Programs Chief Engineer

As the Programs Chief Engineer, you will lead the technical vision, architecture, and execution for our Dive-XL autonomous underwater system within a major US undersea defense program. You will be responsible for defining and driving the system's architecture, technical roadmap, and overall engineering excellence. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team of high-performing engineers, ensuring that the system meets stringent performance, reliability, and mission requirements in challenging maritime environments.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Technical Leadership & Vision: Define and articulate the technical vision and strategic roadmap for the system, ensuring alignment with Anduril's broader Dive-XL Core Platform and customer needs.
• Architectural Design Authority: Serve as the ultimate technical authority for the system architecture, design decisions, and critical trade-offs across all engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, software, autonomy, acoustics, materials).
• System Integration & Performance: Oversee the end-to-end development lifecycle, from requirements definition and conceptual design through detailed design, integration, test, and deployment.
• Test & Evaluation: Define and oversee the test and evaluation strategy, including acceptance criteria, test readiness reviews, and support to customer acceptance testing.
• Technical Problem Solving: Lead the resolution of complex technical challenges, acting as a hands-on expert and guiding teams through difficult design, integration, or operational issues.
• Team Mentorship & Development: Provide technical mentorship, guidance, and critical review for engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation, excellence, and rigorous problem-solving.
• Risk and Opportunity Management: Identify, assess, and mitigate technical risks throughout the program lifecycle, developing contingency plans and advising program leadership.
• Customer & Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a primary technical point of contact for internal stakeholders, customers, and partners. Clearly communicate complex technical information, program status, and strategic direction.
• Cross-Site Coordination: Collaborate closely with the AU Chief Engineer counterpart to ensure technical alignment across program variants, share lessons learned, and maintain architectural consistency.
• Requirements Management: Ensure robust requirements decomposition, traceability, and verification plans are in place for all subsystems.
• Innovation & Research: Stay abreast of cutting-edge technologies, research, and industry trends relevant to autonomous underwater systems, incorporating best practices and innovative solutions.

To be successful in this role, you will need to have:

• 15+ years of experience in the design, development, integration, and deployment of complex autonomous systems.
• 5+ years of demonstrated experience as a Chief Engineer, Technical Director, Lead Architect, Engineering Fellow, or equivalent senior technical leadership role on a major hardware/software program.
• Proficiency in systems engineering principles, including requirements management, interface control, verification, and validation.
• Proven ability to lead and mentor highly technical, multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a US Secret Clearance.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Deep expertise across multiple AUV sub-domains, such as hydrodynamics & propulsion, power systems, underwater acoustics & communications, navigation & perception, autonomy & control, materials science & corrosion, mechanical design, software architectures, and active US Secret Clearance or higher.
• Experience with the full lifecycle of US Navy and DoD acquisition programs.
• Demonstrated understanding of the NAVSEA technology adoption processes and its application to defense acquisition, particularly as it relates to technical requirements, risk management, and program execution.
• Experience with system safety engineering practices (e.g., MIL-STD-882) and familiarity with submarine/AUV safety certification processes.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity best practices for autonomous systems.
• Expertise in AI/ML applications for AUV autonomy, perception, and decision-making.
• Experience with advanced manufacturing techniques for marine systems.