Forward Deployed Production Lead

Anduril • Costa Mesa, CA

3d

About The Position

Forward Deployed Production is a small, high-output team embedded in Anduril’s Production organization. The team tackles urgent, complex, cross-functional operational problems that cannot be resolved through the normal operating rhythm. Its mandate is to deliver hardware on time, with quality, at cost, and remove the obstacles that prevent that.

The Forward Deployed Production Lead is deployed against critical production bottlenecks, such as supplier capacity problems, manufacturing yield issues, poor-quality data, and processes that delay delivery. The role works across Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Planning, Quality, Test, and other functions on the critical path. It combines hands-on work at production sites and supplier facilities with work in enterprise and manufacturing systems.

The role owns operational problems from root cause through implemented and verified fixes, with projects focused on reducing unit cost, recovering schedule, improving yield, and increasing throughput. It also addresses the systems and processes used to track hardware, including inventory management, asset tracking, MES, ERP, and MRP. The lead uses rapid analysis and data from business systems to inform decisions, then develops scalable solutions where appropriate. The position requires leading cross-functional work, driving stakeholder accountability, and bringing structure and clear problem-solving frameworks to ambiguous situations.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of experience in manufacturing operations, production engineering, supply chain, management consulting, or another environment involving hands-on resolution of operational problems.
• Experience on a factory floor and practical understanding of how products are built, supply chains operate, and operational problems arise.
• Strong bias toward action and ability to work quickly.
• Extreme self-direction; able to identify priorities and act without waiting for instructions.
• Comfort working with hardware, physical systems, and the details of procurement, manufacturing, testing, and shipping.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to build models in Excel, retrieve data from an ERP, and quickly make clear recommendations.
• Relentless follow-through, including fixing problems, verifying solutions, and ensuring they remain fixed.
• Comfort interacting directly with senior leadership and communicating broadly across an organization.
• Willingness to receive feedback, acknowledge weaknesses, and learn quickly from mistakes.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Responsibilities

• Own operational problems end-to-end, from identifying root causes to implementing and verifying fixes.
• Work on-site where hardware is built, tested, stored, and shipped, including production floors, supplier facilities, and stockrooms.
• Lead projects that reduce unit cost, eliminate schedule delays, improve yield, or increase throughput.
• Improve hardware-tracking systems and processes, including inventory management, asset tracking, MES, ERP, and MRP.
• Conduct rapid analyses using business-system data and develop scalable solutions when warranted.
• Lead cross-functional efforts across Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Engineering, Finance, Quality, and other functions.
• Run meetings, manage action items, and follow up to drive decisions and accountability.
• Apply structured problem decomposition and first-principles thinking to turn ambiguous problems into action.

Benefits

• Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full-time offers.
• Top-tier benefits package, described as comprehensive and competitive and available at little to no cost to employees.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed