Industrial Strategy Lead, Production Strategy and Operations
Anduril Industries· Defense· Oct 20, 2026 · 7d agoReposted 7 days ago
Costa Mesa, California, United States
In office
Full-time
Lead
$132K–$190K est.
4+ years exp
Before you apply
Ghost Signal:
Re-promoted recently, but this role has been open since February 7, 2025 — 627 days, never closed.
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 Anduril Production Strategy & Operations (PS&O)
PS&O is the strategic operations arm of Anduril's Production organization. We exist at the intersection of corporate strategy and manufacturing execution — the team that takes senior leadership's strategic priorities and turns them into operational reality. Industrial Development is one of three PS&O pillars:
Industrial Development: Production M&A thesis, upstream funnel management, review of vertical integration, production centric diligence
Industrial Integration: Post-acquisition production integration deployment to suppliers
Special Projects: High-priority, cross-cutting production initiatives ("up and out" strategic projects and "down and in" site deployments)
We are a small, high-leverage team building the playbook for scaling defense production. If you want to work on problems that matter — at the intersection of M&A, manufacturing, and national security — this is the team.
What You'll Do
You will be the production voice in Anduril's M&A process — the person who can look at an acquisition target and articulate whether it makes Anduril's production base stronger, weaker, or redundant. This is not a traditional CorpDev role. You won't be building DCFs or negotiating purchase agreements. You'll be developing the production thesis for why Anduril should (or shouldn't) acquire a company, running the production centric diligence that CorpDev doesn't have the domain expertise to execute, and ensuring that what we buy actually integrates into how we build things.
Production M&A Thesis Development: Scan the defense industrial base and work with Division leaders to evaluate acquisition targets that fill production capability gaps — vertical integration opportunities, critical supplier consolidation, or capacity expansion. Build business cases grounded in manufacturing economics (not just revenue multiples).
Diligence Leadership: Scope and lead production-focused diligence workstreams for active deals. Assess target manufacturing capabilities, production capacity, workforce quality, equipment condition, quality systems maturity, and supply chain health. Deliver clear go/no-go recommendations to CorpDev and Production leadership.
Integration Handoff: Translate diligence findings into actionable integration plans. Coordinate with Anduril’s M&A integration team on Day 0/Day 1 activities while owning the production-specific integration risks (systems cutover, supplier transition, quality system harmonization).
CorpDev Partnership: Serve as the primary PS&O interface to CorpDev throughout the deal process. You complement their financial and legal diligence with operational and production assessment — you are the person who can tell CorpDev "yes, this factory can actually scale to 10x volume" or "no, their quality system is a $5M fix."
Team Leadership: Lead a 2-person sub-team (Analyst + Production Diligence Specialist). Set diligence priorities, review work products, and develop junior team members.
What We're Looking For
4–6 years of experience in corporate development, M&A, or strategic transactions — ideally at a defense prime or industrials company (L3Harris, RTX, Northrop, GD, Textron, etc.) where you've seen acquisitions from the operating company side, not just the financial side.
Strong understanding of manufacturing operations and what makes a production facility valuable (or a liability). You don't need to be an engineer, but you need to know the right questions to ask on a plant tour.
Experience structuring and running diligence processes. You've built diligence plans, coordinated expert workstreams, and synthesized findings into decision-ready packages.
Ability to build a thesis from ambiguous inputs. Anduril's data environment is messy and the production landscape is evolving fast — you need to be comfortable with incomplete information and iterating as you learn.
Comfortable navigating cross-functional relationships — you'll work across CorpDev, supply chain, engineering, quality, and division production leadership.
Strong written and verbal communication skills. You will present to VP/SVP-level production leadership regularly.
Ideal Backgrounds (in order of preference)
CorpDev at a defense prime or diversified industrial: You've run acquisitions from inside an operating company. You understand how deals fit into a broader production strategy, not just a financial portfolio. You've done plant visits, managed integration PMOs, or assessed manufacturing synergies. This is the sweet spot.
Defense-focused PE (mid-level): Associate or VP at a fund like Veritas Capital, Carlyle's A&D group, or similar. You've done operational diligence on defense/industrial targets and understand production risk assessment. Note: this background is strong but comp expectations may be challenging.
Management consulting with M&A/operations focus: Post-MBA or equivalent from a firm with strong industrial practice (McKinsey, Bain, A&M). You've done commercial or operational diligence on manufacturing companies and want to move to the operating side.
What This Role Is Not
This is not a financial modeling role. You won't be building LBO models or running accretion/dilution analysis — CorpDev handles that.
This is not a pure strategy role. You will be on-site at target facilities, in data rooms, and on the phone with target company operations leaders.
This is not a CorpDev role that happens to sit in Production. The skillset is deliberately different — production and manufacturing expertise is what differentiates us.
US Salary Range $166,000 — $220,000 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 anduril.com .
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.
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Benefits
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