Anduril
Chief Engineers, Advanced Aircraft Programs
$253K–$336K
Costa Mesa, California, United States +1 · Full-time · Posted Mar 23, 2026
- Location
- Costa Mesa, California, United States
Victorville, California, United States - Experience
- At least one aircraft program from conceptual design through a successful flight test campaign; no specific number of years stated.
- Education
- Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline (Aerospace, Mechanical preferred) or an equivalent track record of shipping complex hardware.
About the job
Lead the technical development of advanced aircraft from concept through design, build, flight test, and transition to production.
What you'll do
- Own aircraft technical baselines and lead multidisciplinary engineering teams through development, integration, and flight test.
- Make and oversee integrated technical tradeoffs across aircraft disciplines, resolving build and integration problems.
- Deliver new aircraft capabilities and platforms on rapid timelines, from concept refinement to operational demonstration.
What they ask for
- Served as Chief Engineer, Air Vehicle IPT Lead, or equivalent technical authority on at least one clean-sheet or major-variant aircraft program through a successful flight test campaign.
- Personally owned integrated technical trades across at least three of aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, GNC, or systems integration.
- Led a multidisciplinary team through first-article build, integration, and ground test, including dispositioning MRB tags and holding red-line authority.
- Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or equivalent track record of shipping complex hardware; must be able to obtain and hold a U.S. Secret security clearance.
Nice to have
- Senior technical leadership on an unmanned combat/tactical aircraft or advanced UAS program; DoD technology development experience; or rapid aircraft-development organization experience.
- Aircraft military or FAA type-certification leadership, first-flight go/no-go authority, senior military customer/CONOPS experience, domain expertise for specialized roles, or active TS/SCI clearance.
Pay
$253,000 — $336,000 USD (base salary)
Tools
Aerodynamics, Structures, Propulsion, GNC, Systems Integration, NAVAIR, FAA
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative