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Salary: USD 220,000 - 292,000 / annual
Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, is seeking a Head of Production to establish and lead a cutting-edge maritime manufacturing facility in Santa Ana, CA. This is a foundational leadership role responsible for building the production organization from the ground up, scaling complex electromechanical maritime vehicles from prototype through full-rate production.
You will own all production activities including manufacturing, quality systems, and production support. Key responsibilities include:
- Building and leading the production organization, with hiring authority across manufacturing engineering, quality, and operations
- Establishing manufacturing processes and production infrastructure for complex electromechanical vehicles
- Driving the manufacturing development lifecycle from concept through prototype, low-rate initial production (LRIP), and full-rate production (FRP)
- Managing production budgets, schedules, and on-time delivery performance
- Owning production readiness reviews and design-for-production engineering
- Coordinating with supply chain, demand planning, procurement, and warehouse operations
- Implementing and optimizing production systems (ERP, MES, QMS)
- Driving continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent methodologies
- Ensuring compliance with AS9100, NAVSEA, and customer quality requirements
- Interfacing with engineering, program management, and customer organizations
- Traveling over 75% to manufacturing facilities and customer sites
The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in large-scale manufacturing of complex assemblies, heavy fabrication, structural integration, and joining/assembly across metals, alloys, and exotic materials. You must have led organizations of hundreds (not dozens) and come from operations comparable in scale to what Anduril is building. You are a builder with hands-on technical credibility, comfortable being on the production floor with technicians.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or equivalent
- Minimum 10+ years of experience in manufacturing or production for complex electromechanical systems
- Minimum 5+ years of experience building and leading production teams and organizations
- Experience managing production budgets in the $10M+ range
- Demonstrated experience scaling production from NPI through full-rate production
- Deep expertise with production systems (ERP, MES, QMS)
- Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Direct experience in maritime, naval, or aerospace defense with knowledge of NAVSEA or MIL-SPEC standards
- Technical foundation in mechanical assembly, electrical integration, heavy metal or composite fabrication, shipbuilding, or large vehicle production
- Hands-on technical credibility having personally built, debugged, or repaired hardware in production; comfortable on the floor with technicians
- Experience with MES and ERP systems: JIRA, Siemens NX, Teamcenter (PLM), Oracle, or equivalents
- Experience with Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies
