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- 🐺 74 open SD tech roles at 5 growing companies.
🐺 74 open SD tech roles at 5 growing companies.
Plus a behavioral health AI platform hiring across 9 roles, and Seasats hiring 18 as their Navy contract turns into ships.
Sometimes the biggest news in SD tech isn't a new company. It's a company that continues to expand and add headcount.
Firestorm has 38 open SD roles: one of the larger collections of open roles at a growing SD startup. Six weeks after our last feature, they're still hiring on the back of a $30M Indo-Pacific contract.
Plus Seasats hiring 18 SD roles as their $89M Navy IDIQ translates into ships, and Clinically AI expanding across three product lines with 9 open roles.
We also found a few bonus call-outs too.
Howl yeah, let's dive in.
Firestorm - 38 Open SD Roles
NEA-backed San Diego defense-tech company building modular drone factories. Hiring 38 SD roles across aerospace engineering, additive manufacturing, and defense operations.
Why they matter:
Firestorm builds the xCell system: 20-foot shipping containers packed with HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers that can be flown to forward bases. Their Tempest drone is 3D-printed in 9 hours and fully assembled in 36 hours. Range: 400 miles. Endurance: 6 hours. Payload: 10 lbs.
In May, Firestorm won a $30M APFIT contract (boostable to $50M) to deploy 5 xCell microfactories and 200+ Tempest drones to the Indo-Pacific. Their first deployment outside the continental US. About $26M has already been obligated across five task orders.
Six weeks after our last feature, Firestorm still has 38 open roles across nearly every function.
Founded 2022 by Dan Magy, Ian Muceus, and Chad McCoy. NEA led their $47M Series A in July 2025, followed by an $82M Series B led by Washington Harbour Partners in April.
Open roles across:
Aerospace, Airframe, and Propulsion Engineering
Software, Firmware, and Applied AI Engineering
Additive Manufacturing (xCell division)
UAS Development and Flight Testing
Business Development (Navy/USMC)
Facilities Security and Compliance
People, Operations, Marketing, and Product
Clinically AI - 9 Open Roles (8 SD, 1 USA remote)
San Diego behavioral health AI platform. Started as clinical documentation for therapists, now expanding across three product lines: Notes, Compliance, and SDK integration.
Why they matter:
Clinically AI started with one product: AI-powered clinical documentation for behavioral health providers. Then they added two more:
Comply (AI Chart Auditing) - automated compliance and audit workflows
Connect (SDK) - integration layer for behavioral health EHRs
The three-product suite pushes them beyond documentation and into behavioral health operations.
Founded 2023 in San Diego. Co-founded by CEO Ross Young and CTO Elijah Lipsky. The platform serves Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), integrated behavioral health systems, addiction treatment providers, human services organizations, and both group and private practice.
Open roles across:
Customer Success and Support
Engineering, Product, and Design
Go-to-Market
Clinical AI Implementation
Seasats - 18 Open SD Roles
San Diego autonomous surface vessel maker. Landed an $89M Navy IDIQ contract in September and are scaling across engineering, electronics, ML, composites, and ops.
Why they matter:
Seasats builds Lightfish, a solar-powered autonomous surface vessel that can operate at sea for up to six months and travel thousands of miles autonomously. It's 11 feet long, weighs 340 pounds, and streams video via onboard Starlink.
In September, the Navy awarded Seasats an $89M ceiling SBIR Phase 3 IDIQ contract to deliver Lightfish USVs to the Marine Corps.
The story that made procurement pay attention: a Lightfish took a close-up photo of the Chinese destroyer Nanchang off Guam during a 7,500-mile trans-Pacific voyage.
Lightfish has also been tested in the Navy's Task Force 66 (Europe) and Task Force 59 (Middle East) exercises.
Since then, Seasats has closed a $20M Series A in February (Konvoy Ventures led), banked a $24M APFIT award in January, and is scaling toward the fall launch of Heavyfish, their heavy-lift long-endurance platform. They can produce 250 Lightfish per year with room to scale higher, per CEO Mike Flanigan.
Open roles across:
Machine Learning and Perception Software Engineering
Electronics and Firmware Engineering
Composite Fabrication and Manufacturing
Payload Integration Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
People and Operations (including Head of HR)
Also worth knowing
Protogon Research - 3 Open SD Roles
Stealth AI startup training and monetizing AI systems through proprietary trading. 7-person team in San Diego, founded 2023 by Rafael Cosman (previously cofounded TrustToken, A16Z-backed).
Why they matter:
Protogon's technical bet, in their own words: financial markets provide clear feedback and real consequences. Progress is measurable, weaknesses surface immediately, and trading revenue funds continued research.
Founder Rafael Cosman previously cofounded TrustToken (A16Z-backed crypto/stablecoin) and worked as an ML engineer at Google Brain.
The team of seven includes members from Stanford, UC San Diego, and Caltech. Backed by Zelda Ventures, StartX (Stanford's accelerator), and NVIDIA Inception Program.
Open roles across:
AI research
Trading
Operations
American Lithium Energy - 7 Open SD Roles
Vista-based lithium-ion battery maker for military and commercial applications. Featured 3 months ago; back on our radar with 7 open roles across their 90,000 sq ft megafactory.
Why we're back:
Since our first feature in May, ALE has ramped up hiring across their Vista manufacturing base. Their 90,000 sq ft megafactory in Vista is the production hub.
The role mix is heavy on manufacturing scale-up plus a Battery Scientist role for continued R&D.
Open roles across:
Battery Science and R&D
Facility, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering
Manufacturing Operations
Strategic Sourcing
Still on the Radar
Three companies from last week still hiring and worth your time:
Cymbiotika - 6 open SD roles. San Diego wellness brand that bootstrapped to $150M in revenue before taking their first outside capital: a $25M seed round led by David Grutman. In Target and Ulta stores nationwide.
Cloudbeds - 17 open roles. San Diego hospitality management platform that shipped two major product releases in eight weeks. Roles remote across North America.
Workiz - 6 open SD roles. Field service management software built by SD locksmiths. CEO cofounded a unicorn analytics company.
Let's help good people find great San Diego teams.
Jonah 🐺
