Level

Anduril Industries

Senior Software Engineer, Strategic Defense (Active Clearance)

Anduril Industries is hiring a Senior Software Engineer, Strategic Defense (Active Clearance) in Reston and Seattle, United States. It pays $191k-$254k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Anduril Industries.

Level's read on this job

  • On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
  • The listed pay starts 14% above the typical software engineer posting on Level.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include Lattice OS, computer vision and c.
  • Level classifies it as a senior role.
  • Level lists 2,500+ other open roles at Anduril Industries.

AI in this role

Build and scale software-defined command and control systems for AI-native defense applications requiring an active clearance.

lattice-os
computer-visioncnetworkingautonomyroboticssystems-integration

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 protects the United States and its allies from ballistic, hypersonic, and air-breathing threats. Those threats now arrive in seconds, maneuver mid-flight, and come in volleys designed to overwhelm the legacy systems meant to stop them — so we're building a software-defined command and control layer that can see, decide, and act faster than any human operator could alone. Our team spans autonomy, tracking, simulation and wargaming, hardware, systems engineering, and test and evaluation to build an accredited fire control system fielded rapidly and at scale. We are at the forefront of incubating and maturing AI-native offerings for the integrated air and missile defense domain.

ABOUT THE JOB

This application is for established coders with 8+ years of experience who will breeze through live coding interviews and it does require active clearance. 

As a Software Engineer in Strategic Defense, you will write code side-by-side with elite peers to solve a wide variety of problems involving networking, autonomy, systems integration, robotics, and more. You’ll make pragmatic engineering tradeoffs along the way to ensure Anduril products achieve a variety of desired outcomes in ambiguous situations where more is on the line than money or corporate gains. By working hand-in-hand with powerhouse teams in AI, Edge Hardware, Space Solutions, Networking, and Test Engineering you will craft cutting-edge, end-to-end systems that redefine mission success for major strategic capabilities. 

WHAT YOU’LL DO

  • Own software solutions that are deployed to customers at the edge of innovation and necessity
  • Write code to improve robust C2 products and scale mission capabilities to broaden our impact
  • Collaborate across multiple engineering teams to plan, build, and test functionality of complex systems
  • Partner with end-users to turn needs into features quickly while balancing user experience and engineering constraints
  • Travel 10 - 30% with the team to build, test, and deploy capabilities in the real world where they’re needed most

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance (or higher)
  • 8-12+ years writing production software in languages like C++, Rust, Go, or Python that real users or systems depend on
  • You've owned a feature or service end-to-end including design, implementation, deployment, and dealing with it when it breaks
  • You've debugged problems in code you didn't write and systems you didn't design
  • You're comfortable making engineering decisions with incomplete requirements and revisiting them when reality disagrees
  • You can explain technical tradeoffs to people who aren't software engineers (operators, hardware engineers, customers)

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • A desire to work on critical software that has a real-world impact
  • Exposure to robotics, distributed systems, networking, or real-time systems
  • Experience with mid and upper tier Air Defense Command and Control (C2) programs
  • Have worked where software touches physical hardware
  • Experience building software solutions involving significant amounts of data processing and analysis
  • Degree in a relevant field like Computer Science, Math, or Physics
  • Willing to travel up to 20% to Asia Pacific
US Salary Range$191,000—$254,000 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: 

 

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.

How we rate this

Senior Software Engineer, Strategic Defense (Active Clearance) at Anduril Industries rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ 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

Computer visionCNetworkingAutonomyRoboticsSystems IntegrationLattice OS

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$191k
Typical software engineer job
$168k

This posting starts 14% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
  2. Tell me about a project where c was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where networking was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where autonomy was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where robotics was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Computer vision, C, Networking, Autonomy, and Robotics. 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.
  • Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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