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Salary: USD 166,000 - 220,000 / annual
Anduril Industries is seeking an Engineering Lead for its U.S. Air Force Air Defense portfolio. This role owns the technical baseline across a broad, fast-growing portfolio of air defense systems that find, track, and defeat airborne threats while maintaining operator control. The portfolio integrates Anduril's autonomous systems (Roadrunner, Sentry, Anvil, Pulsar, Wisp) with third-party sensors, effectors, and command-and-control systems through Lattice OS.
The work spans four parallel execution streams: permanent base installations under government accreditation (managing power, networking, cyber compliance, data handling); deployable kits that ship on short notice and operate in extreme environments; rapidly relocatable passive detection systems that extend the kill chain through tactical data links; and special-access programs with disclosure constraints.
As engineering lead, you own the technical baseline—architecture, interface set, verification approach, and accreditation scope—across all delivered configurations. You settle technical questions that fall between individual program owners and hold the picture that spans them. The role carries real latitude over where engineering effort goes as the portfolio grows faster than its bench.
Key responsibilities include: owning the technical baseline and certification/accreditation scope; integrating systems you do not own (partner command and control, government-furnished equipment, third-party sensors arriving through Lattice SDK, tactical data links); defining verification and environmental qualification approaches and making the call on whether configurations are ready to ship; reproducing and leading recovery of fielded site failures under time pressure; carrying the engineering position with customers and in pursuits (translating operational requirements into technical scope, writing proposal content and basis of estimate); and solving recurring problems across programs (e.g., standardizing deployment networking).
A given week might involve reconciling conflicting environmental requirements, defining interfaces to partner systems, writing technical proposal content, or standing on a flightline to diagnose performance issues. You will set technical direction for a small number of engineers without managing them.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Engineering, science, or other technical degree, or equivalent practical experience
- 8+ years of systems or engineering experience on fielded systems
- End-to-end accountability for whether a delivered system actually worked at the site, not only for producing design artifacts
- Owned the architecture, interface set, and verification approach for a delivered capability or program's technical scope
- Experience integrating third-party and government-furnished hardware and software into a system you were accountable for
- Ability to define the verification approach for a full scope and explain why the planned coverage is sufficient
- Ability to negotiate requirements, deviations, and acceptance directly with a customer's technical representatives, and to write a credible basis of estimate
- Works from real hardware and real data: reproduces field failures independently before proposing a fix, and has run recovery at a fielded site under time pressure
- Ability to set technical direction for a small number of engineers without managing them
- Willingness to travel up to 25% of the time
- Eligibility to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Active Top Secret clearance, or current or prior special access program read-on
- Experience delivering counter-UAS, air defense, or installation defense capability to a U.S. Air Force customer
- Depth in one or more of: radar, passive RF detection, electro-optical and infrared sensors, effector integration, tactical networking, tactical data links, or command and control software
- Experience with accreditation and authorization for a fielded system, including STIG compliance, offline or disconnected operation, and government-approved data transfer
- Experience standardizing deployment networking or configuration management across multiple sites
- Experience with environmental qualification for extreme cold or other demanding operating environments
- Prior military or government service in an air defense, flight test, or special operations organization
