Program Chief Engineer

ABOUT THE TEAM

Anduril’s Air Defense team builds autonomous robots that find other robots and knock them out of the sky. This team is the nexus of premier Anduril-built products such as Roadrunner, Sentry, Anvil, Pulsar, and Wisp integrated into a software-enabled Air Defense family of systems tailored to the modern battlespace. At a time when air superiority can no longer be taken for granted, we provide critical force protection capabilities to support the warfighter. Our autonomous family of networked sensors and effectors enables our users to rapidly close the kill chain against a broad range of UAS threats that continue to evolve at a rapid pace.


ABOUT THE ROLE

This role provides an opportunity for immediate impact on real-world operations. Our focus is on creating groundbreaking technology that operators need and trust, and all your work will feed into this. You will go deep to learn about gaps in existing defense capabilities, engage with users, synthesize feedback, and build the product infrastructure to support our goals. Anduril is a rapidly growing company, and the right person for this role should be able to work in partnership with engineers and leadership, and thrive in a fast-paced environment with many competing priorities. You often will be expected to self direct, and to be comfortable navigating ambiguity. You will quickly take ownership of an Air Defense Program to solve specific challenges, craft your own vision for what the technical success of that initiative looks like, and own the execution of that vision through cross functional execution. 

ABOUT YOU

You are a proven technical leader who delivers timely, quality, and performant systems to your client. Specifically:

• You are the internal advocate for your client; you represent their best interests within the engineering team
• You bridge the gap between Engineering and Field Operations
• You thrive in uncertainty. You are not a creature of process but can build structure where it is needed
• You can distinguish between must-have’s and nice-to-have’s. You can clearly say “No” to internal and external stakeholders
• You anticipate blockers and effectively plan around them
• You are hungry to learn complex technology and relish the opportunity to explain it to others
• You can seamlessly calibrate your communication to any level of technical audience
• You are a team player and contribute to positive and mission-aligned culture
• You effectively tie the strategic vision to the tactical execution
• You think critically and challenge ambiguity

WHAT YOU'LL DO

1. Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain relationships with internal stakeholders, external clients, and industry partners to gather insights, align objectives, and secure buy-in for strategic initiatives. Act as the primary technical liaison for the client, advocate for their needs within the engineering organization and ensure their feedback directly influences the engineering roadmap. Communicate the outputs of these efforts including upcoming software releases, new capabilities, and performance improvement over time.
2. Technical Ownership: Drive technical outcomes through meticulous understanding of system performance, drive product development through operational learnings and data, own the technical narrative from product deliver through continuous improvements. Credibly represent our system in front of technical and nontechnical clients
3. Tactical Execution: Bring clarity to the path between engineering development and operational delivery. Whether through sprint planning and execution or on-the-ground support of test events, attack blockers and guide the team through fast-paced execution to deliver the optimal technical outcome for the client.
4. Strategic Planning: Translate strategic business goals and program requirements into actionable project plans, setting clear milestones, and driving initiatives from conception through to successful completion, ensuring they deliver intended outcomes and add value to the business. Oversee the allocation of personnel, budget, and other resources to ensure successful execution of these initiatives. When possible, lead with data.
5. Execute Autonomously: Execute on broad and/or ambiguous requirements from external clients. Seize the opportunity to shape requirements in favor of the optimal product for the client and the company. Demonstrate high ownership on all pieces of work. Become a trusted partner to Anduril’s engineers.
6. Enable Cross Team Collaboration: Manage, unblock, and accelerate cross-team projects spanning multiple teams and initiatives. Collaborate closely and even embed within partner teams, such as hardware, software, test, and field operations as needed.
7. Shape Growth Opportunities: Support the drafting of technical proposals, ensuring that potential projects and scaling opportunities with each account are accurately scoped, resourced, and aligned with the organization's capabilities and strategic goals. Drive the alignment of the technical roadmap with the strategic vision

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of 5+ years experience as a Lead Engineer, Technical Program Manager, Technical Product Manager, or Engineer in an autonomous systems, robotics, or software development environment.
• Proven client-facing technical program management and/or systems engineering experience, preferably in the defense, national security, or aerospace domains
• Strong background in systems engineering and architecture
• Demonstrated ability to interpret complex requirements, differentiate between rigid and flexible elements, and translate them into a robust, executable engineering framework.
• Ability to work with internal and external stakeholders, across a wide range of technical comfort
• Experience with at least one of the following: Link 16, JITC Certification, or Cyber Certification (IATT/ATO) and Risk Management Framework (RMF).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency with Atlassian products (e.g., Jira, Confluence) for task tracking and robust program management support.
• Must be able to obtain a minimum Secret Clearance.
• Must be able to travel up to 25% of the time

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with specific fire control systems (e.g., AEGIS, TOC-L, THAAD)
• Strong technical, analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to use data and metrics to back up assumptions, recommendations and drive decisions
• Ability to work within organizations with minimal structure and with minimal direction.
• Active U.S. government security clearance.
• Bachelor’s Degree in an Engineering discipline