Cognitive Systems Lead
Anduril Industries
$220,000 - $292,000 / year
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Description
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
Anduril's Maritime Division is transforming American sea power to meet the defining national security challenges of our era and secure our future of maritime dominance.
We are scaling at an historic pace, anchored by Arsenal-2, our new software-defined shipyard being built in Baltimore County, Maryland. It's part of a new $6.6 billion investment in America's submarine industrial base.
Arsenal-2 is purpose-built to break long-standing industrial bottlenecks and scale production of critical components for the Navy's Virginia-class attack submarines to support fleet requirements. At the same time, it will build the industrial muscle to field our next-generation AUVs at scale.
We aren't waiting for the new shipyard to be completed. The work on this transformation starts right now, with development inside our new 160,000 square foot Proto-Factory in Orange County, California, where the team is already laying the foundation. As the prototyping hub for Arsenal-2, this facility gives us a multi-year head start, proving out the advanced manufacturing methods, digital workflows, and quality systems that will scale across our broader shipyard network.
In Anduril's Maritime Division, we are actively building America's next decisive advantage at sea—and this is the moment to join us.
ABOUT THE JOB
You will own the Cognitive subsystem for a maritime autonomous vehicle, owning navigation and control, the vehicle management system, communications, and protective systems. Reporting to the Vehicle Systems Lead, you will set architecture for how the vehicle navigates, communicates, manages itself, and protects itself across long-range autonomous operations.
Your spectrum of support will be diverse in nature and require you to leverage your technical expertise as well as leadership skills to set objectives, build cross-functional teams, and rapidly drive to completion. The ability to leverage your intuition and prior experience will be key in making sure the right design, analysis, and test steps are completed to ensure success. The ideal candidate will leverage their experience executing and successfully completing prior highly optimized multi-disciplinary projects.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Own the Cognitive subsystem architecture: navigation and control, VMS, communications, and protective systems
- Drive GN&C design including inertial navigation, safe navigation systems, and actuation control software
- Drive Vehicle Management System design including route planning and casualty monitoring
- Own communications architecture across BLOS, LOS, and acoustic domains
- Define protective systems for vehicle survivability
- Define interfaces between cognitive subsystem and body, energy, and mission systems
- Manage subsystem schedule and cost performance across prototype, LRIP, and FRP phases
- Provide technical mentorship to engineers across cognitive disciplines
- Drive design-for-manufacturability in coordination with Production
- Represent the cognitive subsystem in technical and customer meetings
- Interface with Vehicle Systems Lead and Chief Engineer on technical decisions
- Travel up to 25% to test sites and customer locations
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or equivalent
- 8+ years of experience in GN&C, vehicle autonomy, or embedded systems for marine, aerospace, or robotic platforms
- Experience taking navigation, control, or communications systems through full product development cycles
- Demonstrated experience with navigation systems, control systems, or communications architectures
- Experience transitioning designs from prototype to production
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with autonomous underwater or surface vehicles
- Working knowledge of inertial navigation, GPS-denied navigation, or acoustic communications
- Experience with vehicle management systems or flight management systems
- Familiarity with safety-critical software and system design
- Experience in defense or maritime robotics
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:
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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.
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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.
Benefits
- stock options
About this role
At Anduril's Maritime Division, you'd lead the cognitive architecture for an autonomous vehicle program that's central to the company's effort to scale submarine and autonomous undersea vehicle production. This role sits at the intersection of navigation, vehicle management, communications, and protective systems—you'd own how the vehicle thinks, moves, talks, and defends itself across long-range operations. Reporting to the Vehicle Systems Lead, you'd set the technical direction for these interconnected subsystems while managing schedule and cost from prototype through full-rate production.
The work demands both deep technical expertise and leadership capability. You'd drive guidance, navigation, and control design; architect communications across multiple domains; define survivability features; and mentor engineers across disciplines. Success requires hands-on involvement in design, analysis, and testing, plus the judgment to know which steps matter most. You'll also spend roughly a quarter of your time at test sites and with customers, and you'll need to navigate the transition from prototype to manufacturing at scale—a capability Anduril is building in its new Proto-Factory in Orange County and the Arsenal-2 shipyard in Maryland.
This role suits someone with 8+ years in GN&C, vehicle autonomy, or embedded systems for marine, aerospace, or robotic platforms, ideally with experience shipping navigation or control systems through full product cycles. Prior work on autonomous underwater or surface vehicles, inertial navigation, GPS-denied environments, or safety-critical software is valuable. You'll need a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, robotics, or equivalent, and eligibility for a U.S. Secret security clearance. The position is full-time, in-office in Santa Ana, with a salary range of $220,000–$292,000 plus equity.
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Pay for this role
$220,000 to $292,000 per year
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