Program Manager (Special Projects)

Job description

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 Maritime Digital Production (MDP) is the software and digital systems function within Anduril's Heavy Metal division. We build and deploy the full technology stack that powers Anduril's shipbuilding factories: the data infrastructure that makes every machine and sensor visible in real time, the manufacturing execution system (ArsenalOS) that workers and planners use every shift, the scheduling engine that replans production in minutes instead of days, and the AI systems that eliminate manual toil from both the shop floor and business operations. MDP operates at the boundary between Operational Technology and Information Technology. Our systems live where factory-floor machines, edge compute, and OT networks meet enterprise platforms and cloud infrastructure. We incubate solutions close to the production line, validate them with real operators building real hardware, harden them for reliability and security, and then scale them across multiple sites. The environment is fast, physical, and consequential. When our systems go down, production stops. The output of our work is not a dashboard: it is a ship. This is not a support function. It is a strategic investment by Anduril in the premise that digitizing the manufacturing lifecycle end-to-end, from engineering definition through scheduling through execution through field feedback, is how Heavy Metal will out-build, out-adapt, and out-scale the traditional defense industrial base. MDP is scaling from a founding team to 70+ engineers across multiple U.S. sites. You will be joining early, working on hard problems with real operational stakes, and shaping how manufacturing software is built at Anduril from the ground up. ABOUT THE JOB As Program Manager for Special Projects/Triage, you will own the intake-to-execution lifecycle for manufacturing technology requests routed to MDP from ManTech stakeholders. You will scope work, define deliverables, coordinate execution across MDP teams, and ensure every project has explicit scope, timeline, exit criteria, and clear handoff—no open-ended engagements. WHAT YOU'LL DO • Own the intake and triage process for manufacturing technology requests from ManTech teams, evaluating requests for fit, feasibility, and alignment with MDP capabilities and priorities. • Define and maintain clear intake criteria that separate ManTech special projects from standing line-of-effort work, ensuring requests are appropriately scoped and routed. • Partner with ManTech stakeholders to understand their needs, translate ambiguous requests into well-defined project scopes with explicit deliverables, timelines, and success criteria. • Scope and structure special projects with clear boundaries—defining what is in scope, what is out of scope, required resources, dependencies, and exit criteria before work begins. • Coordinate project execution across MDP engineering teams, ensuring special projects are staffed, prioritized appropriately, and delivered on time without disrupting standing initiatives. • Drive projects from kickoff through delivery and handoff, maintaining transparency with stakeholders on status, risks, blockers, and timeline changes. • Establish and enforce governance processes that prevent scope creep, ensure accountability, and maintain discipline around project closure and handoff. • Build and maintain a portfolio view of all active special projects, tracking status, resource allocation, and capacity to take on new requests. • Facilitate kickoff meetings, status reviews, and retrospectives for special projects, ensuring clear communication and alignment across MDP and ManTech teams. • Identify patterns in incoming requests that indicate opportunities for platform capabilities, standardized solutions, or process improvements that reduce future special project volume. • Work with MDP