Chief Engineer
Anduril
Costa Mesa, CA · $253k–$336k a year · Posted October 9, 2026
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Engineering jobs in the rankings
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing pays about $294,500 a year. Across 62 open chief engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $140,500 to $254,500 and the median is $222,000. That is 33% above the median, above the middle half of those listings.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
How AI is used in this kind of work
AI use among architectural and engineering managers is little observed so far. Measured exposure for architectural and engineering managers: 3% (little observed).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
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 Maritime Division is responsible for planning and executing Anduril's product and revenue roadmap for maritime missions. Working across product, engineering, business development, logistics, and operations, the Maritime team develops, tests, deploys, and sustains the Anduril maritime capabilities in a challenging operational environment worldwide. As a leader in the Maritime Division, you must be a technical leader with the expertise to evaluate, qualify, manage, and advocate for an increasing number of sophisticated parallel pursuits. This role is crucial in ensuring that each initiative aligns with the company's strategic direction and receives the appropriate resourcing, balancing innovation with practical execution to drive the business line's success.
ABOUT THE JOB
You will lead the technical development and integration as Chief Engineer for a maritime product, from initial concept through delivery. You will work closely with program leadership, teams from other Anduril products, and third party system vendors to develop these engineering solutions so that requirements are tied to customer inputs and there is traceability to program office technical decisions.
Your spectrum of support will be diverse in nature and require you to leverage your technical expertise as well as leadership skills to set objectives, build cross-functional teams, and rapidly drive to completion. The ability to leverage your intuition and prior experience will be key in making sure the right design, analysis, and test steps are completed to ensure success. The ideal candidate will leverage their experience executing and successfully completing prior highly optimized multi-disciplinary projects.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Support early architecture definition and scoping for a new product, defining the technical approach, key requirements, and prototype design
Support the build out of development timelines with associated milestones and staffing needs
Work directly with the product team (Product Manager, EPM, Lead Systems Engineer) to ensure tactical development is executed on plan
Accountable for technical decisions and developments on the AUV
Perform initial system trades and studies on key functions, such as energy storage, vehicle control, volume and mass budget creation, and payload capacity
Lead a new team within Anduril Maritime working on development and prototyping of a new platform; defining key performance parameters and requirements and supporting SRR, PDR, and CDR
Work closely with functional leads to drive common approaches for technical development and process
Responsible for root cause corrective action process as well as case-by-case execution and implementation. Have high ownership over the reliability and lifetime performance of the AUV product and family
Technical point of contact for IRADs on AUV, consulting or delegating as required to appropriate leads
Identify opportunities for Division collaboration and commonality in design and processes
Key stakeholder for technical feasibility/impact in proposed work or capability insertion
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Deep understanding of ocean-going craft, systems engineering, product development, and overall engineering process
Experience in a senior role leading maritime programs from initial concept through test and delivery to customers
Strong understanding of the "why" behind vehicle and systems design
Experience working on mission-critical DoD systems
Proven history of delivery when presented with open-ended problems, balancing technical analysis with test and validation to move rapidly through new production design
Experience creating teams and focusing them around a common vision, leading by example and embodying high-ownership over the problem and the technical solution
Bachelor's degree in Marine, Mechanical, Electrical or Software engineering, or equivalent experience in a relevant field
Willingness to Travel 25% to customer and test sites
Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance
US Salary Range $253,000 — $336,000 USD
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:
Benefits
At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits .
Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams
Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.
To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:
No Financial Requests: Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.
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Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach: If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.
What to Do If You Suspect Fraud: Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from