Saronic Technologies growth playbook

Publish /careers/franklin and /careers/port-alpha. Each page leads with the trades open now (pulled live from the Ashby board by location), what a first week looks like, the on-site training and weld certification path the Welder post already promises, shift patterns, safety culture, benefits (Saronic pays 100% of employee medical premiums) and a photo of the actual yard. Add a short "how hiring works" box (apply, skills test, offer) and a mobile apply button. Link both pages from the careers hero, the Port Alpha page and every trade job post, and use them as the landing page for local job ads and hiring events.

High-volume trade hiring is won on local relevance and speed: candidates compare yards on pay, shifts, training and how quickly they hear back. A page that answers those questions turns the existing Port Alpha story and the Franklin track record (Marauder built there in under a year) into applications, and gives the recruiter a link that works in every text, flyer and job ad.

[ ] Headline about building ships in Franklin, not Austin
[ ] Open trade roles, live by location
[ ] Shifts and schedule
[ ] On-site training and weld certification path
[ ] Benefits, incl. 100% employee medical premiums
[ ] Pay range for each trade
[ ] How hiring works: apply, skills test, offer
[ ] Real yard photos and one new-hire story
[ ] Mobile apply button
[ ] Linked from careers hero, Port Alpha page and every trade post

• Pages go stale as roles change

  List roles live from the Ashby API, not by hand.

• Port Alpha roles are mostly engineering today

  Lead the Brownsville page with the future trades pipeline and a sign-up, and list current roles below.

• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• Your websiteCareers page: "Born in Austin. Made for the mission." with a "Why Austin" block (0% state income tax, housing at about a third of San Francisco prices, 139 miles of trails); one employee story (a senior mechanical engineer); six "Featured Roles", all engineering roles in Austin or New Orleans; a map of locations with Franklin and New Orleans shown only as dots; no section for shipyard trades, Franklin, Brownsville or students.Source
• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source
• HiringRecruiter (Austin, open): "technical and high-volume recruiting", "experience recruiting in the manufacturing industry", and "developing creative talent attractions strategies resulting in increased quality of candidates and hiring goal attainment"; also "Actively assesses the interview process and finds ways to streamline processes".Source

Add an hourly range (and any shift differential) to every Franklin and Port Alpha trade post and to the new location pages. Start with the roles that have been open longest, such as the Fitter post open since November 2025.

A visible range filters in candidates who will accept the offer and lifts click-to-apply on job boards that rank posts with pay higher.

• Existing staff compare pay

  Publish bands that match current pay policy, and brief managers first.

• HiringPay ranges: 12 of the 236 open posts show a pay range (for example Senior Growth Manager, Navy at "$175K - $225K"); none of the 85 Manufacturing and Port Alpha posts does, including all 36 manufacturing roles in Franklin.Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• HiringRecruiter (Austin, open): "technical and high-volume recruiting", "experience recruiting in the manufacturing industry", and "developing creative talent attractions strategies resulting in increased quality of candidates and hiring goal attainment"; also "Actively assesses the interview process and finds ways to streamline processes".Source

Create /newsroom/<slug> pages for every Saronic announcement with the full text, date, images and a media contact, and keep Medium as a syndicated copy with a canonical link back. Add related open roles and a careers link to announcements about sites and hiring.

Owning the text makes saronic.com the source for the company's own story, which matters most when partners, customers and candidates research the company.

• Duplicate content

  Use canonical links and keep Medium as a copy.

• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source
• Your websiteSite structure (checked October 22, 2026): robots.txt lists no sitemap, and /sitemap.xml returns the homepage HTML instead of a sitemap; pages carry no canonical tags. Public pages are Vessels, Echelon, Mission, Team, Newsroom, Contact, Careers and Port Alpha. The contact form offers "Sales & Demos", "Partnerships", "Careers", "Media" and "Other". A Supplier Documents page exists but is blocked in robots.txt and shows no content.Source
• Your websiteTeam page: the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer "leads Growth and Program Execution"; the company describes itself as "a defense technology company". Social channels: LinkedIn, X and a YouTube channel; the careers page links a "Watch the reel" video and one employee story.Source

Generate sitemap.xml from the Next.js routes (including future careers and newsroom pages), list it in robots.txt, add self-referencing canonicals, and submit it in Search Console.

A sitemap gets new pages indexed in days instead of weeks, which is when hiring and news pages are most useful.

• Blocked pages listed

  Exclude the supplier documents page.

• Your websiteSite structure (checked October 22, 2026): robots.txt lists no sitemap, and /sitemap.xml returns the homepage HTML instead of a sitemap; pages carry no canonical tags. Public pages are Vessels, Echelon, Mission, Team, Newsroom, Contact, Careers and Port Alpha. The contact form offers "Sales & Demos", "Partnerships", "Careers", "Media" and "Other". A Supplier Documents page exists but is blocked in robots.txt and shows no content.Source
• Google PageSpeedMobile lab test of the homepage: performance 59, largest contentful paint 15.4 s, page weight about 39 MB in 47 requests; accessibility 89 (low-contrast text, links without discernible names); SEO 92 ("Links do not have descriptive text"). Real visitors (Chrome UX Report) see the homepage fast: LCP 1.5 s, INP 113 ms, CLS 0.02; across the whole site, CLS at the 75th percentile is 0.12, just above the 0.1 "good" line.Source

Publish a "Commercial & offshore" page: the offshore logistics problems Saronic solves (in the customer's terms), the Hornbeck partnership, safety and classification work with ABS and Lloyd's Register, ISO 9001, the Franklin production track record, and a contact route that lands with the new director. Add a "Commercial" option to the contact form.

Commercial buyers check the website before taking a meeting; a page in their language makes outreach credible and gives champions something to share with procurement.

• Mixed messages with defense pages

  Keep the commercial page focused on logistics, safety and reliability.

• HiringDirector, Business Development, Oil & Gas (remote, Houston; posted October 21, 2026): "this role will bring it to offshore energy customers" across "the Gulf of America and international markets"; reach "logistics leaders, marine managers, operations executives, procurement, and budget owners"; lead "structured discovery"; build "Quantified cases for change" on "evidence the customer has validated"; and "Document and share successful approaches" as "Repeatable account strategies".Source
• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source
• Your websiteHomepage: "Redefining Maritime Superiority"; a "Dual Use by Design" section says the platforms "are engineered to operate across both defense and commercial applications"; "proven across 100,000+ nautical miles in real-world conditions"; a Port Alpha teaser and a "Join Our Mission" block. There is no page for commercial or offshore customers.Source
• HiringNaval Architect, Commercial Vessels (Austin, posted April 17, 2026, still open): "autonomous commercial vessel designs from concept to production (Containerships, Roll-on/Roll-off, Tankers, Bulk Carrier, or other types of commercial vessels)", with regulatory submissions to "USCG, IMO conventions, ABS, LR, DNV" and "client presentations".Source
• Your websiteSite structure (checked October 22, 2026): robots.txt lists no sitemap, and /sitemap.xml returns the homepage HTML instead of a sitemap; pages carry no canonical tags. Public pages are Vessels, Echelon, Mission, Team, Newsroom, Contact, Careers and Port Alpha. The contact form offers "Sales & Demos", "Partnerships", "Careers", "Media" and "Other". A Supplier Documents page exists but is blocked in robots.txt and shows no content.Source

Add /careers/students with the internships, the fall and spring campus calendar, what interns work on, conversion to full-time, and a sign-up for students who are not ready to apply. Use a QR code to it at every career fair.

Students compare internship programs months ahead; a page with dates and outcomes turns booth visits into tracked applications.

• Too few intern stories yet

  Start with one and add more after the summer.

• HiringUniversity Recruiter (Austin, posted October 15, 2026): builds "the pipeline of interns and new grads"; runs "career fairs, info sessions, tech talks, and student org partnerships"; travels "to target universities and maritime academies"; builds relationships with career centers, faculty, engineering societies and robotics teams; recruits "alumni ambassadors and engineers" to staff events; and will "track event results and pipeline metrics to guide where we invest", with Handshake or Yello named as campus platforms.Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• Your websiteCareers page: "Born in Austin. Made for the mission." with a "Why Austin" block (0% state income tax, housing at about a third of San Francisco prices, 139 miles of trails); one employee story (a senior mechanical engineer); six "Featured Roles", all engineering roles in Austin or New Orleans; a map of locations with Franklin and New Orleans shown only as dots; no section for shipyard trades, Franklin, Brownsville or students.Source

Co-design a short pre-hire course with one technical college or school district near each yard: blueprint reading, safety and the weld positions Saronic tests for, taught partly on site. Graduates get a guaranteed interview and skills test. Publish it on the location careers pages.

A pathway creates candidates who already pass the skills test, lowers early attrition and earns local press and political goodwill.

• Graduates leave for other yards

  Offer a hiring bonus tied to the first year.

• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source
• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source

Track every school, event and ambassador in Ashby with source tags; score schools on applicants, onsite interviews, offers, acceptances and intern-to-hire conversion; move budget to the top schools and maritime academies; and give each ambassador a target school.

Campus budgets are usually spread by habit; measured results concentrate travel and swag where hires come from.

• Small numbers early

  Combine two semesters before cutting a school.

• HiringUniversity Recruiter (Austin, posted October 15, 2026): builds "the pipeline of interns and new grads"; runs "career fairs, info sessions, tech talks, and student org partnerships"; travels "to target universities and maritime academies"; builds relationships with career centers, faculty, engineering societies and robotics teams; recruits "alumni ambassadors and engineers" to staff events; and will "track event results and pipeline metrics to guide where we invest", with Handshake or Yello named as campus platforms.Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source

Film one 60-90 second story a month at Franklin and later Port Alpha: what the person did before, the training they got, a day on the job. Post to LinkedIn, YouTube and short-form channels, and embed on the location pages.

Peer stories are the most trusted recruiting content for trades and lift apply rates from local ads.

• Sensitive areas in shot

  Film only in approved areas, with review.

• Your websiteCareers page: "Born in Austin. Made for the mission." with a "Why Austin" block (0% state income tax, housing at about a third of San Francisco prices, 139 miles of trails); one employee story (a senior mechanical engineer); six "Featured Roles", all engineering roles in Austin or New Orleans; a map of locations with Franklin and New Orleans shown only as dots; no section for shipyard trades, Franklin, Brownsville or students.Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• Your websiteTeam page: the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer "leads Growth and Program Execution"; the company describes itself as "a defense technology company". Social channels: LinkedIn, X and a YouTube channel; the careers page links a "Watch the reel" video and one employee story.Source

Build a discovery question set, a simple cost model for one offshore logistics task (vessel days, crew hours, downtime avoided), and a one-page case template the customer fills in. Use the Hornbeck partnership for a first worked example if the partner agrees.

Buyers trust numbers they helped build, and a shared model shortens the path to a pilot.

• Unsupported savings claims

  Use ranges and customer-validated inputs only.

• HiringDirector, Business Development, Oil & Gas (remote, Houston; posted October 21, 2026): "this role will bring it to offshore energy customers" across "the Gulf of America and international markets"; reach "logistics leaders, marine managers, operations executives, procurement, and budget owners"; lead "structured discovery"; build "Quantified cases for change" on "evidence the customer has validated"; and "Document and share successful approaches" as "Repeatable account strategies".Source
• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source

Propose a joint guide or webinar series with each society on the steps an operator takes to deploy an autonomous vessel safely (class, crew, operations), with Saronic's training accreditation and ISO 9001 as practical examples.

Partner-branded education reaches operators Saronic cannot reach alone and positions it as the safe choice.

• Partners slow to approve

  Start with a webinar, which needs less review.

• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source
• HiringNaval Architect, Commercial Vessels (Austin, posted April 17, 2026, still open): "autonomous commercial vessel designs from concept to production (Containerships, Roll-on/Roll-off, Tankers, Bulk Carrier, or other types of commercial vessels)", with regulatory submissions to "USCG, IMO conventions, ABS, LR, DNV" and "client presentations".Source
• HiringDirector, Business Development, Oil & Gas (remote, Houston; posted October 21, 2026): "this role will bring it to offshore energy customers" across "the Gulf of America and international markets"; reach "logistics leaders, marine managers, operations executives, procurement, and budget owners"; lead "structured discovery"; build "Quantified cases for change" on "evidence the customer has validated"; and "Document and share successful approaches" as "Repeatable account strategies".Source

Publish an Australia page: why Saronic is there, local partners, the Lloyd's Register work, open Australian roles and a local contact. List Sydney roles on it as they open and announce local partnerships there first.

Local presence builds trust with partners and candidates in a market that values sovereign capability and local jobs.

• Too early

  Launch with hiring and partners, add more as programs develop.

• HiringDirector of International Growth, Australia (Sydney; posted September 16, 2026): serves as "Executive Director for Saronic Australia", leading growth "across Australia and the broader Indo-Pacific region", with "the opportunity to build and lead a high-performing team"; customers include "Defence, Navy, border forces, Army, and commercial customers".Source
• Your websiteCareers page: "Born in Austin. Made for the mission." with a "Why Austin" block (0% state income tax, housing at about a third of San Francisco prices, 139 miles of trails); one employee story (a senior mechanical engineer); six "Featured Roles", all engineering roles in Austin or New Orleans; a map of locations with Franklin and New Orleans shown only as dots; no section for shipyard trades, Franklin, Brownsville or students.Source
• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source

Publish a supplier page: categories Saronic buys, quality expectations (ISO 9001), how to register, and a contact. Run one supplier day near each yard.

A visible supplier path widens the local supply base, shortens lead times and builds community support.

• Too many unqualified sign-ups

  Ask for certifications on the form.

• Your websiteSite structure (checked October 22, 2026): robots.txt lists no sitemap, and /sitemap.xml returns the homepage HTML instead of a sitemap; pages carry no canonical tags. Public pages are Vessels, Echelon, Mission, Team, Newsroom, Contact, Careers and Port Alpha. The contact form offers "Sales & Demos", "Partnerships", "Careers", "Media" and "Other". A Supplier Documents page exists but is blocked in robots.txt and shows no content.Source
• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source

Set a two-day service level for first contact on trade roles, send text updates and skills-test bookings, and report time-to-first-contact and drop-off by step every week.

Speed wins high-volume hiring; most drop-off happens in the gap between applying and hearing back.

• Recruiter overload

  Automate acknowledgements and booking.

• HiringRecruiter (Austin, open): "technical and high-volume recruiting", "experience recruiting in the manufacturing industry", and "developing creative talent attractions strategies resulting in increased quality of candidates and hiring goal attainment"; also "Actively assesses the interview process and finds ways to streamline processes".Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source

Offer a referral bonus for trade roles, paid half at start and half at 90 days; promote it with posters, shift meetings and a QR code to the Franklin page; and recognise top referrers each month.

Referred hires tend to start faster and stay longer, and staged payment rewards quality over volume.

• Referral quality varies

  Pay the second half only at 90 days.

• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source

Open a "Port Alpha talent community" sign-up for the Rio Grande Valley: trade, experience and timing. Send quarterly updates (construction progress, training openings, first roles), run open-house events and feed members into the pre-hire pathway.

A warm list of local candidates turns the opening of the yard into a hiring event rather than a hiring crisis.

• Expectations run ahead of hiring

  Be clear about timing in every update.

• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• HiringJob board (checked October 22, 2026): 236 open roles. By department: Manufacturing 66, Engineering 44, Mission Ops 21, Port Alpha 19, Operations 17, People 11, Internships & Co-Ops 10, Business Development 5. Franklin, Louisiana has 50 open roles, 36 of them in manufacturing (among them Welder, Fitter, Outside Machinist/Pipe Fitter, 2nd Shift Electrician, CNC Programmer, Machinist, Marine Alignment Technician and Material Handler); Brownsville, Texas has 19 Port Alpha roles, all planning and shipyard engineering; ten Summer 2027 internships are open.Source
• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source

Publish a yearly workforce report with aggregated, anonymised data from Franklin and Port Alpha hiring and training, plus partner input. Launch it with the workforce partners and local officials.

Original data earns press and positions Saronic as the company fixing the workforce problem, which also helps recruiting.

• Data too thin in year one

  Start with Franklin only and grow.

• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source
• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source

Invite two or three commercial operators into a launch-customer program: joint requirements workshops, early access to design reviews, and shared classification work with ABS or Lloyd's Register. Announce it once partners agree.

Launch customers de-risk a new market and give the commercial story real names.

• Commercial interest is slow

  Start with operators already partnering on offshore services.

• HiringNaval Architect, Commercial Vessels (Austin, posted April 17, 2026, still open): "autonomous commercial vessel designs from concept to production (Containerships, Roll-on/Roll-off, Tankers, Bulk Carrier, or other types of commercial vessels)", with regulatory submissions to "USCG, IMO conventions, ABS, LR, DNV" and "client presentations".Source
• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source
• HiringDirector, Business Development, Oil & Gas (remote, Houston; posted October 21, 2026): "this role will bring it to offshore energy customers" across "the Gulf of America and international markets"; reach "logistics leaders, marine managers, operations executives, procurement, and budget owners"; lead "structured discovery"; build "Quantified cases for change" on "evidence the customer has validated"; and "Document and share successful approaches" as "Repeatable account strategies".Source

Serve smaller video and image versions to phones, lazy-load below-the-fold media, reserve space for images to fix layout shift, and check the careers pages the same way.

A lighter page helps the candidates the careers push is aimed at and keeps real-user scores in the green.

• Visual quality drops

  Keep full quality on desktop.

• Google PageSpeedMobile lab test of the homepage: performance 59, largest contentful paint 15.4 s, page weight about 39 MB in 47 requests; accessibility 89 (low-contrast text, links without discernible names); SEO 92 ("Links do not have descriptive text"). Real visitors (Chrome UX Report) see the homepage fast: LCP 1.5 s, INP 113 ms, CLS 0.02; across the whole site, CLS at the 75th percentile is 0.12, just above the 0.1 "good" line.Source

Sponsor one visible local program per yard (a high school welding competition, a robotics team, a career night with the school district), with employees as volunteers, and publish it on the location pages.

Local goodwill makes Saronic the employer families recommend, which is how small-town trade hiring works.

• Seen as PR only

  Commit for several years and involve employees.

• Your websiteNewsroom: about 60 items; Saronic's own announcements link out to medium.com/saronic-technologies instead of pages on saronic.com. Titles include partnerships with Hornbeck Offshore ("to Advance the Future of Offshore Services"), Lloyd's Register (maritime autonomy "in the UK, Europe, and Australia"), ABS, Samsung Heavy Industries, Vigor Marine Group and Path Robotics (physical AI for manufacturing); a "$1.75B Series D at $9.25B Valuation"; ISO 9001 certification; AUVSI Trusted UMS Operator training accreditation; a "$300 Million Investment" in the Louisiana shipyard; offices in New Orleans and San Diego; Gulfport, Mississippi testing; and "Giving Back to the City We Call Home: Saronic's Commitment to Austin".Source
• Your websitePort Alpha page: the Brownsville shipyard, "More than $3 billion in planned investment will create up to 10,000 direct jobs, from welders and machinists to engineers and naval architects", working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, the Port Isabel Independent School District and the Port of Brownsville; construction has begun, "targeting initial operations in 2028"; it cites an industry need for "roughly 250,000 skilled workers over the next decade"; "Our base vessels are agnostic to end use or end user"; the Franklin-built Marauder "went from prototype to production in less than one year". The page ends with one "View Job Openings" link to the full board.Source
• HiringTraining Specialist (Franklin, posted September 1, 2026): owns "the training calendar at the Franklin shipyard"; designs "on-the-job training for welders, fitters, and related production trades"; will "Host and coordinate local workforce development partners on site visits". The Welder post says "On site training is provided" and "Pre-employment skills testing may be required". A second Training Specialist is open in Austin, plus an EHS Trainer in Franklin and an LMS administrator.Source

Add accessible labels to icon links, replace "Learn More" and "View Details" with specific link text, and raise contrast on small grey text.

Clear links help search engines understand pages and make the site usable for every candidate.

• Design changes

  Keep the look and adjust only contrast.

• Google PageSpeedMobile lab test of the homepage: performance 59, largest contentful paint 15.4 s, page weight about 39 MB in 47 requests; accessibility 89 (low-contrast text, links without discernible names); SEO 92 ("Links do not have descriptive text"). Real visitors (Chrome UX Report) see the homepage fast: LCP 1.5 s, INP 113 ms, CLS 0.02; across the whole site, CLS at the 75th percentile is 0.12, just above the 0.1 "good" line.Source
• Your websiteHomepage: "Redefining Maritime Superiority"; a "Dual Use by Design" section says the platforms "are engineered to operate across both defense and commercial applications"; "proven across 100,000+ nautical miles in real-world conditions"; a Port Alpha teaser and a "Join Our Mission" block. There is no page for commercial or offshore customers.Source