Software Engineering Manager, Simulation Platforms (Active TS Clearance)

Anduril-1; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Top-tier benefits

Strong compensation package

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a Software Engineering Manager for Simulation Platforms in Costa Mesa, CA, with Active TS clearance. You will grow and mentor a high‑performing team, define technical direction for modular simulators, and build strong relationships with government-owned environments and defense funding agencies.

You will also partner with BD to craft proposals and expand the team’s footprint. The role combines software engineering, systems thinking, and defense domain expertise,

Qualifications

• Active TS clearance required.
• 5+ years of experience leading software engineering teams.
• 5+ years hands-on software development experience.
• Experience working in secure/classified environments.
• Experience partnering with business development and writing technical proposals.

Responsibilities

• Grow, mentor, and scale the engineering team.
• Define the technical direction and modernize simulation architectures.
• Maintain relationships with government-owned simulation environments and defense agencies.
• Collaborate with business development to identify opportunities and craft technical proposals.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Software development

Secure environments

Proposal writing

Stakeholder management

Job description

Software Engineering Manager, Simulation Platforms (Active TS Clearance)

Costa Mesa, California, United States; Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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

The Air Dominance & Strike team at Anduril develops aerial and multi-domain robotic systems. The team is responsible for taking products like Fury (unmanned fighter jet) and Barracuda (air-breathing cruise missile) from concept to product. The team also develops Lattice for Mission Autonomy, Anduril’s premier software platform that enables masses of Fury, Barracuda, and other first and third party robots to collaborate across various missions. We work in close coordination with specialist teams like Perception, Motion Planning, Hardware, and Test Engineering to solve some of the hardest problems facing our customers.

This team builds high-fidelity simulation platforms used to evaluate advanced aerospace and mission systems in realistic, contested environments. The team develops digital models and modern, parametric simulators thatrepresentsophisticated adversary behaviors, providing rapid iteration cycles for testing and training.

The long-term focus is to modernize legacy, monolithic simulation frameworks, transitioning them toward modern, modular architectures with stable APIs, robust versioning, and automated testing. This work involves a mix of software, systems engineering, real-time simulation, and API design, with a direct impact on how next-generation defense platforms are evaluated.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Grow, mentor, and scale the engineering team significantly, fostering a high-performance culture.
• Partner closely with the Chief Engineer to define the technical direction, modernize simulation architectures into modular systems, and own successful project execution.
• Maintain and build strong relationships with key stakeholders across government-owned simulation environments and defense funding, acquisition, and innovation agencies.
• Partner with business development teams to identify new opportunities, evaluate technical feasibility, and lead the technical writing of proposals to expand the team's footprint.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Active U.S. Top Secret (TS) security clearance.
• Engineering Leadership: 5+ years of experience managing software engineering teams, with a proven track record of hiring, scaling, and developing talent.
• Technical Background: 5+ years of hands‑on software development experience with a strong understanding of complex systems architecture, API design, and modern software engineering practices.
• Classified Environments: Experience developing, deploying, and testing software within secure, classified, or air‑galled environments.
• Proposal & Sales Support: Experience partnering with business development teams, writing technical proposals, or helping scope engineering work for government contracts.
• Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to manage customer expectations and negotiate technical delivery paths when stakeholders have competing priorities.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Prior experience in modeling and simulation within the defense sector, particularly with federating multiple simulators together.
• Familiarity with translating intelligence assessments of adversary capabilities into high-fidelity modeled software environments.
• Familiarity with modern defense acquisition, test, and innovation organizations (such as AFLCMC, TRMC, or DIU).
• A desire to remain close to the technology, with the ability to participate in high-level system design reviews and evaluate architectural decisions.

US Salary Range

$220,000 - $330,000 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:

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 .

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Anduril Industries’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.