Your space-enabled career begins here

Space-based technologies are the building blocks of these pillars of innovation:

Search for credible job opportunities with top entrepreneurial space companies.

Senior Director of Engineering, Mission Autonomy

Anduril

Anduril

Sales & Business Development
Costa Mesa, CA, USA
Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

Do you want to lead software development for Anduril's autonomous fighter jets and swarming missiles vehicle portfolio? These are first of their kind air vehicles and could someday be in the Smithsonian.

The Air Dominance and Strike Division is one of Anduril’s fastest growing divisions whose goal is to fundamentally reshape the way future peer to peer conflicts are fought by developing next generation software enabled autonomous air vehicles. Our division develops, builds, and tests collaborative combat aircraft, missiles, and the software that powers these collaborative weapons.

We are seeking a Senior Director of Engineering that will be responsible for management of the Mission Autonomy business line within Air Dominance and Strike. This business line is responsible for the development, delivery, and sustained operations of Anduril’s autonomy software that runs onboard robotic air vehicles and enables collaborative mission execution. The ideal candidate has proven experience leading complex autonomous vehicle software system development at scale.

As General Manager of the Mission Autonomy business line you are directly responsible for it’s success. You will manage financial performance, define strategy, work closely with partners in Anduril’s Growth team to shape, capture, and expand a rapidly growing portfolio of national security contracts. You will directly manage a team of Program Managers and Chief Engineers responsible for successful execution across a portfolio of contracts and will collaborate closely with Anduril’s product management organization to inform the Lattice technology development roadmap. In order to be successful at Anduril, our engineering leaders need to be fluent in problem analysis, systems design, and rapid development. You must demonstrate a history of successfully coordinating large teams of engineers working on many different lives of efforts against complex demanding schedules and disparate contract obligations.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

  • Define the scope of Anduril’s mission autonomy solution and the go-to-market strategy that will ensure continued rapid growth of the Mission Autonomy business line.
  • Directly support the Growth and Proposal team during contract shaping, capture, and expansion.
  • Direct all engineering activities to include team building, execution, process, and technical oversight.
  • Manage the financial performance of the business line relative to annual and quarterly forecasts and commitments.
  • Design and build a Lattice based software capability that enables high performance autonomy on many different vehicles (first and third party) in many different domains (space, air, surface, sea) from first principles to integrated and operational capability
  • Work with our product management and business development teams to distill representative mission use cases that customers understand and that engineers can use to inform backlog prioritization
  • Prioritize and develop clear engineering strategies and accompanied resource plans. Anduril’s growth outpaces our ability to staff the organization. Effective resource allocation is critical to successful execution.
  • Support and field autonomous weapons systems in a hands-on fashion.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

  • BS/MS in Computer Science or a related field or equivalent experience.
  • Significant experience leading cross discipline software engineering teams executing across many disparate lines of effort in highly regulated industries.
  • Demonstrated experience as a principal level individual contributor working with high performing software engineering teams.
  • Proven experience establishing and maintaining trust with customers working in highly regulated, high stakes business environments.
  • Strong ability to synthesize customer objectives into engineering outcomes.
  • Ability to work in a functional matrix organization.
  • Designed → Built → Delivered experience.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a DOD Top Secret clearance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Experience supporting software development and acquisition within the United States Intelligence Community or Department of Defense.
  • Experience building embedded software for autonomous robotic systems.
  • Experience building and operating globally distributed eventually consistent networked software systems.
  • Willingness to travel frequently.
  • A deep interest in joint war fighting strategy and tactics, especially within the air domain.
US Salary Range
$260,000$390,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:

  • Platinum Healthcare Benefits: For U.S. roles, we offer top tier platinum coverage (medical, dental, vision) that are 100% covered by Anduril for you and 90% covered for your dependents.
    • For UK roles, Private Medical Insurance (PMI): Anduril will cover the full cost of the insurance premium for an employee and dependents.
    • For AUS roles, Private health plan through Bupa: Coverage is fully subsidized by Anduril.
  • Basic Life/AD&D and long-term disability insurance 100% covered by Anduril, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
  • Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a holiday hiatus in December, and highly competitive PTO plans.
  • 16 weeks of paid Caregiver & Wellness Leave to care for a family member, bond with your baby, or tend to your own medical condition.
  • Family Planning & Parenting Support: Fertility (eg, IVF, preservation), adoption, and gestational carrier coverage with additional benefits and resources to provide support from planning to parenting.
  • Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy, life coaching, and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, available to you as well.
  • A professional development stipend is available to all Andurilians.
  • Daily Meals and Provisions: For many of our offices this means breakfast, lunch and fully stocked micro-kitchens.
  • Company-funded commuter benefits available based on your region.
  • Relocation assistance (depending on role eligibility).
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan - both a traditional and Roth 401(k). (US roles only)

The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

Anduril is an equal-opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. The Anduril team is made up of incredibly talented and unique individuals, who together are disrupting industry norms by creating new paths towards the future of defense technology. All qualified applicants will be treated with respect and receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, uniform service, Veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law, including those with a criminal history, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the CA Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. We actively encourage members of recognized minorities, women, Veterans, and those with disabilities to apply, and we work to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all applicants throughout the interview process. If you are someone passionate about working on problems that have a real-world impact, we'd love to hear from you!

To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.