Director of Advanced Design

Slope; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 254,000 - 336,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a Director of Advanced Design for the Air Dominance & Strike hardware engineering organization. The role oversees conceptual design for Group 5 UAS and advanced missile platforms, shaping early-phase concepts, white papers, and customer proposals.

You will partner with chief engineers and product teams to ensure alignment with feasibility, affordability, and mission needs, while driving innovative aerospace solutions and risk-aware decisions in a fast-paced

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in conceptual or preliminary design of aerospace systems with leadership roles on Group 5 UAS or advanced missile systems.
• Expertise in at least one aerospace hardware discipline: aerodynamics, structures, propulsion integration, or electrical systems.
• Deep understanding of system architecture, mission requirements, and full product lifecycle development.
• Proven experience leading high-performance engineering teams in fast-paced, cross-functional environments.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and technical leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Direct the end-to-end conceptual design process for UAV and missile platforms, including mission analysis, configuration trade studies, requirements development, and architecture selection.
• Serve as a technical expert for early-phase pursuits, shaping concept white-papers, customer proposals, and technology roadmaps, partnering with the chief engineering team.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure alignment with technical feasibility, affordability, and customer mission needs.
• Support direct interactions with customers to translate mission requirements into design concepts.
• Act as a senior technical decision-maker, applying engineering intuition and prior experience to ensure effective design paths and avoid costly development missteps.
• Partner with Chief Engineers and product teams to align engineering execution with broader mission and capability goals.
• Stay at the forefront of emerging aerospace technologies and threats, incorporating disruptive innovations into early-stage designs.

Skills

Technical leadership

Aerospace domain knowledge

System architecture

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering

Job description

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.

We are seeking a Director of Advanced Design for the Air Dominance & Strike hardware engineering organization. This role will oversee the conceptual design for Group 5 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and advanced missile platforms.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Direct the end-to-end conceptual design process for UAV and missile platforms, including mission analysis, configuration trade studies, requirements development, and architecture selection.
• Serve as a technical expert for early-phase pursuits, shaping concept white-papers, customer proposals, and technology roadmaps, partnering with the chief engineering team.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure alignment with technical feasibility, affordability, and customer mission needs.
• Support direct interactions with customers to translate mission requirements into design concepts.
• Act as a senior technical decision-maker, applying engineering intuition and prior experience to ensure effective design paths and avoid costly development missteps.
• Partner with Chief Engineers and product teams to align engineering execution with broader mission and capability goals.
• Stay at the forefront of emerging aerospace technologies and threats, incorporating disruptive innovations into early-stage designs.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of experience in conceptual or preliminary design of aerospace systems, with technical leadership roles on Group 5 UAS, similar class aircraft, or advanced missile systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in at least one of the core aerospace hardware disciplines: aerodynamics, structures, propulsion integration, or electrical systems.
• Deep understanding of system architecture, mission requirements, and full product lifecycle development.
• Proven experience leading high-performance engineering teams, ideally in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and technical leadership skills

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Experience with rapid prototyping and iterative development environments.
• Hands-on experience with advanced design tools, simulation, and test equipment.

US Salary Range

$254,000—$336,000 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 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.

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.