Head of Operations, Air Defense

Irvine, California, United States

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

We build robots that find other robots and knock them out of the sky. At a time when air superiority can no longer be taken for granted, the Air Defense team provides mission critical capabilities to warfighters. From detection to tracking, identification, deterrence, and defeat, our family of networked sensors and effectors enables our customers to rapidly close the kill chain against a broad range of UAS threats. Working across product, engineering, sales, logistics, operations, and mission success, the Air Defense team develops, tests, deploys, and sustains the Anduril Air Defense Family of Systems (FoS) in challenging operational environments worldwide.

ABOUT THE JOB

The Head of Operations is a core member of the Air Defense Business Line leadership team, with a mandate to develop and scale the organization’s people and processes to maintain and grow our advantage as a technology-led, outcome-oriented systems integrator for the full spectrum of air defense missions.

In this role you will be responsible for all internal business operations. Your work will vary from quick-turn operational fire-fighting, to building and redesigning processes, to leading high-impact strategic projects. This role requires you to be a trusted partner to each part of the business, and to work with and support the General Manager to achieve our strategic objectives.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

  • Organizational planning and development. Partner with the General Manager and their leadership team to develop and execute strategy for organizational planning and development.
    • Implement tools and processes for generating data that can drive decisions
    • Define and track metrics for organizational health and performance
    • Design and implement governance structures, accountability mechanisms, and continuous improvement processes
    • Drive quarterly and annual planning cycles for Air Defense and prepare content for regular business reviews with the executive team and cross-functional partners
  • Cross-functional leadership. Coordinate action, align incentives, and drive accountability with supporting Divisions/Business Lines, Corporate/G&A/Functional orgs, and external Partners/Suppliers.
    • Design and implement the Air Defense organizational API, a set of tools and processes that define the cross-functional operating model
    • Partner with FP&A to track financial health against business line goals, take actions to maintain operating expenses within budget, and recommend strategies to achieve margin targets
    • Partner with Corporate Technology to build the underlying data and system infrastructure for organizational operations and knowledge management
    • Partner with Growth, Revenue Operations, and Production to monitor pipeline health, identify material changes to forecast, and ensure production schedules are aligned with customer demand
    • Partner with HR and Talent Acquisition to build out and oversee headcount planning, hiring, staffing, onboarding, professional development, and performance management infrastructure and processes
    • Partner with Growth, Communications, Design, and Marketing to ensure successful announcements (internal and external), customer events, trade shows, and new product launches
  • Project execution. Drive day-to-day operations and develop internal processes/frameworks for efficient execution across the business line.
    • Build your own independent portfolio as one of Air Defense’s key leaders, deeply diving into a set of organizational priorities that you drive as your own.
    • Bootstrap new capabilities and lead cross-functional projects, owning their end-to-end execution from initial discovery to successful resolution. Examples include pricing strategy, organizational design, competitor/market analysis, etc.
    • Generate and collect data, conduct analysis, and make recommendations to inform strategic investment decisions (e.g., at-risk hardware buys and hiring, test range/development hardware allocation, real estate/facilities, classified infrastructure, M&A, etc.)


REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

  • 8+ years of working experience in a consulting, operations, finance, technical program management, product management, or business operations role. Experience working with engineers and bringing hardware/software products to market strongly preferred.
  • Strong communication skills across a wide dynamic range, both written and verbal. Experience interfacing with company leadership and executives is a must, with a demonstrated ability to cultivate trust and facilitate meetings for and engage with executives. Demonstrated ability to translate and articulate thoughts clearly and simply across a wide range of roles (software engineers, finance partners, recruiters, cross functional leadership, and executives).
  • Strong emotional intelligence and ability to solve operational problems in a way that is both data-driven and people-centric.
  • High ownership with the horsepower to effectively manage multiple (3-5+) large projects and priorities in parallel, at a rapid pace, and report out on progress regularly.
  • Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities.
  • Solid technical aptitude and proven ability to understand technical designs, software development lifecycle, challenges and risks; ability to work closely and effectively with engineering teams.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Experience working at a technology and/or high growth company.
  • Experience working in defense or aerospace.
  • Experience working effectively in a matrix organization structure.

US Salary Range

$190,000 - $285,000 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:

  • Platinum Healthcare Benefits: For U.S. roles, we offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans at little to no cost to you.
    • For UK roles, Private Medical Insurance (PMI): Anduril will cover the full cost of the insurance premium for an employee and dependents.
    • For AUS roles, Private health plan through Bupa: Coverage is fully subsidized by Anduril.
  • Basic Life/AD&D and long-term disability insurance 100% covered by Anduril, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
  • Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a holiday hiatus in December, and highly competitive PTO plans.
  • 16 weeks of paid Caregiver & Wellness Leave to care for a family member, bond with your baby, or tend to your own medical condition.
  • Family Planning & Parenting Support: Fertility (eg, IVF, preservation), adoption, and gestational carrier coverage with additional benefits and resources to provide support from planning to parenting.
  • Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy, life coaching, and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, available to you as well.
  • A professional development stipend is available to all Andurilians.
  • Daily Meals and Provisions: For many of our offices this means breakfast, lunch and fully stocked micro-kitchens.
  • Company-funded commuter benefits available based on your region.
  • Relocation assistance (depending on role eligibility).
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan - both a traditional and Roth 401(k). (US roles only)

The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

Anduril is an equal-opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. The Anduril team is made up of incredibly talented and unique individuals, who together are disrupting industry norms by creating new paths towards the future of defense technology. All qualified applicants will be treated with respect and receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, uniform service, Veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law, including those with a criminal history, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the CA Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. We actively encourage members of recognized minorities, women, Veterans, and those with disabilities to apply, and we work to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all applicants throughout the interview process. If you are someone passionate about working on problems that have a real-world impact, we'd love to hear from you!

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

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