← All roles

Senior Manager Development Test

Anduril· Hardware Platform : Hardware Test Operations : Enterprise Test Capabilities
Apply on company site
Costa Mesa, CA$166k - $220kfull-timePosted 3w ago

About the role

Engineering leader in Hardware Test focused on development test capabilities, environmental testing, structural testing, wind tunnel operations, and other specialized physical test disciplines. Leads a centralized team to enable fast, rigorous development and qualification testing across Anduril’s product portfolio in a fast-growing, defense-focused environment.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the Enterprise Test Capabilities organization—a centralized engineering team of development test engineers, technicians, and technical leads—providing environmental, structural, wind tunnel, and other specialized test execution, instrumentation, data acquisition, and physical test infrastructure across Anduril’s product portfolio.
  • Own and scale niche test capabilities (environmental qualification, structural loads and dynamics, wind tunnel characterization, and emerging disciplines) ensuring the organization can execute complex campaigns with speed and rigor as Anduril’s portfolio grows.
  • Manage capital equipment, lab infrastructure, calibration processes, and shared test assets, including planning, prioritization, procurement, utilization, maintenance, and long-range capability road mapping—to keep pace with program demand.
  • Drive the expansion of internal test capabilities, reducing dependency on external facilities and enabling faster design iteration, aerodynamic characterization, and product readiness.
  • Partner with program and product leaders to translate system-level validation needs into executable test strategies, resource plans, instrumentation architectures, and risk-based test campaigns.
  • Lead test architecture and readiness planning for complex hardware programs, including fixture strategy, data requirements, sensor selection, DAQ configuration, calibrated instrumentation, and post-test data review.
  • Balance competing program priorities across a matrixed, high-growth environment by allocating scarce engineering talent, lab space, instrumentation, calibrated assets, and capital equipment against the highest business-impact work.
  • Build scalable processes for test intake, prioritization, planning, execution, data delivery, calibration control, and lessons learned—replacing ad hoc “hero mode” execution with repeatable, high-velocity workflows.
  • Establish operating mechanisms for resource tracking, lab capacity, equipment utilization, calibration status, schedule risk, and program support visibility to improve decision-making across leadership teams.
  • Partner with vendors, third-party labs, facilities teams, and equipment suppliers to expand internal capability, execute capital projects and RFPs, and maintain execution independence where it matters.
  • Develop technical leaders, engineers, and technicians through career ladders, leveling expectations, mentorship, hiring, organizational design, and performance management in a fast-scaling test organization.
  • Serve as a senior technical escalation point for high-consequence development test issues, bringing cross-disciplinary experience in loads, dynamics, environmental testing, instrumentation, and systems engineering to diagnose failures and drive practical solutions.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of progressive experience in test engineering, test operations, or related hardware development disciplines within defense, aerospace, or high-reliability industries.
  • 5+ years of direct leadership and people-management experience, including building teams, managing technical leads, and scaling organizations.
  • Deep hands-on experience in environmental testing (thermal, vibration, shock), structural loads and dynamics testing, wind tunnel testing, or other specialized physical test disciplines.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage capital equipment portfolios, lab infrastructure, calibration programs, and multi-million-dollar test budgets.
  • Experience developing and executing test strategies for complex hardware systems from development through qualification.
  • Energy and passion to work at a hyper-growth startup that is aggressively disrupting the defense industry and a firm belief in Anduril’s mission.
  • Deep empathy towards internal customers—the product divisions and design engineers who rely on your test infrastructure—strongly held opinions about how to deliver high-velocity testing services, and a strong distaste for “old aerospace” paper-heavy, slow, and siloed testing methodologies.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate complex physical validation requirements into executable, high-fidelity test solutions.
  • Superb communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to manage competing divisional priorities and present technical risk, test readiness, and capability status to executive leadership and military customers.
  • Strong people management skills with the ability to lead, coach, and scale engineers and technical leaders in a matrixed, fast-paced enterprise support environment.
  • Active Top Secret (TS) security clearance. SCI eligibility preferred.

Skills

Required:environmental testingstructural loads and dynamics testingwind tunnel testingtest strategy developmentleadership and people management

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation with highly competitive equity grants included in full-time offers.
  • Comprehensive benefits package available to employees.
Last updated Sep 30, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Anduril

defense-aero-and-safetyliquid-ai-recruiting-targetsetter-30setter-30-2026-q1wing-list-2026wing-list-2026-giga-stage
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at Anduril