The posting
Ulysses is the ocean company. We design, manufacture, and operate autonomous vehicles for surface and subsea operations — taking on the most critical tasks across defense, commercial, and scientific missions. Our vertically integrated platform includes Mako, a modular AUV with 72-hour endurance and more onboard compute than any vehicle in its class; Leviathan, an autonomous surface vessel mothership; and Kraken, our automated launch-and-recovery system that closes the loop between surface and subsea with zero human intervention.
The ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface and drives a $2.6 trillion global economy, yet it remains the least monitored domain on the planet. We're changing that — building autonomous systems that collapse the cost of ocean operations by orders of magnitude so that persistent coverage becomes the baseline, not the exception. We operate globally today across defense, ocean science, and commercial survey, working with partners including the U.S. Navy, the Government of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy.
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in San Francisco, Ulysses has raised $48 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Booz Allen Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, Pebblebed, Lowercarbon Capital, and others. Our team is lean, hands-on, and fast — we prototype in the shop, test on the water, and ship. If you want to work at the frontier, there's no frontier bigger than the ocean.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We're hiring an Office Administrator to own our front desk and be the first face people see at Ulysses. You'll run a busy, high-traffic reception area in our San Francisco HQ: welcoming customers, partners, suppliers and candidates; managing deliveries; and keeping the office running smoothly. You'll work closely with Talent Acquisition on onsite interviews and support the team on events.
This role is for an outgoing, energetic people person who enjoys being in the middle of the action. You'll juggle a lot at once, read people and situations quickly, and keep everyone feeling looked after, even on the busiest days.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Reception and front desk: own the reception area. Greet and check in customers, partners, suppliers, contractors, and interview candidates, and manage visitor sign-in, badges, NDAs, and escorts.
- Deliveries and mail: receive, log, and route packages, freight, and supplier drop-offs, and coordinate with the shop and operations teams so parts get where they need to go.
- Interview logistics: partner with Talent Acquisition on onsite interviews, including scheduling rooms, greeting candidates, managing the day's flow, and making sure every candidate has a great first impression of Ulysses.
- Events: support planning and running team events, offsites, customer visits, and all-hands, including venues, catering, setup, and day-of coordination.
- Office operations: Manage office supplies and vendors, and be the first point of contact for facilities issues.
- Keeping things moving: handle phones, the shared inbox, and ad-hoc requests from across the team, and prioritize on the fly when everything happens at once.
ABOUT YOU
REQUIREMENTS
- You're outgoing and energized by people. You enjoy meeting new faces all day and make everyone feel welcome.
- 2+ years of experience in reception, front-of-house, office administration, hospitality, or a similar customer-facing role.
- Strong emotional intelligence: you can read a room, stay calm under pressure, and adapt your style to customers, candidates, suppliers, and engineers alike.
- Excellent time management: you can juggle visitors, deliveries, calls, and requests in a high-traffic environment without dropping the ball.
- Clear, friendly, professional communication in person, on the phone, and in writing.
- Highly organized and detail-oriented, with a proactive, get-it-done attitude.
- Comfortable with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, calendars, and Slack.
- Able to work fully onsite in San Francisco.
NICE-TO-HAVES
- Event planning experience (team events, offsites, customer visits)
- Experience supporting recruiting or interview coordination
- Experience in a fast-growing startup, or a hardware or manufacturing environment
- Familiarity with visitor management tools (Envoy or similar)
Think you're our next teammate? Apply and tell us about a time you kept a busy front desk or event running smoothly: what was happening, how you prioritized, and how you made people feel welcome.
