Program Manager - Air Defense

ABOUT THE TEAM

Air Defense is a high-octane, rapidly scaling business line that develops, integrates, and fields an expanding mix of mature and novel capabilities to detect and defeat UAS threats. As our business line continues to scale, our newest customer programs in the Asia-Pacific region require focused direction and ownership to rapidly mature in support of Air Defense’s operational, technical, and financial objectives.

We move fast in Air Defense and give tremendous freedom and autonomy to our new hires to assume responsibility and exercise prudent interdisciplinary judgement; when you join our team, you’re signing up to immediately make an impact in our organization.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are looking for a seasoned Program Manager to lead execution of a strategic Air Defense program. In this role, you will be responsible for the all-around execution of a program fielding integrated Air Defense solutions spanning hardware and software. You will be accountable for all aspects of Program success, including cost, schedule, and performance. You will lead an integrated, cross-functional program team to deliver capability that exceeds customer expectations. Success in this role requires a systems mindset and technical understanding with rigorous execution skills.

You must be able to deeply understand mission requirements, master technical concepts, identify key dependencies and trade-offs, assess and mitigate risks, align internal and external parties on priorities and expectations, orchestrate complex operations, and communicate clearly and consistently. You must be able to build lightweight process where required while maintaining outcome orientation and a bias toward action. We are looking for a high-agency, autonomous program owner who is excited by the prospect of driving Anduril’s Air Defense performance in this strategic region. You will also be the face of Anduril to many of our end-users and our customers, capable of articulating the capabilities and limitations of Anduril’s products at both an executive’s and a layman’s level.

In this role, you will be responsible for managing one of our most important new customer programs. You will work alongside our engineering, product, operations, and other support teams across Anduril, as well as our customer community in-country to ensure successful deployment & sustainment of Anduril capabilities. This will require an understanding of technical product capabilities as well as the ability to work cross-functionally from across time zones to bring the best of Anduril to bear for this critical customer.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Program Execution:

• Own overall program execution, meeting cost, schedule, and performance targets and exceeding customer expectations.
• Acquire an intimate understanding of program requirements and maintain open dialogue with the customer to ensure engineering efforts remain aligned to mission objectives.
• Orchestrate the deployment of Anduril capabilities through collaboration with a wide range of functional partners, including engineering, logistics, technical operations, training, and more.
• Foster a “Team of Teams” culture amongst Anduril, external customers, and third-party partners to align objectives, optimize processes, gather insight, and drive on-time execution.
• Own the delivery of contract deliverables to include developing and implementing measures of performance and effectiveness, writing technical reports, and creating user engagement roadmaps.

Team Leadership and Development:

• Build an outcome-oriented, high-performance culture within the program team that values high-trust collaboration, rigorous execution, and continuous improvement.
• Drive cross-functional alignment efforts to ensure seamless integration across engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, test and evaluation, operations, business development, and other Anduril teams.
• Proactively assess team skills and resource requirements, identifying training needs or recruitment opportunities to strengthen the team’s capabilities.

Strategic Planning:

• Collaborate with senior management to situate your program within the strategic roadmap for Anduril’s Air Defense business in the region.
• Analyze market trends, competitor activities, and customer requirements to identify growth opportunities and develop business strategies.
• Integrate engineering expenditures for your program into the strategic planning process, ensuring alignment with Air Defense’s mission, vision, and business objectives.
• Identify areas for process improvement, technology adoption, and innovation across functions to enhance overall performance and efficiency.

Financial Management:

• Ensure that engineering expenditures are managed responsibly by monitoring budgets and implementing corrective actions when necessary.
• Collaborate with finance and business development teams to develop accurate cost estimates and pricing strategies for proposals, ensuring alignment with customer expectations and internal financial targets.
• Oversee the integration of financial planning and reporting across functions, providing insights and guidance to senior management on financial performance and risks.
• Identify potential risks, cost overruns, or financial constraints, developing mitigation strategies and coordinating with stakeholders to drive successful outcomes.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Solid technical aptitude and proven ability to understand technical concepts, software development lifecycle, challenges and risks; ability to work closely and effectively with engineering teams.
• Program management experience
• Prior military or national security professional experience
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time
• Fluent in Mandarin and English
• Extensive experience living and/or working in Taiwan

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Extensive experience living and/or working in Japan, Korea, or other important defense markets in the region. Familiarity with culture, norms, and the business environment in these countries.
• Professional proficiency in regional languages such as Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, or Vietnamese
• Experience and familiarity with the US Government’s regional defense posture and policy in the Indo-Pacific region
• Direct experience leading and developing military operational planning, targeting, and fires systems and workflows, as well as familiarity with doctrinal, functional, and technical command and control concepts, processes, and principles
• Familiarity with or direct experience working in partnership with regional militaries and other governmental defense organizations, with an understanding of their respective organizational structures and interests