--- title: 'Mechanical Engineer, Lead at Anduril Industries' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-lead-anduril-industries-costa-mesa-b1vagg1xmne4' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-07' --- # Mechanical Engineer, Lead at Anduril Industries - **Company:** Anduril Industries - **Location:** Costa Mesa, CA - **Compensation:** $183k–$243k - **Posted:** 2026-05-26 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-07 - **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/andurilindustries/jobs/5146807007?gh_jid=5146807007 ## 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 Tactical Recon & Strike team at Anduril develops aerial small drones (Group 1-3) and all equipment to test, deploy and operate. The team is responsible for taking products like Ghost, Anvil, Bolt and Altius from concepts to operational systems. We work in close coordination with specialist teams to solve some of the hardest problems facing our customers. We are looking for software engineers, hardware engineers, roboticists, and front-end mobile developers who are excited about creating a powerful robotics platform that can be tasked and viewed in real-time through a variety of interfaces. ## ABOUT THE JOB Anduril is seeking a Mechanical Engineer, Lead to join the team at our Costa Mesa HQ. Here you will lead core product development for drones and complex systems, including but not limited to optical gimbals, batteries, mechanisms, structures, sensors and payloads. This role requires expert-level ownership of complete product integration and execution, with strategic influence across multiple teams and disciplines. The ideal candidate would be a technical leader who drives adoption of new methodologies, provides deep expertise, and sets the standard for technical excellence. High growth potential is possible as well as additional leadership opportunities. ## WHAT YOU’LL DO - Own complete integration and execution of complex products and product families from concept to full rate production - Drive the work of technical teams through technical leadership, mentorship, and strategic direction - Drive overall goals for product success through leadership and direction across disciplines - Identify needs and gaps, then define best practices and standards and deploy those broadly across the organization - Lead design reviews and drive buy-in from cross-disciplinary partners, serving as a trusted advisor - Provide technical guidance and leadership to multi-disciplinary teams, shaping project direction and ensuring alignment with organizational goals - Perform advanced hand calculations and FEA to develop, assess, and optimize designs with engineering judgment appropriate to product maturity - Build prototypes, define and execute hardware test plans, iterate on designs, and produce authoritative technical documentation summarizing results - Perform root cause investigations for hardware failures and proactively identify and resolve conflicts in both technical and programmatic challenges - Balance operational needs across vehicle subsystems while optimizing for development speed, mass, manufacturability, cost, and long-term sustainment - Lead adoption of new tools, methodologies, and manufacturing methods for step-function improvements - Mentor engineers across teams and influence organizational technical strategy - Support critical hardware demonstrations with customers as needed - Travel to test sites and vendors as needed ## REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS - 7+ years of progressive mechanical/design experience, including 3+ years in technical leadership roles managing engineering teams - Demonstrated wholistic ownership of challenging technical problems and multiple complete products or product families from concept through production - Experience scaling and shipping complex products - Expert CAD skills with exceptional quality suitable as templates and training materials - Expertise in structures, thermal management, and mechanisms, with depth in electrical integration - Proven ability to set the standard for technical work within a group - Expert in standard manufacturing methods with capability to explore adjacent fields, including designing for manufacturability and scale - Strong engineering judgment to right-size solutions based on product maturity - Demonstrated ability to understand and communicate the full picture of technical value in terms of finance, impact, and position to the business - Excellence in delivering clear, complex ideas in writing and speech through polished technical documents, reports, and presentations - Proven track record of mentoring multiple teams and driving cross-functional initiatives - Ability to drive technical work through influence and leadership, with potential to transition into people management roles - BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent work experience ## PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - Expert proficiency in Solidworks or NX, and PLM systems - Mastery of GD&T application and ability to define standards for others - Deep expertise in multiple manufacturing methods: CNC machining, composites, sheet metal, injection molding, PCBA integration, with ability to lead adoption of new methods - Exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to influence across the organization - Experience authoring responses to RFIs, proposals to customers and agencies, or white papers - Extensive experience running qualification campaigns for flight hardware - Expert-level experience designing for rugged environments - Strong understanding of electro-mechanical and electrical design concepts - Significant depth in one or two focus areas of Mechanical Engineering, building towards becoming an expert - Experience driving technological advancement towards future product families US Salary Range $183,000—$243,000 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](https://www.anduril.com/careers). 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: - Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an @anduril.com address. - 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 contact@anduril.com. - 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 contact@anduril.com. 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. ## About Anduril Industries ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: A military technology company developing AI-powered autonomous systems and software for defense and national security. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series H) - **Headquarters**: Costa Mesa, California, USA - **Founded**: 2017 - **Founders**: Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, Joe Chen, Brian Schimpf ## Core Business - Primary industry: Defense, aerospace, artificial intelligence, robotics - Target customers: Primarily B2G – U.S. Department of Defense, allied governments (e.g., UK, UAE), and border security agencies (e.g., CBP) - Mission/purpose: To accelerate the adoption of advanced technology in defense, with a focus on autonomous systems, AI-driven decision-making, and rapid production at scale. ## Products & Services - **[Lattice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries#Lattice)**: AI-powered software platform that fuses sensor data from multiple sources (Anduril and third-party) to detect, identify, and track objects in real time. Core to all Anduril systems. - **[Sentry Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries#Sentry_Tower)**: Autonomous, solar-powered surveillance tower (33ft) with cameras, radar, thermal imaging, and comms – used for border security and military base protection. - **[Ghost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries#Ghost)**: Small, portable unmanned aerial system (UAS) for reconnaissance and surveillance; used by U.S. Marines and other forces. - **Altius Family**: Tube-launched, fixed-wing UAVs (e.g., Altius 600, Altius 700M) that can be deployed from aircraft, ground vehicles, or larger UAVs. - **Fury (YFQ-44A)**: Semi-autonomous collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) developed for the U.S. Air Force’s CCA program; first flight in October 2025. - **IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System)**: Anduril took over development from Microsoft in 2025; a heads-up display/goggle system for ground soldiers. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: $61 billion (Series H, May 2026) – [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries) - **Annual Revenue**: $2 billion (2025) – [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries) - **Total Funding**: ~$12.7 billion (across all rounds, including $5B raise in May 2026) – [robotics.press](https://robotics.press/news/anduril-deep-dive/) - **Notable Investors**: Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, 8VC, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Valor Equity Partners, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital - **Notable Customers/Partners**: U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), UK Home Office, Royal Navy, Edge Group (UAE), OpenAI - **Growth Signals**: - Raised $5B in May 2026 at a $61B valuation, up from $14B in August 2024 - Constructing Arsenal-1, a $1B hyperscale manufacturing facility in Ohio, with partnerships from Ohio State University - Acquired multiple companies between 2021-2026 (Area-I, Adranos, Blue Force Technologies, Numerica, Klas, ExoAnalytic Solutions, etc.) - Won contracts for CCA development (Air Force), robotic combat vehicle software (Army), and CBP border surveillance - Took over IVAS program from Microsoft (2025) - Employees grew from ~90 in 2017 to 7,000 in 2026 ## Competitive Advantages - **Vertically integrated**: Designs, manufactures, and operates its own hardware (drones, towers, missiles) and software (Lattice), enabling rapid iteration. - **AI-first approach**: Lattice provides a common operating picture across domains, reducing decision latency in combat scenarios. - **Speed of production**: Arsenal projects aim to produce advanced autonomous systems faster than traditional defense primes. - **Government trust**: Deep relationships with DoD and allied agencies, demonstrated by multi-million-dollar contracts and classified work. - **In-person, security-focused culture**: Proximity to military bases, industrial equipment, and classified contract requirements create a unique operational moat. ## Strategic Focus - **Hyperscale manufacturing**: Build Arsenal-1 (Ohio) and subsequent “Arsenal” facilities to manufacture autonomous weapons at near-peer-competitive speed. - **Space domain**: Acquired ExoAnalytic Solutions (March 2026) to expand into space-based intelligence and surveillance. - **Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)**: Fury is a key program; competing for Air Force’s CCA Increment 1. - **International expansion**: Partnership with UAE’s Edge Group; sales to UK (Royal Navy, Home Office); plans to serve other Five Eyes and allied nations. - **AI integration**: Partnership with OpenAI to enhance defense systems; Lattice already used by Space Force for surveillance networks. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven work**: Direct impact on national security and defense technology – opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI, robotics, and autonomous systems. - **Culture**: Emphasizes in-person collaboration due to security requirements, industrial equipment, and classified programs. Offices include Costa Mesa (HQ), Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Washington D.C., London, and Sydney. - **Growth trajectory**: Company has grown from 90 employees to 7,000 in ~9 years; significant investment in new facilities and acquisitions indicates continued expansion. - **Engineering focus**: Heavy investment in software, AI, hardware, and manufacturing engineering – roles span from software engineers to aerospace engineers to production specialists. - **Notable perks/benefits**: Not detailed in public sources, but the company offers competitive compensation in a high-stakes, high-impact environment. The Ohio Arsenal-1 facility will employ many from Ohio State University’s applied science programs. ## Sources 1. [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anduril_Industries) – Wikipedia: Anduril Industries (key facts, revenue, employee count, product details, funding, acquisitions) 2. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/anduril/__qqOI0HKR47lFXorj9FAQlDfmJOqfOpDNWiW3JcO--ss) – Tracxn: Anduril company profile, funding stage, founders 3. [robotics.press](https://robotics.press/news/anduril-deep-dive/) – Robotics Press: Deep dive on valuation, revenue, total funding, employee estimate 4. [anduril.com/careers](https://www.anduril.com/careers) – Official careers page (search result summary) 5. [anduril.com/open-roles](https://www.anduril.com/open-roles) – Open roles listing ## Other roles at Anduril Industries - [Curriculum Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/curriculum-developer-anduril-industries-santa-ana-6htrphsn60v0) — Santa Ana, CA - [Program Manager, Maintenance](https://feeny.ai/job/program-manager-maintenance-anduril-industries-ashville-1yx960a04m6j) — Ashville, OH - [Growth Operations Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/growth-operations-associate-anduril-industries-costa-mesa-7gc7sar8jzw5) — Costa Mesa, CA - [Supplier Quality Engineer - Sentry](https://feeny.ai/job/supplier-quality-engineer-sentry-anduril-industries-irvine-tvr0x3ya168c) — Irvine, CA - [Senior Supplier Quality Engineer - Sentry](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-supplier-quality-engineer-sentry-anduril-industries-irvine-5befszzye81w) — Irvine, CA - [Senior Flight Test Engineer, Omen](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-flight-test-engineer-omen-anduril-industries-costa-mesa-fm2827kf0cba) — Costa Mesa, CA - [Flight Test Engineer, Omen](https://feeny.ai/job/flight-test-engineer-omen-anduril-industries-costa-mesa-hyw4vy9wrt79) — Costa Mesa, CA - [Senior Flight Test Engineer - Advanced Effects (Roadrunner)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-flight-test-engineer-advanced-effects-roadrunner-anduril-industries-y08jtpec5qct) — Costa Mesa, CA - [Mailroom Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/mailroom-specialist-anduril-industries-costa-mesa-prawmqn0hskd) — Costa Mesa, CA - [Senior Manager, Counter Intrusion](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-counter-intrusion-anduril-industries-irvine-v6nk24cjap5g) — Irvine, CA