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Anduril Industries

Mechanical Engineer, Drones

Costa Mesa, California, United States
Salary
$129,000 - $171,000
Level
Senior

Not stated in the posting: work type, visa.

Open. First seen 7 March 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

Anduril Industries's standard text

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

The Tactical Recon & Strike team at Anduril develops aerial small drones (Group 1-3) and all equipment to test, deploy and operate. The team is responsible for taking products like Ghost, Anvil, Bolt and Altius from concepts to operational systems. We work in close coordination with specialist teams to solve some of the hardest problems facing our customers.

We are looking for software engineers, hardware engineers, roboticists, and front-end mobile developers who are excited about creating a powerful robotics platform that can be tasked and viewed in real-time through a variety of interfaces.

ABOUT THE JOB

Anduril is seeking a Mechanical Engineer to join the team at our Costa Mesa HQ. Here you will work on core product development for drones and complex systems, including but not limited to optical gimbals, batteries, mechanisms, structures, sensors and payloads. The role requires high ownership and frequent collaboration with other core disciplines. The ideal candidate would be practical, hands-on and a self starter. High growth potential is possible as well as additional leadership opportunities.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

  • Own complex mechanical subsystems for Anduril's drone products from concept to full rate production
  • Gather requirements and work through trade studies to determine the best solution
  • Perform hand calculations and FEA to develop, assess, and optimize designs
  • Lead design reviews and obtain buy-in from other cross-disciplinary partners
  • Build prototypes, define and execute hardware test plans, iterate on designs, summarize results and lessons learned
  • Perform root cause investigations for hardware failures in development and production
  • Balance operational needs across vehicle subsystems while optimizing for development speed, mass, manufacturability, and cost
  • Support critical hardware demonstrations with customers as needed
  • Travel to test sites and vendors as needed

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • 5+ years of mechanical/design experience in a professional setting
  • Demonstrated ownership of a product from concept through production
  • CAD skills (any platform) and ability to make high quality engineering drawings that meet industry standards
  • Proficient in hands-on prototyping (machining, shop tools, welding, soldering)
  • Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals in structures, fluids, thermal, and mechanisms
  • Demonstrated project/technical leadership skills (collegiate project teams or professional settings)
  • Ability to summarize technical content in a cohesive way to help inform and shape future requirements
  • BS or MS in mechanical engineering, or equivalent work experience

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Experience in Solidworks or NX, and PLM systems
  • Solid understanding and application of GD&T
  • Advanced designing skills for CNC machining, composites, sheet metal, injection molding, PCBA integration
  • Outstanding leadership and interpersonal skills
  • Familiarity with running a qualification campaign for flight hardware
  • Familiarity with designing for rugged environments
  • Experience with electro-mechanical and electrical design concepts
  • Experience with Formula SAE, Baja SAE, Design Build Fly, etc.

US Salary Range

$129,000—$171,000 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:

Anduril Industries's standard text

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.

  • Please always verify communications:
  • Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an @anduril.com address.
  • Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to contact@anduril.com.

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 Anduril, please report it immediately to contact@anduril.com. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.

Data Privacy

To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.

By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency.

Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.

What this role asks for

In most of Anduril Industries's ads

Computer Vision

Named in most of its open postings, whatever the role.

50% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Anduril Industries's standard text, folded away below.

Read against Anduril Industries's other open postings on this site.

The team: Tactical Recon & Strike

This role is one of 38 open in Tactical Recon & Strike.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

Computer Vision (38 of 38), C++ (24 of 38), Python (20 of 38), Linux (16 of 38), Embedded Systems (15 of 38), Rust (14 of 38), Test Automation (10 of 38)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Anduril Industries's own job board.

Other openings for this role

2 open postings for this role in Costa Mesa, California, United States, first posted 7 March 2026. The company is likely hiring for more than one position. None has been taken down and posted again.

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