Chief of Staff, Production
Anduril Industries · Costa Mesa, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Production
- Degree
- Preferred
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 24 days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A senior production role at Anduril Industries (aerospace & defense) in Costa Mesa, CA.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree preferred
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Production Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $122k–$177k.
Median of the low and high ends of 37 live postings that list pay, out of 111 production engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 110 other live production postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $120k–$174k, from 31 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- New product launch 37%
- Lean 30%
- Root cause 27%
- Automation 24%
- Python 22%
- Team leadership 22%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at Anduril Industries
We found 2 people at this company and state: 1 in this kind of role, 1 leaders. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Aaron → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
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If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa
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Full description from Anduril IndustriesAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
About the Role
The Chief of Staff, Production is an extension of the SVP of Production, a force multiplier who increases executive leverage across a hyper-growth organization. This role exists to create the operating structure, decision clarity, and organizational follow-through that allow the SVP to operate at the altitude the business demands.
Today, the Anduril Production organization is scaling rapidly. Problems are solved quickly because senior leaders engage directly, but that model doesn't scale. The Chief of Staff will drive the transition from an organization that depends on executive participation in every thread to one where leaders own outcomes, escalations are high-quality, and the SVP focuses on the decisions only they can make.
This is a role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, structures chaos without slowing things down, and can absorb executive context fast enough to credibly represent the SVP's intent and standards. You are the glue between the SVP, the Production leadership team, and the rest of Anduril, down and in within the org, up and out across the company.
Preferred Qualifications
- ✓Bachelor's degree in a Science, Engineering, or related field; MBA or other advanced degree is a plus.
- ✓Previous success as a Chief of Staff directly supporting C-suite or SVP-level executives in defense or technology companies.
- ✓Familiarity with production environments, manufacturing operations, or hardware development lifecycles.
- ✓Experience in organizations with significant government relations or regulatory components.
$220,000 — $292,000 USD
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
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.
What You’ll Do
- •Context Management: Maintain continuity across every active thread, know what matters, what decisions were made, who owns what, and where escalation is needed. Triage the information overload that floods toward the SVP and proactively surface only what requires their direct engagement.
- •Operating Structure: Design and drive the operating cadence for the Production organization: leadership meetings, QBRs, strategic planning cycles, internal business reviews, and cross-functional touchpoints (CDR, MRR, PDR, etc.). Build follow-through, accountability, and decision hygiene, not bureaucracy.
- •Executive Filtering: Determine where the SVP must engage, where they should adjudicate, and where their directs should own resolution. Improve the quality of escalations so that when the SVP is pulled in, the issue is framed, options are clear, and a recommendation is ready.
- •Executive Extension: Represent the SVP's viewpoint credibly in internal forums, cross-functional meetings, and leadership discussions. This requires deeply internalizing the SVP's standards, priorities, and decision-making patterns, not just relaying messages.
- •Communications & Content: Own communications from the Production leadership team, all-hands content, email updates, and departmental rollouts. Create presentations for QBRs, executive meetings, and offsites. Translate complex operational realities into clear narratives.
- •Strategic Initiatives: Lead high-impact, cross-functional initiatives from scoping through execution. Drive strategic projects that don't have a natural owner but are critical to the organization's evolution.
- •External Engagement & Events: Plan and execute VIP engagements, customer visits, investor visits, department summits, and all-hands events. Own end-to-end logistics, agenda design, and content curation.
- •Organizational Development: Help leaders prepare better, escalate smarter, and own outcomes, so the organization matures from reactive to operational.
Qualifcations
- •5+ years of progressive professional experience in strategic operations, business leadership, management consulting, or directly supporting senior executives in high-growth, complex environments.
- •Demonstrated success in a Chief of Staff, or similar executive leverage role, with a track record of transforming how an organization operates, not just coordinating across it.
- •Technical or operational experience in aerospace, defense, automotive, advanced technology, or similar hardware-intensive industries.
- •Proven ability to absorb executive context rapidly, operate with incomplete information, and accurately represent senior leadership's intent and judgment to the broader organization.
- •Exceptional executive communication skills, you distill complex, ambiguous situations into clear, actionable recommendations in writing, presentations, and live conversation.
- •Track record of building operating structure around fast-moving leaders, creating scalable systems, decision hygiene, and accountability without slowing the organization down.
- •Self-driven and relentlessly proactive. You operate with high autonomy in ambiguous environments, see gaps before they become problems, and drive results without close oversight.
- •Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.
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