I take first-of-a-kind autonomous and mission-critical programs from concept through regulatory approval to operation.

Aaron Jozsef — Senior Systems & Program Leader

U.S. Coast Guard Officer (10 yrs) · Project Manager & Global QHSE Lead (7 yrs) · TPM / Systems Engineer, Aerospace (4 yrs) · ISO 9001 Lead Auditor

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Positioning

For two decades I've built the operating systems behind complex, high-consequence programs and infrastructure — the safety cases, management systems, permitting, and procurement machinery that let ambitious work execute safely, on schedule, and under regulatory scrutiny.

I work at the intersection few people occupy: autonomous-system engineering, the government-approval frontier, and scaled operations. Today I lead regulatory compliance for the largest bespoke-built autonomous surface vessel in the world. Before that, a decade as a U.S. Coast Guard officer and seven years delivering complex marine programs across four continents.

I'm drawn to the first-of-a-kind — the programs where the playbook doesn't exist yet and someone has to build it.

Capabilities

Autonomous & Mission-Critical Systems

Owner's-side technical authority on autonomous surface vessels — from hazard identification and safety case at design inception through live, remotely-operated missions. Qualified mission-control console operator; root-cause analysis and metric-driven system-performance improvement.

Regulatory & Government Interface

Multi-agency approvals across USCG, CBP, PHMSA, DOT, and FAA. Contributor to a Design Basis Agreement negotiated with the U.S. Coast Guard for autonomous operation; recurring reporter to the USCG Autonomy Policy Council; author of first-of-kind compliance frameworks where no precedent existed.

Program & Capital Delivery

Owner's-engineer delivery of a first-of-a-kind autonomous-vessel program — scope, budget, schedule, and risk owned end to end, coordinating 18 naval architects across four divisions and four sub-vendors, with weekly CEO/CFO reporting.

Infrastructure Development

Owner's-engineer on mission-critical capital infrastructure — a large, fully networked vessel platform with redundant power, thermal, electrical, and control systems, plus rocket-recovery infrastructure under multi-agency federal oversight. Delivered a portfolio of $1–20M capital projects bid-through-invoice for clients including the United Nations, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and DoD — cost and budget architecture, first-of-kind facility delivery, and partnering across engineering, construction, procurement, regulatory, and finance.

QHSE & Management Systems

Built a certified ISO 9001/14001/45001 management system from zero, as sole architect, across a 275-employee, four-continent, twelve-facility multinational. Third-party audited and adopted across every site.

Procurement & Business Systems

Federal Basic Ordering Agreement negotiation, Owner-Furnished-Equipment sourcing, multi-vendor procurement, and import/export & special-permitting systems built from scratch for the movement of mission-critical capital assets.

Selected Work

01 Autonomous Surface Vessel Program

A leading aerospace company · Owner's-side lead, regulatory compliance

Problem: Deliver the largest bespoke-built autonomous surface vessel in the world, under a Congressionally-authorized U.S. Coast Guard pilot program — with no regulatory precedent for uncrewed operation.
Role: Owner's-engineer across concept, design, and build: composed the bid structure, negotiated vendor pricing and a hybrid LN2/GN2 system, coordinated 18 naval architects across four divisions and four sub-vendors, and owned the regulatory and safety-case interface.
Outcome: Program delivered on schedule and budget with weekly CEO/CFO reporting; contributed to the Design Basis Agreement with the USCG and now reports vessel performance to the USCG Autonomy Policy Council.

02 A Management System From Zero

Resolve Marine · Sole architect, ISO 9001/14001/45001

Problem: A 275-employee marine operation spanning four continents and twelve facilities had no unified quality, environmental, or safety management system.
Role: Sole subject-matter expert. Designed the program governance, gated procedures, supplier qualification, audit cadences, and executive reporting from a blank sheet.
Outcome: Achieved and sustained third-party certification across all three standards, adopted across every geography — an operating system the business still runs on.

03 Multi-Agency Permitting & Business Systems

A leading aerospace company · Built from scratch

Problem: Move mission-critical capital assets across export, international transport, and re-import — spanning CBP, USCG, PHMSA, DOT, FDOT, and the port authority — with no existing process.
Role: Stood up the end-to-end documented business systems and a reusable cross-border decision framework; drove the multi-jurisdictional reviews.
Outcome: Secured federal Special Permits; the framework is now reused across programs.

04 Deep-Water Wreck Fuel Removal (Federal Unified Command)

Resolve Marine · Unified Command member, lead contractor

Problem: Roughly 500,000 gallons of fuel threatened to release from the WWII tanker wreck M/T Coimbra off Long Island — a deep-water operation under a USCG-led Unified Command with state and federal trustees.
Role: Member of the Unified Command; directed up to 100 personnel; ran ROV-based wreck assessment and survey with ESA Section 7 consultation.
Outcome: ~500,000 gallons removed; the work later informed peer-reviewed research on WWII tanker-wreck pollution risk (Journal of Maritime Archaeology, 2023).

Research & Development

A record of moving first-of-a-kind systems out of the lab and into operational use — unmanned maritime surveillance, next-generation incident-command tooling, and response robotics.

CBP / USCG Predator-B "Maritime Guardian" UAS

USCG Project Manager · First-of-a-kind integration

Led the first-of-its-kind integration of a missionized Predator-B unmanned surveillance aircraft into U.S. Coast Guard District Seven search-and-rescue and law-enforcement operations. Designed the operational protocols and command-center hardware/software integration — live video feeds, direct aircraft-sensor access, and real-time communication with off-site aircrews.

PhiNICS — MIT Lincoln Laboratory

USCG Project Manager · 2013–2014

Project manager for a next-generation, portable handset-integrated incident-command system for hazardous-materials response, developed with MIT Lincoln Laboratory in concert with DARPA and CalFire. National Strike Force subject-matter expert and field-test lead.

HAZMAT Response Robotics — NSF Working Group

Chairperson · Coast Guard R&D Center

Chaired the National Strike Force HAZMAT Response Robot research group; architected the testing protocols, training syllabus, and proposed field guide. The work seeded a larger Coast Guard Research & Development Center study on future response-robot capabilities, acquisition, and operational impact.

Rapid-Prototype Field Tools

Team Lead · National Strike Force

Identified the need for and rapidly prototyped a wireless air-monitoring communications tool for the Gulf Strike Team; separately ran a 90-day at-sea field test of a Coast Guard-developed electronic charting system with the USCG Research & Development Center, supervising integration to the vessel's critical systems.

Credibility

Service

U.S. Coast Guard Officer, 2005–2015. Search-and-Rescue Controller, RCC Miami — 1,500+ cases across 1.8M sq mi and 34 foreign jurisdictions. Planning Section Chief / Deputy Incident Commander, Hurricane Isaac ESF-10. Designated Chemical Officer, national CBRN detection cache. NASA Liaison Officer, Space Shuttle launches STS-130 through STS-135. U.S. Coast Guard National Strike Force Responder of the Year (2015).

Credentials

ISO 9001 Lead Auditor (ABS Group) · HAZMAT Technician (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120) · USCG Federal On-Scene Coordinator Crisis Management · USCG Salvage Management School · NIMS/ICS qualified (Division/Group Supervisor, Unit Leader)

Publications

Site Formation Processes and Pollution Risk Mitigation of World War II Oil Tanker Shipwrecks: Coimbra and Munger T Ball — Journal of Maritime Archaeology (2023) An Energy Renaissance: New Fuel Transport Methods Bring Potential New Risk — USCG Journal of Security at Sea (2015) KIS Approach to Data Management for Oil and Hazardous Material Response — International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings (2014)

Education

University of Miami — B.S. Marine Science / Biology coursework · U.S. Coast Guard Officer Candidate School

Let's talk.

Open to senior roles in autonomous systems, mission-critical infrastructure, maritime operations, and program delivery.

AaronJozsef@gmail.com · linkedin.com/in/aaronjozsef