Director, Mission Systems for Autonomous Aerial Platforms

Anduril Industries; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA seeks an engineering leader to drive the Thunder mission system across platforms. You will oversee design, integration, and verification of mission software, payloads, and weapon interfaces, working with cross-functional teams and external vendors.

You’ll mentor senior engineers, define architecture decisions, and ensure traceability to customer requirements while supporting airworthiness and certification processes for a multi-domain autonomous system.

Qualifications

• Experience in a senior role for the delivery of a military mission system.
• Experience managing engineering teams within a high performing technology organization.
• Experience with distributed software platform and application architectures.
• Experience with modeling and simulation.
• Experience with Python and modern systems/programming languages (C++, Rust).
• Experience with development of high assurance safety critical software.
• Experience developing unit, integration, and regression test suites.
• Knowledge of weapon and payload integration for autonomous systems.
• Experience across the product delivery lifecycle including manufacturing, deployment, and sustainment.
• Familiarity with vehicle management systems and Systems Engineering concepts.
• Familiarity with MOSA/WOSA and relevant standards (MIL-STD-1760, MIL-STD-1553).
• Familiarity with interoperability standards (STANAG 4586).
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own customer success through the design and delivery of a fully operational mission system for a new Maneuver Dominance platform.
• Partner with Vehicle Software team; interface requirements between Vehicle Management System and Mission System stacks.
• Oversee payload system integration with the host vehicle mission system stack.
• Oversee weapon system integration, including compliance with munitions/range safety and export control.
• Drive architecture selection and design for robotic mission systems with MOSA/WOSA considerations.
• Own mission system interoperability and open-architecture posture per MOSA/WOSA and STANAGs.
• Define ICDs for MIL-STD-1760 and MIL-STD-1553 between mission system and payload vendors.
• Collaborate with airworthiness stakeholders to support Thunder’s certification pathway.
• Contribute to a company-wide roadmap for mission system integration into Maneuver Dominance platforms.
• Lead teams that develop software on- and off-platform across diverse technologies.
• Drive development processes for initial delivery and iterative mission software, including testing.
• Create test and simulation fixtures for software- and hardware-in-the-loop.
• Support vehicle manufacturing and deployment.
• Lead multi-disciplinary engineering teams and mentor Senior Software Engineers.
• Leverage internal teams to deliver capabilities beyond current platforms with architectural evolution.

Skills

Senior leadership

Engineering leadership

Distributed software architectures

Modeling & simulation

Python

C++

Rust

Safety-critical software

Unit/integration testing

Weapons/payload integration

Product delivery lifecycle

Vehicle management systems familiarity

Systems Engineering concepts

MOSA/WOSA familiarity

Mil-Std 1760/1553 familiarity

Security clearance eligibility

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Mechatronics, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience

Job description

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA seeks an engineering leader to drive the Thunder mission system across platforms. You will oversee design, integration, and verification of mission software, payloads, and weapon interfaces, working with cross-functional teams and external vendors.

You’ll mentor senior engineers, define architecture decisions, and ensure traceability to customer requirements while supporting airworthiness and certification processes for a multi-domain autonomous system.