Principal Design Engineer

Slope; United States; On-site; USD 129,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Chantilly, VA is seeking an experienced Design Engineer for the Space Special Programs team. You will work on core technologies, subsystems, spacecraft, and complete space systems, supporting the team’s development roadmap and mentoring engineers.

The role requires hands‑on design, analysis, build, and test of mechanical and opto‑mechanical systems, including small mechanisms and space hardware with high reliability.

Qualifications

• Experience leading immersive technical projects in professional settings.

Responsibilities

• Execute rapid evaluation of engineering concepts across diverse fields.
• Design, analyze, implement, and test electro‑mechanical systems for space applications.
• Maintain system ownership with high autonomy in development campaigns.
• Mentor engineers and guide spacecraft design and testing activities.

Skills

Leadership

Mechanical design

Spacecraft design

Ground-up system design

Prototyping & testing

First principles

Organization

Education

Engineering degree (BS/MS/PhD)

Tools

3D CAD

Machining experience

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

In the Space Special Programs team, we build spacecraft and space systems which serve a wide variety of functions in the space architecture. At a time when space superiority can no longer be taken for granted and with space systems proliferating at an incredible rate, the Space Special Programs team provides advanced, mission critical capabilities to our customer base to be able to more effectively operate and survive within this expanding environment with limited personnel. Working across product, engineering, sales, logistics, operations, and mission success, the Space Special Programs team develops, tests, deploys, and operates new, unique, space capabilities to drive mission success in challenging operational environments.

ABOUT THE JOB

Anduril is seeking Design Engineers to join the Space Special Programs team at our Chantilly, VA location. Here you will work on core technologies, subsystems, spacecraft, and complete space systems supporting the Space Special Programs team and core mission. This development includes but is not limited to optical systems, batteries, mechanisms, control systems, and sensors. The primary function of this role is to be a highly experienced resource to help implement and influence the team’s development roadmap, be a resource for mentoring and growing the engineering team, and to be an individual contributor in both technical and strategic areas. This role requires high ownership and frequent collaboration with other core disciplines. The ideal candidate would be practical, hands‑on and a self-starter, with significant experience designing, analyzing, building, and operating spacecraft mechanical, opto‑mechanical, and both passive and active mechanisms – experience machining components is a significant plus. High growth potential is possible as well as additional leadership opportunities.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Execute rapid evaluation of engineering concepts in a wide range of fields
• Create solutions (with analysis, design, and experimentation) to blue‑sky engineering problems and targeted mission needs alike
• Design, analyze, implement, and test complex electro‑mechanical systems
• Maintain High level system ownership with large levels of professional autonomy
• Participate in design reviews, integration and test campaigns, launch‑site and on‑orbit operations campaigns
• Build prototypes, analyze failures, and transition successful projects into production
• Mentor engineers and help them learn the art of small spacecraft design and test – teach them your mistakes so they won’t need to repeat them
• Support critical hardware demonstrations with customers as needed
• Travel to test sites as needed
• Use first principles, physics, and personal experience as a basis for every decision
• Identify partners in industry to engage with, and manage early vendor relationships

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in an immersive technical project (professional settings)
• Demonstrated leadership skills
• 2-8 years of mechanical and mechanism design experience in a professional setting,
• Experience designing systems for spacecraft and associated space systems
• Experience in ground‑up system design and any 3‑D CAD
• Hands‑on assembly, prototyping, testing, and performance characterization of mechanisms designed for 0g but in a 1g environment.
• Experience designing and building very small mechanisms, components, and systems.
• Familiarity with launch environments, testing for launch environments, range safety, and system integration efforts
• Demonstrated creativity and “out of the box thinking” for spacecraft mechanisms with an eye toward simplicity and reliability
• High competence with, and fluid use of, engineering first principles
• Strong organizational skills
• BS, MS or PhD in an engineering field, or equivalent work experience
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance
• Ability to work within our company and team culture
• Ability to be pragmatic about problem solving

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience machining and modifying mechanical components
• Outstanding leadership and interpersonal skills
• Familiarity with designing MGSE to support spacecraft testing and development
• Experience with Electro‑Mechanical design concepts and working at the interface between electrical and mechanical components
• Practical experience with electrical engineering tools (Oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads, multimeters)
• 3+ years of experience working in a classified environment

US Salary Range: $129,000 – $171,000 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.