Chief Engineer, Autonomous Airpower

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

Chief Engineer for Autonomous Airpower at a defense technology company, focusing on the technical development and execution of large aircraft systems from concept to sustainment. This role involves leading multi-disciplinary teams, architecting product development, and ensuring the successful delivery of mission-critical DOD systems.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead technical and programmatic execution of new and existing air vehicle systems design, fabrication, test, productization and sustainment.
  2. Own the technical and programmatic success of your programs, establish technical and programmatic vision assemble teams of internal and external subject matter experts, and communicate that vision to them.
  3. Set up trades to enable the exploration of early conceptual designs while working closely with technical SME’s and Business Development teams to find the right solution to current and future gaps in the DOD capability to ensure the warfighter has the best solution for current and future conflicts.
  4. Manage the detailed design of the system and subsystems including requirements development, sub-system trades and optimization, risk management etc. to ensure the appropriate consideration of design key performance parameters, schedule, costs and risks.
  5. Coordinate the fabrication of prototype and low-rate production articles and subsystem/system level test efforts.

Skills

Required

  • Deep understanding of unmanned aircraft at and above Group 3 class
  • Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical or Software engineering, or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
  • Experience in a senior role leading air vehicle programs from initial concept through test and delivery to customers
  • Experience driving strategic direction in competitive landscapes, solving complex system optimization challenges under tight constraints.
  • Proven ability to deliver functional capabilities while aligning technical objectives with programmatic outcomes.
  • Demonstrated collaboration and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders
  • Strong understanding of the “why” behind Vehicle and Systems design.
  • Experience working on mission critical DOD systems
  • Experience troubleshooting and analyzing remotely deployed systems.
  • Travel up to 50% to Customer and Test Sites
  • Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

Nice to have

  • AI-powered operating system
  • autonomy
  • AI
  • computer vision
  • sensor fusion
  • networking technology

What the JD emphasized

  • mission critical DOD systems