Software Engineering Manager, Simulation Platforms (Active TS Clearance)

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity incentives

Competitive benefits

Strong project impact in defense tech

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a senior engineering leader to grow and scale the Air Dominance & Strike team in Costa Mesa, CA. You will partner with the Chief Engineer to set technical direction, modernize simulation architectures, and own execution across defense programs.

The role requires a strong background in software development, leadership over large teams, and experience in secure or classified environments, with collaboration across government contracts and BD teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience managing software engineering teams.
• 5+ years of hands-on software development experience with complex systems.
• Experience developing, deploying, and testing in secure, classified environments.
• Experience partnering with business development, writing technical proposals, or scoping government work.
• Proven ability to manage customer expectations and negotiate technical delivery paths.

Responsibilities

• Grow, mentor, and scale the engineering team significantly, fostering a high-performance culture.
• Partner with the Chief Engineer to define technical direction and modernize simulation architectures.
• Maintain relationships with government-owned simulation environments and defence agencies.
• Collaborate with business development to identify opportunities and lead technical proposals.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Software development

Top Secret clearance

Classified environments

Proposal & sales support

Stakeholder management

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

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‑gapped 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:

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.