design, deployment methods, ongoing operations, recovery, and end-of-life planning
  • Work with engineering teams to determine how Panthalassa’s technologies can be instrumented to measure their own environmental interactions and the surrounding ocean environment
  • Build deep partnerships with universities, research institutions, independent scientists, nonprofits, government researchers, and other scientific organizations to study Panthalassa's technologies and inform our environmental strategy
  • Create opportunities for independent researchers to study our technologies, challenge our assumptions, and publish useful scientific findings
  • Develop approaches for sharing scientifically valuable data generated by Panthalassa's systems with the broader research community
  • Represent Panthalassa in the scientific community, including attending conferences and contributing to working groups
  • Create scientifically accurate materials for external and internal audiences

Qualifications

  • A doctorate in marine science, oceanography, ecology, environmental science, or a related discipline, with a substantial record of scientific research and leadership and at least five years of relevant postdoctoral professional experience
  • Experience studying the effects of human activities or technologies on marine mammals, fish, seabirds, benthic ecosystems, or other marine organisms
  • Experience leading scientific teams, research programs, or multidisciplinary initiatives
  • Extensive experience designing, conducting, or leading rigorous scientific research in marine or offshore environments
  • Strong scientific judgment and a willingness to communicate uncertainty and inconvenient findings clearly
  • Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, operations, design, and manufacturing teams
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills
  • A strong commitment to scientific integrity, ocean health, and the responsible development of technologies intended to operate at large scale

Skills

Required:Scientific leadershipMarine environmental impact assessmentCross-functional collaborationScience communicationExternal partnerships & engagement

Benefits

  • Flexible paid time off
  • Health insurance (100% of gold-level PPO plan for full-time employees, partners, and dependents)
  • Dental insurance (100% for full-time employees, partners, and dependents)
  • Vision insurance (100% for full-time employees, partners, and dependents)
  • Disability insurance (long-term financial support)
  • Tax-advantaged accounts (401(k), health FSA, dependent care FSA)
  • Relocation assistance to Portland (if needed)
Last updated Oct 26, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Panthalassa

Go where the energy is

We're harnessing renewable energy in the open ocean and delivering it around the world. Engineered in Portland, Oregon.

Planetary-scale energyclean energy platformrenewable energyocean energypilot deploymentpublic-benefit corporation
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