Senior Software Engineer, Strategic Defense Software

Frontdoor Defense; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 191,000 - 292,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Health benefits

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa seeks a Senior Software Engineer in Strategic Defense to own edge-deployed software and collaborate across cross-functional teams.

You will solve problems in networking, autonomy, systems integration, robotics, and real-time data processing, traveling 10–30% to deploy capabilities in the field. This role offers a competitive compensation package and equity grants as part of total rewards.

Qualifications

• 8+ years writing production software in languages like C++, Rust, Go, or Python that real users or systems depend on.
• Owned a feature or service end-to-end including design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance.
• Debugged problems in code you didn’t write and systems you didn’t design.
• Able to explain technical tradeoffs to non-software engineers (operators, hardware engineers, customers).
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own software solutions deployed to customers at the edge of innovation.
• Write code to improve robust C2 products and scale mission capabilities.
• Collaborate across engineering teams to plan, build, and test complex systems.
• Partner with end-users to turn needs into features quickly while balancing UX and constraints.
• Travel 10–30% with the team to deploy capabilities in the field.

Skills

C++

Rust

Go

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or Physics

Job description

Senior Software Engineer, Strategic Defense

Own and deliver edge-deployed software for strategic defense capabilities in collaboration with cross-functional teams

Location: Costa Mesa, California Huntsville, Alabama Irvine, California Reston, Virginia Seattle, Washington Washington, District of Columbia

Compensation: $191,000 - 292,000 USD / year

About The Role

Software Engineer In Strategic Defense

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

This application is for established coders with 8+ years of experience who will breeze through live coding interviews and it does not require active clearance but you must be eligible.

As a Software Engineer in Strategic Defense, you will write code side-by-side with elite peers to solve a wide variety of problems involving networking, autonomy, systems integration, robotics, and more. You'll make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs along the way to ensure Anduril products achieve a variety of desired outcomes in ambiguous situations where more is on the line than money or corporate gains. By working hand-in-hand with powerhouse teams in AI, Edge Hardware, Space Solutions, Networking, and Test Engineering you will craft cutting-edge, end-to-end systems that redefine mission success for major strategic capabilities.

What You'll Do

• Own software solutions that are deployed to customers at the edge of innovation and necessity
• Write code to improve robust C2 products and scale mission capabilities to broaden our impact
• Collaborate across multiple engineering teams to plan, build, and test functionality of complex systems
• Partner with end-users to turn needs into features quickly while balancing user experience and engineering constraints
• Travel 10 - 30% with the team to build, test, and deploy capabilities in the real world where they're needed most

Required Qualifications

• 8-12+ years writing production software in languages like C++, Rust, Go, or Python that real users or systems depend on
• You’ve owned a feature or service end-to-end including design, implementation, deployment, and dealing with it when it breaks
• You’ve debugged problems in code you didn’t write and systems you didn’t design
• You're comfortable making engineering decisions with incomplete requirements and revisiting them when reality disagrees
• You can explain technical tradeoffs to people who aren’t software engineers (operators, hardware engineers, customers)
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• A desire to work on critical software that has a real-world impact
• Exposure to robotics, distributed systems, networking, or real-time systems
• Experience with mid and upper tier Air Defense Command and Control (C2) programs
• Have worked where software touches physical hardware
• Experience building software solutions involving significant amounts of data processing and analysis
• Degree in a relevant field like Computer Science, Math, or Physics
• Willing to travel up to 20% to Asia Pacific

US Salary Range $191,000 - $292,000 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.