Senior Project Manager, Manufacturing Development, Space

ABOUT THE TEAM  

The Manufacturing Development team defines the ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Why’ and ‘How’ for manufacturing, from new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI) to manufacturing operations. This role includes managing the rollout of MDP across multiple product lines, tracking project progress and risks, developing and deploying business processes and templates, and championing best practices across global manufacturing engineering teams. 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. 

ABOUT THE JOB

 
Anduril’s Manufacturing Development team is seeking a Senior Manufacturing Development Project Manager to grow and implement the Manufacturing Development Process (MDP) – a comprehensive framework that enables Manufacturing Engineering teams to pull production readiness to the left and produce effectively at scale. This role will support highly complex products within our Space Business Line that are being built at Anduril for the first time ever. If you are excited to distill Anduril’s vision for manufacturing into actionable initiatives and deploy them across products, teams, and sites, then this role is for you.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Introduce the MDP framework to a diverse set of stakeholders within the Space Business Line, including Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, Technical Program Management, and Production Program Management. Socialize the business process and accompanying resources with cross-functional partners, including Supply Chain, Configuration Management, Quality, and more.
• Lead Manufacturing Engineering teams through MDP rollout and implementation for a highly complex space vehicle. Create and maintain an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) aligning manufacturing milestones across program schedules for 5-7 product lines and functional teams, with a strong focus on Spacecraft Assembly, Integration, & Test (AI&T). 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. Identify and execute tailored communication strategies to match stakeholder interests. Build relationships, collaborate closely with cross-functional partners to deeply understand their pain points, and influence the change needed to reduce or resolve them.
• Track manufacturing readiness and associated risk over time. Articulate manufacturing readiness to diverse, cross-functional audiences. Synthesize both engineering and production information to identify and escalate manufacturing risks.
• Facilitate phase gate evaluations alongside Manufacturing Engineering teams. Shape presentation content and guide messaging to cross-functional stakeholders. Provide feedback on best practices and lessons learned to help define and share what good looks like.
• Guide the Manufacturing Engineering and Manufacturing Operations teams through each build cycle, from Concept/Prototype to Low Rate Production. Support the buildout of a development facility and the transition to a production facility. Track path to manufacturing readiness for Full Rate Production. Develop risk buydown plans and drive them to closure.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 3+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, manufacturing operations, design engineering, consulting, change management, project management, program management, or engineering transformation.
• 8+ years of experience overall in relevant domains.
• Background in spacecraft manufacturing or space vehicle integration.
• Understanding of the product lifecycle (design/development/production), as well as the purpose of each phase and its associated importance for manufacturing readiness.
• Strong business acumen together with knowledge of design engineering and manufacturing domains.
• Ability to collaborate and influence across all levels and disciplines (individual contributor to senior leadership, Program Management to Supply Chain to Design Engineering, etc.).
• Proven ability to execute operationally while also being able to step back and think strategically.
• Process thinker with a business impact mindset. A desire to learn new things without fear of jumping in.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with defining facility requirements, buildout, development, etc.
• Experience leading organizational change.
• Experience successfully taking new products and/or production systems from development to full-scale production.
• Deep knowledge of co-design/concurrent engineering, as well as manufacturing phases of the product lifecycle.