Senior Project Manager, MDP

Job 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 The Manufacturing Development Process (MDP) team defines the ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Why’ and ‘How’ for Manufacturing, from new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI) to manufacturing operations. MDP is a comprehensive framework that enables Manufacturing Engineering teams to pull production readiness to the left and produce effectively at scale - highlighting key activities, deliverables, and cross-functional touchpoints to identify and escalate manufacturing risks early enough to inform engineering decisions. ABOUT THE JOB Anduril’s Manufacturing Development Process team is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Development Project Manager to expand MDP across multiple product lines varying in process, cost, and schedule complexity. This role includes introducing, tailoring, and managing the rollout of MDP to multiple Divisions and Business Lines, tracking implementation progress, product health, and manufacturing risks, and developing and deploying tailored templates and resources. As a liaison between the Manufacturing Engineering team and all of its cross-functional partners (Program Management, Design Engineering, Quality, Test, etc.), this role develops business cases for technical solutions to align all teams on the approach to production. If you are looking for a unique opportunity that is 70% project management and 30% manufacturing expertise, then this role is for you. You will bridge the gap between technical project management and production program management to improve manufacturing readiness and reduce manufacturing risk, measuring success by adoption of MDP as the playbook for production success - not by product delivery or cost avoidance. The successful candidate will have a mix of both business and technical acumen, with a strong focus on the product lifecycle and concurrent engineering principles. WHAT YOU’LL DO • Introduce the MDP framework to a diverse set of stakeholders and programs. Socialize the business process and accompanying resources with cross-functional teams, including Manufacturing Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, Design Engineering, Supply Chain, Program Management, Configuration Management, Quality, and more. • Lead Manufacturing Engineering teams through MDP rollout and implementation for their specific product line. Align manufacturing milestones with integrated program schedules, establish accountability for MDP execution, track progress, facilitate action item closure, personalize resources, and prioritize team activities and deliverables. • Communicate the importance of MDP and how it contributes to production success to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, from individual contributors to executives. Develop and deploy tailored communication strategies to match stakeholder interests when articulating manufacturing readiness to cross-functional audiences. • Create and maintain data visualization dashboards that synthesize engineering and production information to elucidate and illustrate manufacturing risks to working teams, then highlight and escalate those risks to the VP of Production, Head of Production, Chief Engineer, Head of Program Management, and other senior leaders. • Facilitate manufacturing-driven product maturity checkpoints alongside Manufacturing Engineering teams. Shape presentation content and guide messaging to cross-functional stakeholders. Build strategic business cases that highlight and communicate manufacturing risk to executive audiences, critically thinking through options and varying impacts to production to enable informed decision-making. • Create tactical resources to execute MDP beyond the business process and help define what good looks like. Balance standardization with flexibility to create structure without killing speed, fostering meaningful adoption. • Build relationships and influence change. Collaborate closely with engineers, program managers, product developers, and technicians to deeply understand their pain points, needs, and workflows. Advocate for manufacturing while recognizing the broader environment in which all of Anduril is operating. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS • 3+ years of experience in project management, program management, organizational change, manufacturing engineering, or engineering transformation. • 8+ years of experience overall in relevant domains. • Direct hardware development experience with strong business acumen. • Business process creation, development, rollout, and adoption experience. • Demonstrated ability to influence without authority and create lasting behavioral change. • Understanding of the product lifecycle (design/development/production), as well as the purpose of each phase and its associated importance for manufacturing readiness. • Bias toward action with ability to filter noise from signal in order to go after the right problems and solutions. • Proven ability to execute operationally while also being able to step back and think strategically. • Proven self-starter, accepting direction on the “what” while driving extreme ownership of the “how.” • Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS • Experience leading organizational change. • Experience successfully taking new