OceanComm, Inc. 

Company Description 

OceanComm enables high-speed wireless connectivity underwater, offering orders of magnitude improvement in data rate. Legacy underwater wireless modems take about an hour to transfer a single picture, OceanComm modems can live-stream video. Today, underwater vehicles require a tethered link to a manned ship for remote control. Our modems eliminate the need for manned surface support and instead allow operators to work at a safe distance or from shore reducing cost by over 50%. 

Short Job Description 

OceanComm spun out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2015, is based in Chicago, and has been boot-strapped off more than $7M in contracts to date. Think of the technology as the equivalent of Wi-Fi for undersea, but with more range. To make this possible, we use sound waves, as whales and dolphins do, rather than radio waves. The ultimate goal is to significantly reduce the cost of performing work in the ocean and, with most of the deep sea still unexplored, expand human access on Earth’s final frontier. The company is currently focused on the maritime defense and security sector with contracts from ONR, DARPA, DIU, and NAVSEA, but looks to expand to other sectors such as offshore energy and is beginning the rollout of its first commercial modem. 

OceanComm is seeking an entrepreneur to identify the initial commercial and government markets for their underwater wireless modem. This position must be able to develop a robust value proposition and competitive landscape based on customer discovery, perform a financial analysis should OceanComm enter the target market, and contribute to a manufacturing scale-up plan to begin to take the modem to market. The candidate should have experience in business development and manufacturing for early-stage technology companies in either underwater acoustics, underwater vehicles, or offshore energy. This role will work directly with the company’s executive team to ensure that any opportunities identified can quickly be explored and scoped out. This is a part-time position that is remote-friendly with the possibility of growing into a full-time leadership position at OceanComm.