Senior Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Strategic Defense
Anduril Industries is hiring a Senior Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Strategic Defense. It pays $191k-$254k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Anduril Industries.
Level's read on this job
- Level rates this forward deployed engineer role Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- The listed pay starts 6% above the typical forward deployed engineer posting on Level.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include Lattice OS, computer vision and software engineering.
- Level classifies it as a senior role.
- Level lists 2,500+ other open roles at Anduril Industries.
AI in this role
Deploy and support AI-powered defense systems and command-and-control software in the field as a senior forward deployed engineer.
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 Strategic Defense team at Anduril is at the forefront of incubating and maturing AI-native offerings for the integrated air and missile defense domain. We're the architects of mission autonomy and resilient mesh architectures, delivering scalable software solutions that meet some of the most urgent national security needs. By working hand-in-hand with elite teams in AI, Edge Hardware, Space Solutions, Networking, and Test Engineering we craft cutting-edge, end-to-end systems that redefine mission success for major strategic capabilities.
ABOUT THE JOB
Anduril’s Strategic Defense business line is seeking a Forward Deployed Software Engineer to join our team.
You will be responsible for deploying and supporting Anduril’s products all over the world. You will go forward with products early on in their lifecycle and work with engineering teams to iteratively improve them over time. The challenges you will encounter are innumerable and unpredictable, but you will be expected to take ownership of delivering the technical solution.
You must be both a teacher and a student, able to coach teammates on systems that you’ve gained intimate familiarity with and then transition into mastering the next system. You’ll also guide users through product employment and troubleshooting, advise account managers on how to structure an operation to ensure technical success, and communicate specific recommendations for product refinement to engineering teams.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Support military air defense projects by executing technical operations, conducting field maintenance, providing customer field support and training
- Tackle complex issues related to hardware, software, and networking in unstructured situations, driving them to resolution
- Communicate field issue status to internal and customer teams, keeping them informed.
- Support the development and implementation of comprehensive operational and logistical plans for various events
- Ensure high availability and performance of air defense systems
- Maintain support plans for hardware and software
- Assist in event planning and resource allocation, keeping key stakeholders informed about Technical Operations requirements
- Incident response root-cause analyses (RCAs) for defense systems in the field
- Conduct post-incident reviews and implement preventive measures
- Maintain up-to-date documentation
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Ability to travel to Asia Pacific region for up to one months at a time (up to 50% of the year)
- Strong engineering background from industry or school, ideally in areas/fields such as Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics
- Experience working with a variety of programming languages such as Go, Rust, or Python
- Experience working with frontend frameworks such as React or Angular
- Experience building software solutions involving significant amounts of data processing and analysis
- Ability to quickly understand and navigate complex systems and established code bases
- A desire to work on critical software that has a real-world impact
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of experience of strong problem solving in unstructured environments at the interface of hardware, software, and networking
- Fluent in Mandarin
- B.S. in computer science, or related technical field
- Network+ and Linux+ or equivalent experience preferred
- Prior military or overseas contracting experience
- Experience with Kubernetes
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:
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.
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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.
How we rate this
Senior Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Strategic Defense at Anduril Industries rates 60 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in forward deployed engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $191k
- Typical forward deployed engineer job
- $180k
This posting starts 6% above the typical forward deployed engineer job. See forward deployed engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
- Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where networking was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where field support was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where systems troubleshooting was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Computer vision, Software Engineering, Networking, Field Support, and Systems Troubleshooting. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.
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