UAV Operator, Maneuver Dominance

Anduril Industries, Inc.; Costa Mesa (CA); Remote; USD 113,000 - 155,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a hands-on operations specialist for autonomy-enabled UAV programs. You will bridge product engineering and deployed operations, ensuring mission success in austere environments.

Expect to stand up forward deployments, support testing and customer demos, and travel up to 80% with extended deployments. Active Top Secret clearance and readiness for demanding field work are required.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on technical experience in field operations, manufacturing, or test.
• Prior military or defense contractor experience as a pilot/operator, network technician, or crew chief/maintainer (avionics, GNC, electrical).
• Demonstrated understanding of flight operations, aircraft systems, and sensors.
• Ability to solve problems at the hardware-software-operations interface for mission success.

Responsibilities

• Stand up forward-deployed operations in austere environments for combat employment of Anduril products.
• Embed within an air vehicle development program to shape and deploy reliable, effective solutions.
• Support development of vehicle autonomy through test events and customer demonstrations.

Skills

Field operations

Military/defense experience

Flight operations

Cross-functional teams

Root cause analysis

Programming basics

Networking basics

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace/mechanical or related

Tools

Python

Rust

MATLAB

Networking

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 ROLE

As a member of the Maneuver Dominance Technical Operations team, you will serve as a bridge between product engineering and deployed operations for autonomy enabled UAVs. You will practice extreme ownership of all dependencies to ensure that Anduril’s growing suite of capabilities achieve total mission success in austere, remote environments. To this end, you will be embedded within an air vehicle development program where you will leverage your operations and technical expertise to shape and deploy a solution of maximum effectiveness and reliability. Your scope will include standing up forward‑deployed operations in austere environments, ensuring the successful combat employment of Anduril products, and shaping the long‑term sustainment of these products. In addition, you will be a core participant in supporting the development of vehicle autonomy by supporting test events and customer demonstrations closer to home.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Extensive hands‑on (field operations, manufacturing, or test) technical experience
• Prior military or defense contractor experience as a manned or unmanned pilot/operator, Network technician, or Crew Chief/maintainer (Avionics, GNC, Electrical)
• Demonstrated understanding of flight operations, aircraft systems, and sensors
• Demonstrated ability to solve problems in unstructured situations at the interface of hardware, software, and operations in pursuit of mission success
• Experience working with cross‑functional engineering teams and external customers; demonstrated ability to collect differing opinions and reconcile them in order to achieve agreement on what ‘right’ looks like
• Experience performing data‑driven root cause analysis on complex systems using logs as a source of truth
• Intermediate to advanced understanding and experience for some or all of the following:
  - Computers; comfortable in a terminal environment, server management, developing or interacting with programming languages (e.g. Python, Rust, MATLAB)
  - IP Networking; Network Administration or Design, strong troubleshooting experience required
  - Radios; MANET, SATCOM, Backhual systems
• Demonstrated ability to train peers or customers on the operation of a product
• Must have prior, operationally relevant, deployment experience
• Willingness to travel up to 80% including occasional deployments for up to two months at a time
• Able to work extended hours as required
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S.Top Secret security clearance
• Able to meet health and medical requirements in advance of deployments in accordance with DFARS 252.225-7040 , DoDI 3020.41, and/or any additional requirements outlined by region or supporting force, as applicable.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering or related discipline
• Hands‑on professional experience working with developmental weapon or missile systems on manned and/or unmanned aircraft
• Experience with one or more of:
  - Autonomy; Behavior Trees, CV models, multi‑vehicle operation
  - Ground‑based air defense systems, either sensors or effectors
  - Operations and maintenance of air breathing propulsion systems
  - Aircraft or launch vehicle flight line operations
  - Munitions storage and handling controls

US Salary Range

$113,000 - $155,000 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 hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential 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 measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis 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.