Head of Mission Operations, Intelligence Systems

Anduril Industries; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 183,000 - 243,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in the United States seeks a strategic, hands-on Head of Mission Operations to stand up and scale the Mission Operations function within AIS. You will own end-to-end deployment success, building and leading a team of Mission Operations Engineers while establishing playbooks for repeatable, high-quality field delivery across IC programs.

You will set the vision for deployment, training, and field support, while remaining close enough to unblock real-time issues.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership building, scaling, and managing technical operations or field engineering teams in defense, intelligence, or national security.
• Mission-first mindset focused on customer and mission impact.
• Hands-on experience with deployments, networking, APIs, data integration, and system configuration.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a team of Mission Operations Engineers, setting expectations and fostering operational excellence.
• Define scalable playbooks for deployment, training, and field support to repeatable processes.
• Oversee deployment, integration, and readiness across programs to achieve timely, required operational capability.
• Design training curricula for military, security, and tactical operators to scale as the customer base grows.
• Gather field feedback to influence product roadmap and engineering priorities.
• Develop strategic relationships with senior officers and IC stakeholders to drive adoption and future needs.
• Collaborate with PM, Engineering, Legal, and BD to ensure seamless delivery across the org.
• Define KPIs for deployment success, operator readiness, system uptime, and customer satisfaction.

Skills

Leadership

Mission-first mindset

Operational depth

Strategic thinking

Adaptability

Communication

Collaboration

Willing to travel

Security clearance

Education

CS/Systems Engineering degree

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.

About The Team

Anduril Intelligence Systems (AIS) is focused on positioning Anduril as a lead provider of specialized engineering and products for Intelligence Community (IC) customers. We work within the IC to understand their requirements, shape their concepts of operation, and deliver exquisite capability across their problem set. We aim to develop and deploy critically needed capabilities that address our customers' most pressing national security requirements.

About The Job

We are seeking a strategic, hands‑on leader to stand up and scale our Mission Operations function within AIS. As Head of Mission Operations, you will own the end‑to‑end operational success of our deployments — building and leading a team of Mission Operations Engineers while establishing the processes, standards, and playbooks that enable repeatable, high‑quality delivery across a rapidly growing portfolio of IC programs. This role requires someone who can operate at both the strategic and tactical level: setting the vision for how we deploy, integrate, train, and support our products in the field while remaining close enough to the work to unblock problems in real time.

What You’ll Do

• Build & Lead the Team: Recruit, develop, and manage a team of Mission Operations Engineers. Set clear expectations, drive accountability, and foster a high-performance culture rooted in mission focus and operational excellence.
• Define the Mission Ops Playbook: Establish scalable frameworks for system deployment, integration, operator training, and ongoing field support — turning what has been ad hoc execution into a repeatable, measurable discipline.
• Own Deployment & Operational Readiness: Oversee the technical configuration, deployment, and integration of systems across multiple programs, ensuring every site reaches full operational capability on time and to standard.
• Drive Operator Adoption & Training Strategy: Design and standardize training curricula for military, security, and tactical operators — ensuring consistency and quality as the team and customer base scale.
• Serve as the Voice of the Field: Aggregate operational feedback, deployment lessons learned, and real-world user requirements to influence product roadmap priorities and engineering investments.
• Build Strategic Customer Relationships: Develop and maintain trusted relationships with senior military officers, IC stakeholders, and program leadership to drive adoption, uncover future mission needs, and shape account strategy.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner closely with Program Management, Engineering, Legal, and Business Development to ensure seamless delivery and alignment across the organization.
• Establish Metrics & Reporting: Define and track KPIs for deployment success, operator readiness, system uptime, and customer satisfaction to drive continuous improvement across the function.

Required Qualifications

• Proven Leadership: Demonstrated experience building, scaling, and managing technical operations or field engineering teams in a defense, intelligence, or national security environment.
• Mission-First Mindset: You put the needs of the customer and the mission first. You are motivated by the opportunity to radically evolve national and allied defense capabilities.
• Operational & Technical Depth: Strong technical aptitude with hands‑on experience in system deployments, software configuration, troubleshooting, IP networking, APIs, and data integration — credible enough to lead a team of engineers and earn the trust of customers.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to translate organizational goals and customer needs into a clear operational strategy, then execute against it with discipline.
• Adaptability: You thrive in unstructured, fast‑moving environments. You can context‑switch between strategic planning and tactical problem‑solving without missing a beat.
• Stellar Communication: Outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to influence across all levels — from tactical operators to senior military leadership and internal executives.
• Collaboration & Low-Ego: You lead by example in a flat, fast‑moving organization that values teamwork, action, and execution over hierarchy.
• Must be willing to travel up to 30%.
• Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior military service (tactical ops, signals, intelligence, or C2) with leadership experience.
• Track record of standing up or significantly scaling a field operations, mission support, or deployment function from early stage to mature operation.
• Experience designing and institutionalizing operator training programs at scale.
• Degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.

US Salary Range

$183,000—$243,000 USD

Benefits

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: For more information, Explore Our 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.