Principal Engineer, Space Special Projects

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

Anduril's Space team is at the forefront of advancing national security capabilities in the space domain. Our mission is twofold: 1) develop autonomous satellite systems and space-based platforms, and 2) deliver critical ground and orbital software infrastructure at scale. We transform products and capabilities across space command and control (C2), mission management, and space operations from early concepts into fully operational systems by partnering closely with specialist engineering, operations, and production teams. Through our integrated approach, we design and deploy space software systems using advanced algorithms, distributed architectures, and resilient infrastructure—delivering reliable, mission-critical capabilities that support operators across orbital and ground-based assets. Space Systems hires software engineers and systems engineers who are excited to build across a diverse and powerful portfolio—from satellite operations software to space domain awareness platforms. Our teams contribute to highly capable autonomous space systems and ground software products that operate reliably in the most demanding mission environments, supporting the DOD and IC in defending our national interests in space.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to join our rapidly growing Space team. In this role, you will be responsible for serving as a technical lead on a wide berth of emerging developments geared towards an all-encompassing spacecraft mission focused around dynamic space operations and highly maneuverable satellites. This will include driving technology developments through design, build, test and delivery for on-orbit operations across high dV propulsion systems, optical sensor suites, closed loop guidance and navigation and systems engineering in close concert with new and legacy ground software enterprises. The Chief Engineer will develop a technical strategy and roadmap in conjunction with leadership of the business line that effectively leverages current Anduril technologies and newly developed technologies to serve the customer mission areas. This role will address pre-award demonstrations, early contract phases, and full-contract execution. The Principal Engineer, working with a multi-disciplinary engineering team, will ensure the efficient development and delivery of hardware and software solutions for the customer.

These efforts will include leading complex, integrated systems for on-orbit operations and demonstrations to include sub-contracted teammates and strategic partnerships. The Chief Engineer will need to facilitate effective technical development and integration that spans company-boundaries in an agile development approach in the context of a continuous integration/continuous deployment paradigm. They will need to balance development of new capabilities with the incorporation of several pre-existing Anduril or industry capabilities and need to effectively communicate the development status to internal and external stakeholders.

The Principal Engineer will be responsible for technical oversight of all aspects of program execution from proposals to SRR, PDR, CDR, MRR, TRR, assembly, qualification testing, and delivery of flight units for launch. The Principal Engineer in conjunction with leadership will assist in building out the necessary infrastructure for Anduril to execute on all necessary aspects a space based interceptor consisting of satellite and payload build and test to include working with external vendors for establishing test requirements and pass/fail criteria.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Provide technical expertise across multiple spacecraft subsystems and ground systems
• Leverage strategic partnerships and teammates for building out new products to satisfy customer requirements in new and challenging mission areas
• Contribute technical inputs to proposals to include engineering execution plans
• Provider oversight to a multi-disciplinary team of engineers through all phases of program execution up to and including delivery and operation of capabilities on-orbit
• Perform mission and system level trade studies and analysis to balance risk, cost, and performance

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Active U.S. Top Secret or TS/SCI clearance
• Prior technical experience supporting DoD or IC customers
• Experience in architecting, developing, and delivering defense/IC satellite and space hardware and software systems.
• Experience in high dV spacecraft, dynamic space operations, space based sensing and understand mission operations for surveillance and reconnaissance at multiple orbits.
• Understanding of the recent/current technical state of key USSF and IC space systems and mission areas
• Demonstrated ability to decompose complex systems with competing objectives (e.g., performance, schedule, openness, cybersecurity, MLS) into executable requirements and execution then delivering on those to meet government expectations
• Experience with spacecraft standards for qualification testing and acceptance testing to include the use of GEVS, SMC-S-016 (MIL-STD-1540), etc.
• Experience with US government space mission areas and associated CONOPS for successfully executing missions to enable space for the warfighter
• Design and development of space vehicle and payload architectures and detailed mission solutions to complex space domain challenges
• Strong technical communication skills, providing the ability to deliver critical technical briefings and conclusions to technical leadership, company leadership, and customers
• Strong technical fundamentals in space systems, space ground infrastructure, and product development

US Salary Range

$260,000—$345,000 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.

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