Commissioning HQSE Officer

Saronic Technologies is a leader in revolutionizing autonomy at sea, dedicated to developing state-of-the-art solutions that enhance maritime operations through autonomous and intelligent platforms. JOB OVERVIEW The Commissioning Compliance Officer role will be establishing, leading, and continuously improving the company’s safety, environmental, regulatory, and compliance programs during end of line testing, sea trialing or anytime the vessel is operating directly for Saronic. This role ensures full compliance with U.S. Coast Guard, international maritime regulations, and commercial charterer requirements while fostering a proactive safety culture that protects people, assets, and the environment. The Commissioning Compliance Officer will serve as the company’s designated person ashore, as well as directly advising production and commercial operations leadership on risk, compliance exposure, and safety performance. RESPONSIBILITIES: SAFETY MANAGEMENT & CULTURE - Take ownership and continuously improve the company’s Safety Management System (SMS) in accordance with 46 CFR Subchapter C, L, I, ISM Code, and applicable international standards. - Champion a strong, proactive safety culture across vessels subject to commercial regulations and shore-side production and sea trial operations. - Establish clear safety expectations, accountability standards, and leadership behaviors throughout the end of line and sea trialing team. - Review serious marine incidents, near misses, and unsafe acts; ensure corrective actions are implemented and verified. - Drive and ensure compliance with CAPA’s, vessel safety meetings, and fleet-wide safety initiatives. REGULATORY COMPLIANCE - Build relations and maintain compliance with USCG, ABS, BSEE, OSHA, EPA, Flag State, and applicable international regulations subject to operational needs. - Work with Commissioning Manager to work towards creating autonomous vessel COI, then maintaining commercial use vessel inspections, and deficiency resolution. - Maintain compliance with Subchapter C, I, L, ABS, MARPOL, STCW, SOLAS, and charter-specific requirements when they arise. - Monitor regulatory changes and proactively assess operational impact and compliance risk. - Act as primary point of contact for internal customers for regulatory agencies and classification societies. AUDITS & ASSURANCE - Lead internal and external audits, including: - USCG and third-party audits - When applicable, commercial charter audits - Insurance and P&I club audits - Track audit findings, corrective actions, and close-out verification. - Develop metrics and dashboards to measure safety performance, trends, and risk exposure. ENVIRONMENTAL & RISK MANAGEMENT - Oversee environmental compliance programs, including spill prevention, waste management, and emissions compliance. - Support commissioning and sea trial risk assessments, job safety analyses (JSAs), and hazard identification processes. - Collaborate with operations, engineering, and software to mitigate operational risk. - Support incident response, emergency preparedness, and crisis management planning. AUTONOMOUS VESSEL & SOFTWARE GOVERNANCE - Support governance frameworks for the development, testing, and deployment of autonomous and decision-support systems. - Partner with engineering, software, and operations teams to ensure autonomous technologies align with maritime safety, redundancy, and fail-safe principles. - Support software development follows controlled, auditable processes, including: - Version control and change management - Verification, validation, and testing protocols - Cybersecurity and system integrity standards - Define operational limits, human-in-the-loop requirements, and fallback procedures for autonomous and semi-autonomous operations. TRAINING & COMPETENCY - Ensure vessel crews meet all training, credentialing, and medical compliance requirements. - Partner with operations to define safety-critical competencies for officers and crew. - Oversee