Deputy Chief Engineer, Discovery

Anduril • Columbia, CA

18h • Onsite

About The Position

Discovery is Anduril's team for the hard concepts: the ones that are not yet proven or built. We take the newest and hardest problems across space, missiles, air, sensors, autonomy, and cyber, decide what is worth building, and prove it out: we build the models, break the assumptions, run the tests, and carry what works to the point where a program can pick it up. We work with hardware and software engineering teams across the company, driving cross-functional collaboration across different business lines.

We are building an expeditionary force: a small group of engineers who want to do big, new, hard things and who move into unfamiliar territory as a matter of course. As Deputy Chief Engineer in Discovery, you lead the technical work on concepts nobody has proven, usually several at once. You learn whatever domain each one lives in and build the thing that tests it: the prototype, the test article, the demonstration. Analysis gets a concept to the point where it is worth building; building it is how we find out. You are the technical authority for the concepts you own: you set the approach, review the work, and decide, on the evidence, which concepts continue and which stop. The problems change; the approach does not: reason from first principles, build it, test it, and reach a solution. You are not hired for a particular skill set. You are hired for a record of building things: taking a concept from an idea to hardware or software that works, across different areas, and getting to solutions. You are also the adversary to our own ideas. The rigor that validates a good concept is the same rigor that kills a bad one early, while it is still cheap, and you apply it to your own work first. This is a hands-on technical leadership role on both internally and externally funded programs within Anduril's Discovery Business Line, on operationally relevant timelines.

Requirements

• Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Top Secret security clearance
• Demonstrated experience working in more than one technical area
• You have done things: designed, built, tested, or fielded something real, in any field
• Proficiency in at least one physics-math scripting environment (Python with numpy/scipy, MATLAB/Simulink, Julia, or similar)
• Strong written, verbal, and visual communication

Nice To Haves

• 12+ years in a relevant science/engineering field
• Math, physics, or engineering degree, or similar
• Proficiency with AI tools (coding assistants, agents, model-driven research) in day-to-day engineering work, and judgment about when to trust their output
• Experience in several of: space systems, missiles and missile defense, air vehicles, GNC, sensors and sensor fusion, radar, EW, acoustics, autonomy, or similar. Breadth across these counts for more than depth in any one
• Familiarity with domain analysis tools as relevant (STK/Astrogator, AFSIM, HFSS, Fluent, or similar)

Responsibilities

• Own new concepts from first idea through analysis, prototype, and test, and drive them to a validated answer
• Learn new domains fast enough to do real work in them: read the references, build the model, check it against known results, then extend it
• Build or adapt the models, simulations, and test setups the question needs, using existing tools where they fit and building where they do not
• Pressure-test your own and others' work: hunt failure modes, surface hidden assumptions, and stress trade studies before decisions are locked in
• Use AI tools as a force multiplier for research, code, and analysis, and know when their output has to be checked against a reference
• Work shoulder to shoulder with Hardware, Software, GNC, and the other teams at Anduril, and translate results into decisions that change the design
• Communicate results to engineers, leadership, and customers, including strong visual presentation of complex data

Benefits

• Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package.
• 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 .

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree