Autonomous Airpower Production Leader

Anduril Industries; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 261,000 - 346,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Benefits package

Job summary

Anduril Industries seeks a senior leader to coordinate Autonomous Airpower flight operations, owning production strategy from prototype to full-rate manufacturing. You will report to the VP of AD&S Production and manage existing production leads from day one.

You will drive cross‑functional collaboration with engineering, deployment operations, and program management to scale a multi-site manufacturing footprint, maturing products in Costa Mesa from R&D to high-volume output.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years in a Manufacturing/Production leadership role within hardware development with scale-up to full-rate production.
• Experience with discrete manufacturing in aerospace, consumer electronics, medical, or automotive.
• Driven to improve processes, systems, and data to unlock business value.
• Ability to translate strategy into actionable production initiatives and metrics.
• Ability to collaborate with engineering, supply chain, and quality teams.
• Proven leadership and ability to attract and retain top talent.
• Strong cross-functional and adaptable in ambiguous environments; startup experience preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing, and strategic thinking abilities.
• Technical degree preferred; security clearance eligibility required.

Responsibilities

• Own Autonomous Airpower office manufacturing floor, headcount, and capital expenditures forecasting related for Manufacturing.
• Own all aspects of Production, from advising engineering teams on design considerations to factory design and production execution.
• Serve as both a strategic leader and tactical do-er for Anduril’s Autonomous Airpower manufacturing operations; report to VP, AD&S Production.
• Drive Production, Supply Chain, and Quality to execute Anduril’s 5-year strategic vision for high-volume production.
• Partner with Engineering, Deployment Operations, and Program Management to ensure success.
• Mature Costa Mesa, CA products from low-rate prototypes to full-rate production throughout product development lifecycle.
• Establish and manage teams to meet financial, quality, and on-time delivery KPIs.
• Advise on development and oversee digital tech implementations (PLM, ERP, MES, QMS) to scale operations.
• Be accountable to AS9100D guidelines; partner on manufacturing strategy with VP of Manufacturing.

Skills

Manufacturing leadership

Discrete manufacturing

Continuous improvement

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Problem solving

Startup experience

Executive communication

Team leadership

Security clearance eligible

Education

Bachelor of Science or higher in a technical discipline (preferred)

Job description

Anduril Industries seeks a senior leader to coordinate Autonomous Airpower flight operations, owning production strategy from prototype to full-rate manufacturing. You will report to the VP of AD&S Production and manage existing production leads from day one.

You will drive cross‑functional collaboration with engineering, deployment operations, and program management to scale a multi-site manufacturing footprint, maturing products in Costa Mesa from R&D to high-volume output.