Senior Technical Program Manager, Design Engineering
Costa Mesa, California
About the role
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.
ABOUT
THE TEAM The Air Dominance and Strike Division is one of Anduril's fastest growing, most technically complex divisions. We develop and build collaborative combat aircraft, missiles, and the software that powers these autonomous weapons. We are scaling production of a first-of-kind autonomous aircraft. Every design decision becomes a production outcome, and this role owns that connection. ABOUT THE JOB Your job is to make the handoff from design to production predictable, fast, and right the first time. Success in this position hinges on three key facets: NPI and change management discipline - you drive NPI and sustaining engineering changes through the system with clear release criteria, honest impact assessments, and hard gates when something is not ready. You work with the change management team to trace every engineering decision to its production outcome. Technical depth to challenge engineering - you understand producibility well enough to see a problem before it hits the floor. When first-pass yield drops because of a design choice, you either prevented it or are already driving the fix. Speed across organizational boundaries - you drive decisions between engineering and production faster than the cadence allows. Both teams trust you because you are rigorous, prepared, and right. You do not wait for alignment to happen organically.
WHAT YOU'LL DO Own the schedule and cost performance of engineering-to-production transition for NPI and sustaining changes Drive engineering release readiness with clear criteria, blocking releases that are not production-ready Work with the change management team to assess ECO/ECN impact on production schedule, cost, and rework Track and drive resolution of engineering changes with downstream production impact, owning rework and retrofit rate accountability Drive DFM reviews and ensure producibility is addressed before designs lock, not after Build the systems that make engineering-to-production handoff measurable: first-pass yield, change-driven rework costs, and schedule impact of engineering decisions Leverage quantitative models (trade studies, sensitivity analysis on tolerances and process capability) to inform design-for-production decisions Prepare technical documentation, analysis reports, and briefings for internal teams, customers, and government stakeholders Maintain reproducible analysis pipelines using version control, scripting, and scalable workflows REQUIRED
QUALIFICATIONS 5+ years in technical program management, NPI, or design-to-production roles in complex hardware environments Demonstrated experience blocking or redirecting engineering releases based on production readiness assessment Technical depth in hardware design and manufacturing processes sufficient to challenge engineering on producibility Experience managing engineering change processes (ECO/ECN) and tracing change impact to cost and schedule Comfortable building or interpreting quantitative models to inform design and production trade decisions Familiar with version control, scripting, scalable workflows, and reproducible analysis practices Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance PREFERRED
QUALIFICATIONS Experience in aerospace, defense, or autonomous systems NPI and production transition Proficiency with data tools such as Palantir Foundry, PLM systems, or custom analytics stacks Background in trade studies, tolerance analysis, or process capability modeling applied to DFM decisions Experience scaling NPI processes from prototype to rate production Familiarity with complex electromechanical, avionics, or composite manufacturing processes US Salary Range $160,000 — $220,000 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
Benefits At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive
benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our
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