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Mechanical Engineer, Lead

Anduril· Tactical Recon & Strike
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Costa Mesa, CA$191k - $253kFull-timePosted 4mo ago

About the role

Lead core product development for drones and complex systems, including optical gimbals, batteries, mechanisms, structures, sensors and payloads. Own end-to-end integration from concept to production with cross-disciplinary influence.

Responsibilities

  • Own complete integration and execution of complex products and product families from concept to full rate production
  • Drive the work of technical teams through technical leadership, mentorship, and strategic direction
  • Drive overall goals for product success through leadership and direction across disciplines
  • Identify needs and gaps, then define best practices and standards and deploy those broadly across the organization
  • Lead design reviews and drive buy-in from cross-disciplinary partners, serving as a trusted advisor
  • Provide technical guidance and leadership to multi-disciplinary teams, shaping project direction and ensuring alignment with organizational goals
  • Perform advanced hand calculations and FEA to develop, assess, and optimize designs with engineering judgment appropriate to product maturity
  • Build prototypes, define and execute hardware test plans, iterate on designs, and produce authoritative technical documentation summarizing results
  • Perform root cause investigations for hardware failures and proactively identify and resolve conflicts in both technical and programmatic challenges
  • Balance operational needs across vehicle subsystems while optimizing for development speed, mass, manufacturability, cost, and long-term sustainment
  • Lead adoption of new tools, methodologies, and manufacturing methods for step-function improvements
  • Mentor engineers across teams and influence organizational technical strategy
  • Support critical hardware demonstrations with customers as needed
  • Travel to test sites and vendors as needed

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of progressive mechanical/design experience, including 3+ years in technical leadership roles managing engineering teams
  • Demonstrated wholistic ownership of challenging technical problems and multiple complete products or product families from concept through production
  • Experience scaling and shipping complex products
  • Expert CAD skills with exceptional quality suitable as templates and training materials
  • Expertise in structures, thermal management, and mechanisms, with depth in electrical integration
  • Proven ability to set the standard for technical work within a group
  • Expert in standard manufacturing methods with capability to explore adjacent fields, including designing for manufacturability and scale
  • Strong engineering judgment to right-size solutions based on product maturity
  • Demonstrated ability to understand and communicate the full picture of technical value in terms of finance, impact, and position to the business
  • Excellence in delivering clear, complex ideas in writing and speech through polished technical documents, reports, and presentations
  • Proven track record of mentoring multiple teams and driving cross-functional initiatives
  • Ability to drive technical work through influence and leadership, with potential to transition into people management roles
  • BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent work experience

Skills

Required:Mechanical design leadershipCAD (SolidWorks or NX)Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

Benefits

  • Comprehensive, competitive benefits package (health, recovery, and more) available at little to no cost to employees
  • Top-tier benefits for full-time employees
  • Equity grants included in the majority of full-time offers
Last updated Jul 8, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Anduril

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Company profileWebsite

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