Senior Project Engineer, AD&S

Anduril Industries; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 194,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Competitive benefits

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a Senior Project Engineer for the Air Dominance & Strike Manufacturing Engineering team to support the Manufacturing Development Plan and Product Development Process stage gates across programs, including cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and autonomous aircraft.

You will work under Staff-level engineers to assemble review decks, track actions, and drive stage gate content to completion, collaborating with PMs, chief engineers, and ME managers across multiple

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Industrial Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, with exposure to PDP, stage gate, or readiness activities.
• Solid understanding of manufacturing processes across product development.
• Experience working cross-functionally with PMs, design, quality, supply chain, and operations.
• Strong organizational and project management skills with multi-program tracking.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for stage gate reviews.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and comfortable in fast-paced environments.
• Experience on the production floor manufacturing hardware.

Responsibilities

• Support the execution of MDP and PDP stage gate deliverables, ensuring completeness and on-time delivery.
• Coordinate with senior engineers and managers to assemble stage gate decks and presentations.
• Track action items, risks, and readiness gaps, driving closure before gate reviews.
• Review stage gate content for quality and completeness; address gaps with program teams.
• Coordinate across multiple programs with different timelines to hit gates.
• Represent ME on cross-functional projects, contributing to design, quality, supply chain, and operations decisions.
• Build strong relationships with design engineering, quality, supply chain, and program management.
• Drive assigned projects to completion from problem definition to resolution.
• Identify gaps in stage gate processes and contribute to improvements for scaling programs.
• Develop and maintain stage gate templates, checklists, and standards.
• Travel to production sites and partner facilities as needed.

Skills

Stage gate experience

Cross-functional leadership

Manufacturing processes

Project management

Technical presentations

Production floor experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing/Aerospace

Tools

CAD software

AS9100 exposure

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 Job

Anduril's Air Dominance & Strike (AD&S) Manufacturing Engineering team is seeking a Senior Project Engineer to support the execution of Manufacturing Development Plan (MDP) and Product Development Process (PDP) stage gate deliverables across AD&S programs. This role spans both Air Strike and Air Dominance product lines — from cruise missiles and loitering munitions to autonomous aircraft — and plays a key part in ensuring that manufacturing engineering milestones are met on time, with the right content, at every gate.

Working under the guidance of Staff-level Project Engineers, you will be directly involved in the preparation, coordination, and delivery of stage gate review materials. You are a manufacturing engineer first — your understanding of how products are built gives you the credibility to assess whether gate deliverables accurately reflect manufacturing readiness. You will work with Product Program Managers, Program Managers, Chief Engineers, and Manufacturing Engineering managers and their teams to assemble review decks, track action items, and help drive gate content to completion.

Beyond stage gate support, you will take on ad-hoc, cross-functional projects as the Manufacturing Engineering representative — stepping in to support design, quality, supply chain, or operations when an experienced ME perspective is needed. This role is built for someone who thrives on cross-functional collaboration, stays organized across multiple workstreams, and is growing toward the kind of senior technical leadership that defines how an organization executes.

What You'll Do

• Support the execution of MDP and PDP stage gate deliverables for manufacturing engineering across AD&S programs, working under the guidance of Staff Project Engineers to ensure completeness, technical accuracy, and on-time delivery.
• Coordinate with PPMs, PMs, Chief Engineers, and ME managers to gather, organize, and prepare stage gate review decks and presentations.
• Track stage gate action items, open risks, and manufacturing readiness gaps — following up with owners to drive closure ahead of gate reviews.
• Review ME stage gate content for quality and completeness, flagging gaps and working with program teams to address them before reviews.
• Coordinate across multiple programs running on different timelines, helping ensure each team has the information and structure needed to hit their gates.
• Represent Manufacturing Engineering on ad-hoc, cross-functional projects as assigned — providing an experienced ME perspective in design trades, quality investigations, supply chain decisions, and operational problem-solving.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with design engineering, quality, supply chain, operations, and program management on a daily basis — cross-functional collaboration is the core of this job.
• Drive assigned projects to completion, taking ownership from problem definition through resolution.
• Help identify gaps and inconsistencies in stage gate processes and contribute to improvements that make the system more effective as programs scale.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of stage gate templates, checklists, and standards.

Travel to production sites and partner facilities as needed

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, with exposure to product development processes, stage gate reviews, or manufacturing readiness activities.
• Solid understanding of manufacturing processes and what manufacturing maturity looks like at different phases of product development — you have supported hardware from prototype through production.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally with program management, design engineering, quality, supply chain, and operations.
• Strong ability to build relationships across functions and drive projects to completion through collaboration, not authority.
• Experience contributing to or preparing technical review presentations for engineering and program leadership.
• Strong organizational and project management skills — ability to track deliverables across multiple concurrent programs and keep things moving.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate manufacturing topics into clear content for stage gate reviews.
• Self-motivated and proactive — you follow through on commitments and close the loop without being chased.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-growth environment where processes are still being built and refined.
• Personal experience on the production floor — you have built, tested, or directly supported the manufacturing of hardware.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in engineering, business, or a related field.
• Experience in aerospace or defense manufacturing, particularly with qualified or flight-critical hardware programs.
• Familiarity with AS9100/AS9102 quality management systems and their intersection with stage gate processes.
• Exposure to manufacturing readiness level (MRL) assessments or similar maturity frameworks.
• Background in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or other process improvement methodologies applied in a production environment.
• Proficiency in CAD software and familiarity with manufacturing technologies across multiple disciplines (machining, composites, electronics, assembly).
• Appropriate clearance classification.

Per Anduril's expansion plans, we anticipate this job will be based out of Long Beach, CA beginning late 2027.

US Salary Range

$146,000—$194,000 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: 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.