Manager, Manufacturing Engineering

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 Anduril’s Manufacturing Technology, Maritime Team is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Maritime Systems. The Maritime Manufacturing Technology Team is responsible for rapidly developing and implementing manufacturing technologies and processes for cutting-edge defense hardware, including deployable static and moving surface, undersea and sea to air vehicles and scaling these products in our new manufacturing facilities. ABOUT THE JOB We are looking for a Manager of Manufacturing Engineering to lead and scale our manufacturing engineering and planning teams in Santa Ana, CA. In this role, you will define how we build complex maritime hardware, driving manufacturing strategy from component fabrication through vehicle integration and testing. You will champion robust, repeatable processes compliant with rigorous standards (such as NAVSEA), mentor engineering talent, and partner cross-functionally to transition products from R&D into high-rate production on time and within budget. WHAT YOU’LL DO • Team Leadership & Development : Lead, mentor, and task a team of manufacturing engineers and planners to achieve departmental and company goals. • Manufacturing Strategy & Scaling : Define and execute the manufacturing roadmap and qualification strategies to rapidly transition complex maritime systems from R&D to full-rate production. • Planning & Execution : Direct the creation of manufacturing plans, optimize routings in the MES (Forge), and oversee the translation of 2D/3D drawings into clear shop-floor work instructions. • BOM & Configuration Management : Own the strategy and execution for the Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBOM) and as-built configuration tracking from the EBOM. • DFX Leadership : Lead DFM, DFA, and DFT producibility assessments, driving upstream collaboration with design engineering to optimize for cost, quality, and scalability. • Continuous Improvement : Lead root-cause analysis, statistical process validations, and yield optimization to resolve production discrepancies. • Cross-Functional Alignment : Act as the primary technical interface across Design, Quality, Supply Chain, Tooling, and Operations to manage schedules, resources, and budgets. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS • 8+ years of manufacturing engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a direct leadership or managerial capacity. • Demonstrated success leading NPI teams and scaling multiple complex hardware products into high-rate production. • Deep technical foundation in mechanical assembly, electrical integration, composite fabrication, or precision machining. • Hands-on experience with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Product Data Management (PDM) software. • Proven track record using first-principles problem-solving to balance aggressive timelines, budgets, and resource allocation in a fast-paced environment. • Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline. • Direct experience in maritime, naval, or aerospace defense, with knowledge of NAVSEA or MIL-SPEC standards. • Experience with ERP systems for production and material planning. • Background in statistical process control (