Program Manager, Air Defense

The Air Defense team builds robots that find other robots and knock them out of the sky. At a time when air superiority can no longer be taken for granted, the Air Defense team provides mission critical capabilities to warfighters. From detection to tracking, identification, deterrence, and defeat, our family of networked sensors and effectors enables our customers to rapidly close the kill chain against a broad range of UAS threats. Working across product, engineering, business development, logistics, operations, and mission success, the Air Defense team develops, tests, deploys, and sustains the Anduril Air Defense Family of Systems in challenging operational environments worldwide.

Air Defense is a high-octane, rapidly scaling business line that develops, integrates, and fields an expanding mix of mature and novel capabilities to detect and defeat UAS threats. As our business line continues to scale, our newest emerging initiatives require focused direction and ownership to rapidly mature in support of Air Defense’s operational, technical, and financial objectives.
As an Air Defense Program Manager, you will be responsible for the execution of new, software-first Strategic C2 programs. You will be accountable for all aspects of Program success, including cost, schedule, and performance. You will lead an integrated, cross-functional program team to deliver capability that exceeds customer expectations. Success in this role requires a systems mindset and technical understanding with rigorous execution skills.
You must be able to deeply understand mission requirements, master technical concepts, identify key dependencies and trade-offs, assess and mitigate risks, align internal and external parties on priorities and expectations, orchestrate complex operations, and communicate clearly and consistently. You must be able to build lightweight process where required while maintaining outcome orientation and a bias toward action. This is not a traditional PM role; we are looking for a high-agency, autonomous program owner who is excited by the prospect of shaping how to do software program management the Anduril way. You will also be the face of Anduril to many of our end-users and our customers, capable of articulating the capabilities and limitations of Anduril’s products at both an executive’s and a layman’s level.
We move fast at Anduril and give tremendous freedom and autonomy to our new hires to assume responsibility and exercise prudent interdisciplinary judgement; when you join our team, you’re signing up to immediately make an impact in our organization.

• Program Execution:
  
  • Own overall program execution, meeting cost, schedule, and performance targets and exceeding customer expectations.
  • Acquire an intimate understanding of program requirements and maintain open dialogue with the customer to ensure engineering efforts remain aligned to mission objectives.
  • Foster a “Team of Teams” culture amongst Anduril, external customers, and industry partners to align objectives, optimize processes, gather insight, and drive on-time execution.
  Team Leadership and Development:
  
  • Build an outcome-oriented, high-performance culture within the program team that values development velocity, high-trust collaboration, rigorous execution, and continuous improvement.
  • Drive cross-functional alignment efforts to ensure seamless integration across engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, test and evaluation, operations, business development, and other Anduril teams.
  • Proactively assess team skills and resource requirements, identifying training needs or recruitment opportunities to strengthen the team’s capabilities.
  • Provide mentorship, coaching, and guidance to team members, investing in their growth and setting them up for success.
  Strategic Planning:
  
  • Collaborate with senior management to situate your program within the strategic roadmap for Anduril’s Air Defense business.
  • Analyze market trends, competitor activities, and customer requirements to identify growth opportunities and develop business strategies.
  • Integrate engineering expenditures for your program into the strategic planning process, ensuring alignment with the company's mission, vision, and budget.
  • Identify areas for process improvement, technology adoption, and innovation across functions to enhance overall performance and efficiency.
  Financial Management:
  
  • Ensure that engineering expenditures are managed responsibly by monitoring budgets and implementing corrective actions when necessary.
  • Collaborate with finance and business development teams to develop accurate cost estimates and pricing strategies for proposals, ensuring alignment with customer expectations and internal financial targets.
  • Oversee the integration of financial planning and reporting across functions, providing insights and guidance to senior management on financial performance and risks.
  • Identify potential risks, cost overruns, or financial constraints, developing mitigation strategies and coordinating with stakeholders to drive successful outcomes.

• Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, computer science, or related field preferred.
• 8+ years of proven customer-facing technical program management, preferably in the defense, national security, or aerospace domains, with a focus on C2 / Common Operating Picture (COP) Programs
• Demonstrated financial acumen and ability to manage program budgets effectively.
• Proven experience leading a team of peers to field products to real operating environments.
• Ability to work with internal and external stakeholders, across a wide range of technical comfort.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to present complex information clearly and concisely to diverse audiences.
• Must be able to obtain a Secret Clearance.
• Must be able to travel up to 50% of the time.

• Familiarity with USNORTHCOM and / or defense of the homeland mission set.
• Experience with Interagency Coordination across the US Government.
• Bias towards action: comfortable with setting and achieving goals in an amorphous environment.
• Able to obtain and hold a U.S. security clearance to TS/SCI.