VP Production, Frontier Systems

Slope; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 252,000 - 382,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a Vice President of Production for the Anduril Frontier Systems (AFS) to lead production across a multi-site footprint spanning several states. You will drive production strategy, build capabilities, oversee budget, and deliver operational excellence across space, intelligence, and defense product lines.

You will shape the division's P&L, guide capital planning, and partner with R&D, sales, and engineering to bring new products to production, all while ensuring

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Operations Management, or related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership with 7-10+ years in a senior or executive role overseeing 500+ employees.
• Proven track record of leading large, complex manufacturing operations across multiple sites or locations.
• Experience managing simultaneous product ramps across multiple facilities and scaling international manufacturing operations.
• Experience across all 5 pillars of production: production planning, supply chain, manufacturing engineering, operations, and quality.
• Demonstrated ability to set and scale an operational excellence framework across a division with lean/continuous improvement.
• Direct P&L ownership in production with large budgets and capital programs.
• Executive presence and ability to influence C-suite stakeholders and shape corporate strategy.
• Experience in regulated industries a plus.

Responsibilities

• Establish and provide strategic and operational leadership across multiple production facilities, ensuring quality, cost, and delivery performance.
• Lead and build the production capabilities of a portfolio of products, balancing investment, capacity, and talent allocation across product lines.
• Partner with R&D, sales, and engineering to lead new product introduction efforts and stand up production lines and processes.
• Drive division-level production strategy, footprint decisions, make-vs-buy analyses, and capital deployment planning.
• Establish an operational excellence framework and continuous improvement culture, leveraging lean manufacturing or Six Sigma.
• Set and monitor KPIs across safety, quality, delivery, schedule, and cost across multiple sites, including international expansions.
• Build a high-performing production organization through talent development and accountability.
• Support capital planning and resource allocation for production functions across the division.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, environmental, health, and safety requirements.
• Lead capacity planning and footprint strategy, including new facilities and manufacturing technologies.
• Represent the production organization in executive, customer, and investor contexts as appropriate.
• Collaborate in a matrix environment with multiple stakeholders across the business.
• Lead workforce and location strategy to support new line stand-ups and geographic expansion.

Skills

Executive leadership

P&L ownership

Cross-functional collaboration

Lean manufacturing

Strategic planning

Operations management

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

MBA or advanced degree

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

The Vice President, Production, Anduril Frontier Systems provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for all production activities within Anduril's Frontier Systems (AFS) organization. AFS is structured as several business lines across space, intelligence, and air, missile, and ground defense. AFS products run on Lattice OS, Anduril's AI-powered command and control operating system. Encompassing production planning, supply chain, manufacturing engineering, and manufacturing operations, this role will be responsible for production across a multi-site footprint with facilities spanning Georgia, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Ohio. The VP orchestrates a portfolio of production programs across these business lines and facilities, making resource allocation tradeoffs, setting the AFS production strategy, and owning AFS's production P&L. This executive is responsible for driving operational excellence and production efficiency in the near term and building the production capabilities necessary to support AFS's and the company's long-term business objectives.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Establish and provide strategic and operational leadership across multiple production facilities - ensuring consistency in quality, cost, and delivery performance across geographies
• Lead and build the production capabilities of a portfolio of products, balancing investment, capacity, and talent allocation across product lines and production programs
• Partner with R&D, sales, and engineering teams to lead new product introduction efforts across multiple emerging product lines, developing from scratch the production lines and processes necessary to meet our customers’ requirements
• Drive division-level production strategy including facility footprint decisions, make-vs-buy analyses, capital deployment planning, and workforce sizing aligned to multi-year business forecasts. This person owns the division's production P&L
• Establish the operational excellence framework and continuous improvement culture across the division, leveraging lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies to reduce costs, improve yields, and increase throughput
• Establish and monitor KPIs across safety, quality, delivery, schedule, and cost to ensure performance targets are met across multiple production sites, including international expansions
• Build and develop a high-performing production organization through talent development and a strong culture of accountability
• Support capital planning, budgeting, and resource allocation for production functions across the division
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory, environmental, health, and safety requirements
• Lead capacity planning and footprint strategy, including evaluation of new facilities and/or manufacturing technologies
• Serve as a member of the division's senior leadership team, contributing to division and corporate strategic planning; represent the production organization in executive, customer, and investor contexts as appropriate
• Collaborate in a matrix environment with strong relationships and influence ability across multiple stakeholders across the business
• Lead workforce and location strategy, including labor market analysis, site selection criteria, and workforce sizing, to support new line stand-ups and geographic expansion

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Operations Management, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred
• 15+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience, with at least 7-10 years in a senior or executive role overseeing organizations of 500+ employees; experience in a high- or hyper-growth environment
• Proven track record of leading large, complex manufacturing operations across multiple sites or locations
• Experience managing simultaneous product ramps across multiple facilities and scaling international manufacturing operations required
• Experience across all 5 pillars of production: production planning, supply chain, manufacturing engineering, operations, and quality
• Demonstrated ability to set and scale an operational excellence framework across a division, with deep expertise in lean manufacturing and continuous improvement
• Prior experience managing large budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars and capital programs
• Excellent leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Experience in regulated industries (e.g., defense, automotive, aerospace, medical devices) a plus
• Direct P&L ownership in a production environment with demonstrated ability to manage financial performance at division scale
• Executive presence and sophisticated communication skills; proven ability to influence C-suite stakeholders, represent the production function externally, and shape corporate-level strategy

US Salary Range

$252,000 — $382,000 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.