Chief Engineer, Advanced Air Vehicle Architect

Anduril Anduril · Defense · Costa Mesa, CA · Air Dominance & Strike : Autonomous Airpower Engineering : Chief Engineering

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company seeking a Chief Engineer, Advanced Air Vehicle Architect to lead conceptual design, applied S&T, and experimental development of advanced flight platforms. The role involves defining system architectures, integrating various components, and guiding concepts from exploration to prototype-ready designs. Requires a Bachelor's degree in a technical field and 10+ years of experience in conceptual design and system architecture for flight systems, with a strong emphasis on systems-level thinking and hands-on experience with flight hardware.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead early conceptual design of entire advanced air vehicle platforms: configuration exploration, trade studies, and performance modeling.
  2. Apply first-principles thinking across air vehicle engineering: aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, flight controls, GNC, low observables, autonomy, and mission systems to evaluate concepts.
  3. Identify and mature key scientific and technical breakthroughs for new operational capability through novel air vehicle designs.
  4. Define holistic system architectures integrating air vehicle design, mission systems, autonomy, and manufacturing from the outset.
  5. Lead cross-disciplinary trade studies and modeling to understand interactions, sensitivities, and failure modes across the entire flight system.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Systems Engineering, or related technical field
  • 10+ years direct experience in conceptual design, architecture, or advanced development of complete air vehicle platforms
  • Demonstrated experience leading conceptual design and early-phase system architecture for full aircraft or complex flight systems
  • Strong systems-level thinking across all air vehicle engineering domains
  • Hands-on experience with real flight hardware, experimentation, or test activities
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

Nice to have

  • advanced degree preferred
  • Prior experience with DOW technology development organizations (e.g., DARPA, AFRL) on advanced flight programs
  • Experience transitioning entire flight systems from early research through prototype and operational demonstration
  • Background in experimental or flight test environments, including test planning and execution for novel air vehicles
  • Experience working on advanced or classified air vehicle platforms, including low-observable or signature-constrained designs
  • Deep technical expertise in multiple core air vehicle domains (e.g., aerodynamics, flight controls, GNC, propulsion, structures, aircraft integration)
  • Demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-paced, non-traditional aerospace environments
  • Currently obtains a Top Secret level clearance or higher

What the JD emphasized

  • 10+ years direct experience in conceptual design, architecture, or advanced development of complete air vehicle platforms.
  • Demonstrated experience leading conceptual design and early-phase system architecture for full aircraft or complex flight systems.
  • Hands-on experience with real flight hardware, experimentation, or test activities.