Enter a job title or keyword

Senior Manager, Manufacturing Engineering — Autonomous Airpower

Anduril


Job Location:

Costa Mesa, CA - USA

Monthly Salary: Not provided by the employer
Posted: 28 October 2026 (14 hours ago)
Application Deadline: 25 January 2027
Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Air Dominance and Strike Division is one of Andurils fastest growing most technically complex divisions. We develop and build collaborative combat aircraft missiles and the software that powers these autonomous weapons. We are scaling production of autonomous aircraft across our manufacturing facilities. Manufacturing Engineering drives process development production readiness and the transition from prototype to rate ensuring that what Design engineers create can be built reliably repeatedly and at scale.

ABOUT THE JOB

Anduril is seeking a Senior Manager of Manufacturing Engineering to lead ME strategy and execution across the Autonomous Airpower portfolio. This is not a single-program role you will be the manufacturing engineering voice across every aircraft program in the portfolio from early concept through full-rate production. You will work directly with chief engineers program managers and the growth team to shape what gets built how it gets built and whether it can be built on cost and on schedule.

You are the first person from the ME organization that program managers and growth leads turn to when evaluating emerging capabilities. You provide the manufacturing perspective on what is realistic and achievable grounding engineering ambitions in production reality. You understand every phase of the aircraft lifecycle: DFM input during design participation in design reviews prototype and first-article builds LRIP standup and the transition to full-rate production. You know what it takes to go from a clean-sheet aircraft concept to hardware rolling off a production line.

You will build and lead a team of manufacturing engineers set the technical direction for the ME organization and represent manufacturing engineering to directors and executives. This role requires someone who has lived aircraft manufacturing not managed it from a distance and who can move fluidly between a factory floor conversation and an executive review.

WHAT YOULL DO

  • Lead manufacturing engineering strategy and execution across the full Autonomous Airpower portfolio spanning multiple aircraft programs in various stages of maturity
  • Serve as the primary ME point of contact for program managers and the growth team on emerging capabilities providing early-stage assessments of manufacturability cost schedule and production feasibility
  • Partner with chief engineers and design leadership during all phases of engineering development from concept trades and DFM input through design reviews prototype builds LRIP and full-rate production
  • Build develop and lead a high-performing team of manufacturing engineers across disciplines structures mechanical systems fluid systems propulsion avionics and harnessing
  • Drive cross-functional alignment between engineering supply chain manufacturing operations program management quality and leadership to ensure production readiness across programs
  • Own the ME cost and schedule position for your portfolio developing estimates tracking execution identifying risks and presenting status to directors and executives
  • Represent manufacturing engineering in executive reviews program gate reviews and customer-facing discussions translating production realities into clear actionable information for senior leadership
  • Establish manufacturing engineering standards processes and best practices that scale across programs and production sites
  • Evaluate and advise on make-vs-buy decisions capital investments and production strategies based on deep knowledge of aircraft manufacturing capabilities and constraints
  • Drive production readiness across the portfolio MBOMs process maturity tooling readiness rate-readiness assessments ensuring programs are set up to succeed at each production milestone

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelors degree in Mechanical Aerospace Manufacturing Electrical or Industrial Engineering
  • 12 years of manufacturing engineering experience in aerospace or defense with significant time spent on aircraft programs
  • Deep hands-on knowledge of aircraft manufacturing across multiple disciplines structures/composites mechanical systems fluid systems avionics harnessing or propulsion
  • Experience across the full aircraft production lifecycle: DFM design reviews prototype/first-article builds LRIP and full-rate production
  • 5 years of experience leading and developing manufacturing engineering teams
  • Demonstrated ability to assess emerging programs and provide credible manufacturing cost schedule and feasibility inputs
  • Experience presenting manufacturing status risks and recommendations to director-level and executive audiences
  • Strong cross-functional leadership proven ability to drive alignment across engineering operations supply chain program management and business leadership
  • Experience managing manufacturing engineering budgets and cost positions across multiple programs
  • Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Experience standing up new aircraft production lines from scratch from facility planning through rate production
  • Experience working directly with growth or business development teams to shape proposals and production strategies for new aircraft programs
  • Experience with autonomous aircraft UAV or advanced air vehicle programs
  • Knowledge of EVMS earned value reporting and program control fundamentals
  • Experience with Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRL) and Manufacturing Readiness Assessments (MRA)
  • Experience working with Teamcenter SAP Oracle or similar PLM/ERP platforms
  • Masters degree in Engineering Business or related field
  • Active U.S. Secret security clearance

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 Andurils 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 youre supported in health recovery and whatever comes next.For more information Explore Our Benefits.

Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams

Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. Weve 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 @ 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 agencys authenticity by reaching out to .
  • 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 senders email domain is @ 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. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.

Data Privacy

To view Andurils candidate data privacy policy please visit 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.


Required Experience:

Senior Manager