Associate Director, Kitchen Operations - West Coast
Anduril Industries · Costa Mesa, CA
- Level
- Director+
- Team
- Production
- Experience asked
- 8+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 18 days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A director-level production role at Anduril Industries (aerospace & defense) in Costa Mesa, CA. Lead, coach, and develop F&B operations team members while building scalable processes and standards for a rapidly growing organization.
- They ask for
- 8+ years
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
- More than usual (8+ vs 5+)
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
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- 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
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Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
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- 4
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- 5
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This plant: Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa
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Full description from Anduril IndustriesAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Required qualifications
- ✓8+ years of progressive food and beverage, hospitality, corporate dining, culinary, or related operations experience.
- ✓Experience leading complex, multi-site F&B programs within large corporate campuses, production environments, hospitality, or similarly operationally complex organizations.
- ✓Strong financial acumen with experience managing P&Ls, budgets, forecasts, and vendor economics.
- ✓Experience partnering with Construction, Real Estate, Facilities, or Development teams on new construction, renovations, expansions, or major facility projects.
- ✓Ability to read and interpret architectural plans, elevations, equipment layouts, and construction documentation.
- ✓Working knowledge of MEP systems and how infrastructure decisions affect food and beverage operations.
- ✓Strong expertise in food safety, operational risk, and regulatory compliance.
- ✓Demonstrated success managing complex third-party food service and hospitality vendors.
- ✓Experience leading and developing teams in a fast-paced, rapidly growing environment.
- ✓Strong project management, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
- ✓Willingness and ability to travel frequently across a geographically distributed portfolio.
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.
About the job
The Associate Director, Kitchen Operations – West Coast will be a senior leader within the Global Food & Beverage team, responsible for operational leadership across a growing portfolio of corporate campuses, production facilities, and offices throughout the region. This role combines financial management, new campus development, construction partnership, vendor leadership, and team management. This role will lead existing food and beverage operations while owning the F&B development and effective readiness of new campuses and facilities coming online across the West Coast. This is a highly cross-functional role requiring strong business judgment, operational expertise, and the ability to move seamlessly between strategic planning and execution. Significant travel across the portfolio is expected. We are driven by our outcomes here at Anduril Industries. Do or do not, there is no try.
What you’ll do
- •Lead food and beverage operations across a diverse West Coast portfolio, driving consistency in service, quality, safety, employee experience, and financial performance.
- •Own F&B operational readiness for new campuses and facilities from planning and design through opening and stabilization.
- •Partner closely with Construction, Real Estate, Workplace, Finance, and other cross-functional teams throughout the development process.
- •Review and interpret architectural plans, elevations, equipment layouts, and construction documentation, with a working understanding of MEP infrastructure and its impact on F&B operations.
- •Identify F&B infrastructure, operational, schedule, and cost risks early and drive solutions through project completion.
- •Manage operating budgets, P&Ls, forecasts, financial analysis, and key cost drivers across assigned programs.
- •Evaluate vendor performance, commercial terms, pricing, investments, and operating results to drive accountability and financial discipline.
- •Lead strategic relationships with food service operators and other F&B partners, including performance management, contract execution, and operational improvements.
- •Ensure strong food safety, sanitation, regulatory compliance, and risk management across the portfolio.
- •Lead, coach, and develop F&B operations team members while building scalable processes and standards for a rapidly growing organization.
- •Serve as a senior escalation point for complex operational, vendor, project, and employee experience issues.
- •Establish repeatable standards and playbooks that improve the quality, efficiency, and speed of future campus openings.
- •Travel regularly across West Coast locations and to other company sites as needed.
What success looks like
Success in this role means building a scalable, high-performing West Coast F&B operation that supports rapid campus growth while maintaining strong financial discipline, operational excellence, food safety, and employee experience. The ideal candidate is a seasoned F&B operator who understands the business side of the operation, can speak confidently with construction and development teams, holds vendors accountable, and can lead both people and complex projects from concept through execution.
$132,000 — $175,000 USD
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 .
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