Chief Software Engineer, Space Ground Systems

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.

Chief Software Engineer, Space Ground Systems

ABOUT THE JOB

We are looking for a Chief Engineer to join our rapidly growing space ground systems teams in Costa Mesa, Washington DC and Colorado Springs. In this role, you will serve as the technical lead on a wide breadth of emerging developments geared towards high-impact ground C2 systems focused on Space Domain Awareness (SDA), space control, and dynamic space operations. Drawing on a strong technical background in distributed backend systems, satellite command & control architecture, and mission data processing, you will drive technology developments through design, build, test, and delivery for operational ground segments. Anduril is developing fully integrated hardware and software ground systems, including Lattice for Space Ground C2, mission planning & scheduling services, and modular backend platforms, to address growing threats in space and ensure our U.S. military and allied partners maintain a decisive advantage in this contested war-fighting domain.
The Chief Engineer will develop a technical strategy and roadmap in conjunction with the Director of Engineering for Ground Systems and the Growth/Strategy leads of the Space team that effectively leverages current Anduril technologies and newly developed technologies to serve customer mission areas. This role will address pre-award demonstrations, early contract phases, and full-contract execution. Working with a multi-disciplinary engineering team, the Chief Engineer will ensure the efficient development and delivery of backend services, operator workflows, and mission data platforms for the customer.

These efforts will include leading complex, integrated ground systems for operational mission support and demonstrations to include subcontracted teammates and strategic partnerships. The Chief Engineer will facilitate effective technical development and integration that spans company boundaries in an agile development approach within a continuous integration/continuous deployment paradigm. They will balance the development of new capabilities with the incorporation of pre-existing Anduril or industry capabilities and effectively communicate technical progress to internal and external stakeholders.

The Chief Engineer will be responsible for technical oversight of all aspects of program execution from proposals through SRR, PDR, CDR, integration testing, security accreditation, and deployment of operational ground systems into classified environments. In conjunction with the Director of Engineering for Ground Systems, they will assist in building out the necessary infrastructure to execute on all aspects of ground segment build, integration, and test—including establishing system requirements, performance criteria, and acceptance testing with external vendors and government partners. The Chief Engineer will also work closely with the Anduril Space orbital team to enable seamless space-to-ground integration and deliver end-to-end mission solutions to both the customer and broader customer ecosystems. A successful Chief Engineer in the Ground Systems business line is one that is technically broad and can serve as an effective technical oversight for all disciplines across all phases of a program lifecycle, including: backend architecture, distributed systems, microservices, telemetry processing, command & control workflows, mission planning & scheduling, state replication, cybersecurity (MLS/HAIPE), cloud/on-prem orchestration (Kubernetes), data engineering, operator user experience, system integration, security accreditation, and operational deployment.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

* Provide technical leadership and system-level expertise across ground C2 architecture, satellite TT&C systems, mission data processing pipelines, and operator workflow applications.
* Serve as the technical authority on the program and maintain the technical integrity of the program. Monitor, control, and execute the engineering baseline of the program, and act in concert with the Program Manager to ensure that technical scope is both appropriate for the mission and satisfies end-customer needs.
* Lead technical execution and architecture development for key mission areas, including Space Domain Awareness (SDA) ground processing, space control C2 systems, and dynamic RPO mission support.
* Drive the engineering lifecycle for ground segments and mission applications from early architecture trades through operational deployment into classified/air-gapped environments and mission go-live.
* Leverage strategic partnerships and teammates to build out new ground products that satisfy customer requirements in contested, denied, and multi-level secure (MLS) mission environments.
* Provide space ground systems expertise to refine and advance the Anduril Space Ground portfolio and strategy for customer engagements and demonstrations.
* Contribute technical inputs and engineering execution plans to high-priority proposals, including ground system cost estimation, technical risk assessment, and architectural trade studies.
* Provide technical mentorship and oversight to a multi-disciplinary engineering team through all phases of program execution up to and including operational mission support and sustainment.
* Perform system-level trade studies and analysis to balance risk, cost, schedule, performance, scalability, security accreditation timelines, and operational availability.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

* Demonstrated track record architecting, developing, and delivering defense/IC ground systems for satellite C2, with hands-on heritage in distributed backend architecture, mission data processing, and TT&C system integration.
* Deep domain expertise in Space Domain Awareness (SDA) ground processing, space control C2 workflows, Rendezvous & Proximity Operations (RPO) mission planning, and dynamic space operations ground support.
* Technical familiarity with satellite command & control architectures, telemetry processing pipelines (high-rate sensor data ingest), mission planning & scheduling systems, and tasking/collection management across multiple orbital regimes (LEO, GEO, cislunar).
* Strong understanding of the current technical state, mission needs, and CONOPS of key USSF and IC ground enterprise systems (e.g., LGS, NOVA/SuperNOVA, EPOCH, SDA ground infrastructure).
* Demonstrated ability to decompose complex mission requirements with competing constraints (e.g., throughput, latency, availability, modularity, cybersecurity/MLS, air-gapped deployment) into executable engineering roadmaps.
* Experience with defense ground system accreditation processes (e.g., DISA STIGs, NIST RMF, ICD 503, Cross Domain Solutions) and classified system deployment.
* Strong technical fundamentals across distributed backend systems, real-time data pipelines, state replication, mission-critical operator workflows, and rapid product development in air-gapped environments.
* Production experience building backend systems in Go, C++, Python, Rust, or Java, with proficiency in container orchestration (Kubernetes/Docker), service communication (gRPC/REST), and CI/CD—solutions must solve core problems like concurrency and distributed state management without reliance on cloud-managed service abstractions.
* Proven ability to architect systems that remain robust when deployed into air-gapped or classified environments—core problems like concurrency, state replication, and distributed orchestration must be solved with portable engineering fundamentals, not reliance on cloud-managed service abstractions.
* Strong technical communication skills, with the ability to present critical briefings, architecture trade studies, and program milestones to executive leadership and government customers.
* Proven technical leadership experience on US Government / DoD / IC space ground contracts.
* Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance (TS/SCI preferred).

US Salary Range

$220,000—$292,000 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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