About this Senior Technical Program Manager role at Anduril Industries
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 Role
Anduril is seeking a Senior Technical Program Manager to lead the test, integration, and operational fielding of Group 3 uncrewed aircraft systems and their mission payloads. In this role you are the connective tissue between engineering, forward operations, and program management—translating operator needs into technical direction, and driving fast, high-quality test outcomes from the bench to the flight line.
This role requires a detail-oriented professional with strong program management skills, AAV experience, and the ability to work closely with both customers and vendors. Throughout, you bring the operator's point of view into every engineering discussion—keeping solutions simple, repeatable, and genuinely usable in the field.
What You'll Do
- Lead execution of development programs through the complete life cycle: customer studies, requirements definition, design, fabrication, test, and production.
- Work with customers and end-users to evolve the regional Concept of Operations (CONOPS) across the product life cycle, developing inputs to high-level requirements that inform key design decisions.
- Gather and generate requirements by observing operators, current events, and real-world use cases—“be the operator” in internal discussions to drive how our products will actually be used.
- Provide input into integration processes for sovereign mission-system equipment and payloads, and develop test objectives and test plans for execution.
- Coordinate a broad range of development activities with partner organizations: bench and environmental testing of components, building and operating Hardware-in-the-Lab (HIL) / Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) integration environments, and ground and flight testing of uncrewed and crewed surrogate platforms.
- Liaise with partner organizations and local authorities to secure operational approvals—airspace, frequency, physical deconfliction, safety, and access to appropriate test range facilities.
- Shape, build, and utilize in-country development facilities to establish local capability.
- Plan, coordinate, and execute major test and demonstration events—including resourcing, logistics, and equipment export/import—conduct Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs), working closely with the Systems Engineering and Integration Testing team's Test Director, and ensure safety, efficient and effective test events that have impact, while providing timely reporting.
- Partner with engineering to drive solutions from the end-user's point of view rather than the engineering point of view, and manage planning for test events, test flights, and deployments spanning hardware, software, and personnel.
- Proactively identify problems in system design that affect user operations—such as user interfaces and payload control—document them clearly, and follow solutions through with engineering.
- Manage capture programs by helping identify technology differentiators, assessing viability, developing a winning strategy, and supporting proposals.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including software engineers, hardware engineers, chief engineers, program managers, international trade compliance, and finance.
- Ensure adherence to compliance and milestone requirements.
- Travel to customer sites, vendors, test events, and demonstration events.
- Demonstrate high ownership on all pieces of work; build trust and forge long standing relationships with Anduril teammates, vendors, and customers through effective communication, positive attitude, and meticulous follow-through.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Physics, Engineering, or first-hand experience operating advanced Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).
- 7+ years of experience as a Technical Program Manager or in a product development role for payloads or a robotics system.
- Proven experience in program management, preferably in a technical or military setting.
- Familiarity with UAS products and experience working with end users in the field.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Highly organized: able to manage concurrent programs and competing priorities in a fast-moving environment.
- Ability to work within organizations with minimal structure and minimal direction.
- Strong experience in project management and project management technologies (e.g., JIRA); practical familiarity with both Agile and Waterfall methodologies and the ability to apply them where best suited.
- An active U.S. Secret security clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
- Knowledge of hardware and software development practices, and best practices for autonomous robotics systems.
- Significant customer-facing experience leading technically challenging programs, including strong interpersonal skills.
- Experience with Defense Acquisition Processes, including System Requirements Reviews, Preliminary / Critical Design Reviews, Production Readiness Reviews, etc.
- Working knowledge of IP networking relevant to fielded systems—VLANs, video handling, and routing (depth of a knowledgeable integrator, not a dedicated network engineer).
- Familiarity with encryption methods and trade-offs (software- vs. hardware-based, AES-256 vs. alternatives).
- Hands-on experience with radio mesh networks (e.g., MPU5, Silvus, DTC, Trellis)—understanding of mesh behavior in general, configuration depth on at least one system, and awareness of mesh network limitations.
- Experience with Starlink / Starshield operations and their limitations.
- Experience with Mission Planner, QGroundControl, or other UAV control software.
- Strong eye for detail in reviewing diagrams, workflows, and checklists for improvement.
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:
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 Benefits.
Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams
Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.
To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:
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No Financial Requests: Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.
- Please always verify communications:
- Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an
@anduril.comaddress. - Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to [email protected].
- Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an
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Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach: If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.
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What to Do If You Suspect Fraud: Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to [email protected]. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.
Data Privacy
To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.
By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.