Strategic Planning & Operations Director

Anduril; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Top-tier benefits

Health & recovery support

Job summary

Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, seeks an Associate Director of Corporate Planning & Operations for Costa Mesa, CA. You will lead strategic planning, drive headcount planning, and deliver executive-level insights to support rapid growth.

We value rigorous problem-solving, ownership, and the ability to navigate organizational hurdles. You will mentor a team and partner with cross-functional leaders to shape company strategy and execution.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategy/operating roles at high-growth tech companies.
• Proven ability to create impactful executive presentations.
• Ability to simplify complex ideas for diverse stakeholders.
• Experience hiring, ramping, and developing teams.
• Strong cross-functional leadership across finance, engineering, and executives.
• Excellent data analytics and ability to derive actionable insights.
• Ownership mindset with accountability for projects and outcomes.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Manage long-range and annual planning processes as project quarterback.
• Lead headcount planning, improve workflows, and present executive insights.
• Drive monthly/quarterly reporting with cross-functional teams and analytics.
• Tackle ambiguous questions with rigorous, independent problem solving.
• Partner with teams to drive strategic decisions and operationalize plans.
• Create high-quality executive presentations and materials.
• Lead and mentor a team in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment.

Skills

Long-range planning

Headcount planning

Executive reporting

Cross-functional leadership

Data analytics

Problem solving

Team leadership

Security clearance (U.S. Secret)

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 Corporate Planning & Operations team builds and defines how the company plans and makes operational decisions across teams, turning strategy into day-to-day execution.

We sit at the center of the business and take on high-impact, often ambiguous problems that directly affect growth, efficiency, and how the business scales. That means deep-dive analysis, process re-design, and building pragmatic solutions that make the company run better.

We work closely with senior leaders, move quickly, and focus on outcomes. This is a team for people who like solving hard problems, building and iterating, and leaving things better than they found them.

ABOUT THE JOB
The Associate Director, Corporate Planning & Operations will be based out of Costa Mesa, CAand will report directly to our Corporate Planning leader. This role will focus on tackling operational challenges facing the business, including driving our strategic planning. Given our rapid growth and the uniquely challenging problems we tackle, this role will naturally gravitate toward finding solutions and will be adept at navigating organizational hurdles. The ability to build trust quickly in a fast-paced environment and execute with high dependability is also critical to success in this role.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Manage and improve long-range, and annual planning processes. Scope the work, define work streams, and serve as the overall project quarterback.
• Lead headcount planning and operationalization — building on existing workflows to drive greater efficiency and accuracy, enhance tooling and develop more scalable solutions, and present monthly insights to Executives.
• Drive the monthly and quarterly reporting cadence with cross-functional teams. Ensure processes are sequenced appropriately, drive better content, and support with key analyses on consolidated data.
• Tackle hard, ambiguous ad-hoc questions with rigor and independence, owning projects from problem definition to execution
• Partner with cross-functional teams to drive strategic decisions by framing a problem space, evaluating potential paths, surfacing key tradeoffs, and operationalizing
• Craft and develop high-quality executive presentations and materials
• Lead and mentor a team, providing direction in a fast-paced environment with high-stakes deliverables that impact overall company rhythm

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 7+ years experience in a strategy and/or operating role at a high-growth technology company, with previous experience owning financial modeling and analyses, and executive reporting.
• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills, and the ability to build simple but impactful presentations for executive audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to translate and articulate thoughts clearly and simply across a wide range of roles (finance partners, engineering, cross functional leadership, and executives).
• History of successfully leading/managing a team including hiring, ramping, and developing talent and employing a culture of strong feedback
• Consistent track record of cross functional leadership amongst diverse individuals with different goals
• Strong proficiency in data analytics, with the ability to interpret complex datasets and extract actionable insights that support business objectives.
• Ownership mentality with a natural bias to assume responsibility. We empower our team to quickly assume high levels of responsibility and entrust them to actively own projects and shape their success.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

US Salary Range

$170,000—$215,000 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.

Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams

Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.

To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:

• No Financial Requests: Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.

• Please always verify communications:
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  • Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to [e-mail].

• Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach: If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.

• What to Do If You Suspect Fraud: Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to [e-mail]. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.

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.