1. What is a Project Manager at Anduril Industries?

As a Project Manager at Anduril Industries, you are at the forefront of a massive shift in the defense technology sector. Anduril Industries operates with the speed and agility of a top-tier technology company while tackling some of the most complex, high-stakes challenges in national security. Your role is the connective tissue between ambitious software development, hardware constraints, and critical defense deployments.

Your impact is direct and immediate. You will drive the execution of cutting-edge products—ranging from autonomous systems and sensor networks to the Lattice OS software platform. By bringing pure agile software methodologies into a defense domain traditionally slowed by hardware-first thinking, you are helping to revolutionize how defense contracts and systems engineering are executed.

Expect a fast-paced, highly dynamic environment where you are tasked with untangling ambiguity. You will not just track milestones; you will actively shape how engineering, product, and operations teams collaborate. This role requires a unique blend of mission-driven focus, operational rigor, and the ability to navigate a rapidly scaling organization without losing sight of the end user: the warfighter.

2. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at Anduril Industries requires a strategic focus on your past experiences and your ability to drive results in a fast-moving environment. Unlike some traditional tech companies, the evaluation here leans heavily on practical, situational leadership rather than abstract technical whiteboarding.

Behavioral and Situational Awareness – Interviewers want to know exactly how you handle real-world project friction. You will be evaluated on your ability to articulate specific situations, the actions you took, and the measurable outcomes you achieved. Strong candidates use clear, structured narratives to demonstrate their decision-making process.

Agile Delivery and Execution – You must demonstrate a deep understanding of agile software development, especially how it applies to complex systems. Evaluators look for your ability to maintain velocity, manage cross-functional dependencies, and adapt when project scopes inevitably shift.

Cross-Functional Leadership – As a Project Manager, you will interact with diverse stakeholders, from software engineers to hardware specialists and defense partners. You are evaluated on your communication clarity, your ability to influence without authority, and how effectively you resolve team conflicts or misalignments.

Mission Alignment and Culture Fit – Anduril Industries is a mission-driven defense company. Interviewers will assess your genuine interest in national security technology, your resilience in the face of ambiguity, and your readiness to operate in a high-intensity, "startup-like" environment.

3. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a Project Manager at Anduril Industries is generally straightforward but can vary in timeline depending on team availability and recruiting dynamics. It is designed to rigorously assess your practical experience and cultural fit through a series of conversational and situational interviews.

You will typically begin with a standard 30-minute phone screen with a recruiter. This call is friendly and focuses on your background, your interest in the company, and high-level alignment with the role. If successful, you will move to a video interview with the hiring manager. This round dives deeply into your resume, asking you to walk through past projects, your management style, and how you handle specific project management scenarios. Notably, this round is usually devoid of deep technical or system design questions.

The final stage is an on-site interview loop, which often consists of three to four panel interviews and a lunch session. During the on-site, you will meet with cross-functional leaders, peers, and the hiring manager again. The focus remains heavily on behavioral and situational questions, assessing how you would operate within their fast-paced, agile framework. Be prepared for the process to take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months, as scheduling multiple leaders can occasionally cause delays.

This visual timeline outlines the typical progression from the initial recruiter screen through to the final on-site loop. Use this to pace your preparation, focusing first on your high-level narrative and then drilling down into specific, STAR-formatted behavioral examples for the on-site panels. Keep in mind that while the stages are clearly defined, the time between them can sometimes fluctuate.

4. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed in your Project Manager interviews, you must understand exactly what the hiring team is looking for. The evaluation is heavily weighted toward your practical experience and your ability to navigate complex situations.

Behavioral and Situational Responses

This is the most critical evaluation area for this role at Anduril Industries. Interviewers rely almost exclusively on situational questions to gauge your competence. They want to see how you react under pressure, how you manage failure, and how you drive success. Strong performance means providing concise, highly specific examples rather than theoretical answers.

Be ready to go over:

• Conflict Resolution – How you handle disagreements between engineering teams or stakeholders.
• Managing Ambiguity – Situations where you had to deliver a project with incomplete requirements or shifting goals.
• Failure and Recovery – Honest accounts of projects that went wrong and the systemic changes you implemented afterward.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Navigating matrixed organizational structures, managing vendor or defense-contractor relationships during critical delivery phases.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to deliver a critical project but lacked the necessary resources."
• "Describe a situation where your engineering team and product team were misaligned on a deadline. How did you resolve it?"
• "What is your approach when a key stakeholder suddenly changes the project requirements mid-sprint?"

Project and Program Execution

Anduril Industries prides itself on operating like a top-tier tech company, bringing pure agile software development into the defense space. You will be evaluated on your ability to run effective agile processes, track milestones, and ensure continuous delivery without getting bogged down by traditional hardware constraints.

Be ready to go over:

• Agile Methodologies – Deep practical knowledge of sprints, backlog grooming, and velocity tracking.
• Dependency Management – Identifying and unblocking critical path items across multiple teams.
• Risk Mitigation – Proactively spotting project risks and implementing mitigation strategies before they impact delivery.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating software release cycles with hardware production timelines, scaling agile frameworks across multiple product lines.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you set up a project from scratch when the end goal is vaguely defined."
• "How do you balance the need for rapid agile software iteration with strict compliance or delivery deadlines?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to step in and rescue a project that was severely behind schedule."

Stakeholder Management and Leadership

As a Project Manager, you are the central node of communication. Interviewers will assess your ability to tailor your communication style to different audiences, from highly technical engineers to non-technical executives. Strong candidates show empathy, active listening, and the ability to hold teams accountable without being overbearing.

Be ready to go over:

• Upward Communication – How you report project status, risks, and resource needs to leadership.
• Influencing Without Authority – Getting buy-in from engineers and cross-functional partners who do not report directly to you.
• Expectation Management – Saying "no" or resetting unrealistic timelines with stakeholders.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Leading cross-functional tiger teams during critical incidents, managing external defense partner expectations.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe a time you had to deliver bad news to a senior leader regarding a project delay."
• "How do you motivate an engineering team that is burned out or resistant to a new process?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to push back on a feature request to protect the project timeline."

5. Key Responsibilities

As a Project Manager at Anduril Industries, your primary responsibility is to ensure the seamless execution of complex, cross-functional initiatives. You will act as the operational engine for your team, translating high-level product strategy into actionable sprint plans, milestones, and daily tasks. This requires constant vigilance over the project's critical path and a proactive approach to clearing roadblocks before they slow down engineering velocity.

You will collaborate closely with software engineers, hardware designers, product managers, and external stakeholders. A typical day might involve leading stand-ups to align the team, negotiating resource allocation with other department heads, and drafting concise status reports for senior leadership. You are the glue that holds disparate teams together, ensuring that pure agile software development can thrive even within the broader, often rigid context of defense systems engineering.

Beyond day-to-day execution, you will drive process improvements. Anduril Industries is scaling rapidly, and you will be expected to identify inefficiencies in how teams work together and implement new frameworks to streamline delivery. Whether you are managing the rollout of a new feature for Lattice OS or coordinating software updates for autonomous hardware, your focus will always be on speed, quality, and mission impact.

6. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a competitive candidate for the Project Manager role at Anduril Industries, you must blend technical fluency with exceptional organizational and leadership skills. The company values candidates who can operate independently and thrive in a high-ownership culture.

• Must-have skills – Deep expertise in agile project management methodologies (Scrum, Kanban). Proven ability to manage complex, cross-functional software projects from inception to delivery. Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to distill complex technical issues into clear executive summaries.
• Technical skills – Proficiency with modern project management and tracking tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Asana). A strong foundational understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
• Experience level – Typically requires 4+ years of project or program management experience, ideally within a fast-paced technology company or a forward-thinking defense contractor.
• Soft skills – High emotional intelligence, resilience under pressure, and the ability to influence stakeholders without formal authority. A strong bias for action and a problem-solving mindset.
• Nice-to-have skills – Prior experience working at the intersection of software and hardware. Familiarity with defense industry procurement, compliance, or systems engineering. A technical degree (Computer Science, Engineering) is highly valued but not strictly required if you have relevant industry experience.

7. Common Interview Questions

When preparing for your interviews, remember that Anduril Industries leans heavily on experiential, behavioral questions for this role. The questions below reflect patterns seen in actual interviews. Your goal is not to memorize answers, but to prepare a versatile toolkit of past experiences that you can adapt to these themes.

Behavioral & Past Experience

These questions test your track record, your self-awareness, and how you navigate the human elements of project management.

• Tell me about a time you led a project that failed. What did you learn?
• Describe a situation where you had to adapt quickly to a major change in project scope.
• How do you handle a team member who is consistently underperforming or missing deadlines?
• Walk me through your most complex project. What was your specific role in its success?
• Tell me about a time you had to make a critical decision with incomplete information.

Project Execution & Agile Delivery

These questions evaluate your operational rigor and your deep understanding of how to move software products across the finish line efficiently.

• How do you determine the critical path of a project when multiple dependencies exist?
• Describe your approach to backlog grooming and sprint planning.
• Tell me about a time you identified a major risk early in a project. How did you mitigate it?
• How do you balance the need for technical debt resolution with the demand for new features?
• Walk me through how you measure the success and velocity of an agile team.

Stakeholder Management & Conflict Resolution

These questions assess your ability to communicate effectively, manage expectations, and maintain alignment across diverse teams.

• Tell me about a time you had a fundamental disagreement with an engineering lead. How was it resolved?
• How do you keep senior leadership informed without overwhelming them with technical details?
• Describe a situation where you had to say "no" to an important stakeholder.
• Tell me about a time you had to align two teams that had competing priorities.
• How do you build trust with a newly formed team?

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will there be deep technical or system design questions? For the Project Manager role at Anduril Industries, the interviews generally do not include deep technical whiteboarding or system architecture questions. Unlike some FAANG Technical Program Manager (TPM) loops, the focus here is heavily on situational leadership, agile execution, and your past experiences.

Q: How long does the interview process typically take? The process can vary significantly. Some candidates complete the loop in a few weeks, while others have reported the process taking up to three months due to scheduling complexities and occasional recruiter turnover. It is important to remain patient and proactive in your communication.

Q: Do I need prior defense industry experience to be hired? No. While defense experience can be a nice-to-have, Anduril Industries highly values candidates from fast-paced, commercial tech backgrounds who can bring pure agile software methodologies into the defense space. A passion for the mission is more important than a traditional defense resume.

Q: What is the culture like for a Project Manager? The culture operates much like a high-growth tech startup. It is fast-paced, mission-driven, and demands a high degree of ownership. You will be expected to navigate ambiguity and drive results without waiting for explicit instructions.

Q: Who will I meet during the on-site loop? You will typically meet with the hiring manager, cross-functional peers (such as engineering and product leads), and occasionally senior leadership. The on-site usually consists of three to four panel-style interviews, often including a more casual lunch session to assess culture fit.

9. Other General Tips

To maximize your chances of success, keep these specific strategies in mind as you prepare for your conversations with the Anduril Industries team.

• Master the STAR Method: Because the interviews are overwhelmingly situational, structure every answer using Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Be incredibly specific about the "Action" part—interviewers want to know what you did, not just what the team did.
• Emphasize Agile Fluency: Anduril Industries is proud of applying fast, iterative software practices to the defense sector. Highlight your experience driving agile transformations, maintaining sprint discipline, and unblocking engineering teams.

• Interview the Hiring Manager: Candidate experiences indicate that team cultures can vary depending on the hiring manager. Use your time at the end of the interviews to ask probing questions about their management style, team health, and expectations to ensure it is the right fit for you.
• Prepare for Ambiguity: Be ready to discuss how you create structure out of chaos. You will score highly if you can demonstrate a calm, methodical approach to projects that lack clear initial definitions.

• Showcase Mission Passion: Technical skills are essential, but Anduril Industries is deeply mission-focused. Articulate why you care about national security and why you want to build technology that supports the defense sector.

10. Summary & Next Steps

Interviewing for a Project Manager position at Anduril Industries is a unique opportunity to join a company that is fundamentally reshaping how defense technology is built and deployed. The role demands a leader who can blend the rapid execution of a tech startup with the rigorous demands of national security systems. By mastering agile methodologies and demonstrating strong cross-functional leadership, you can position yourself as the ideal candidate to drive their most critical initiatives forward.

Your preparation should focus heavily on refining your behavioral and situational narratives. Since the interview loop prioritizes practical experience over abstract system design, your ability to clearly articulate past challenges, the actions you took, and the measurable outcomes you achieved will be your greatest asset. Approach the process with patience, knowing that while scheduling may take time, the opportunity to impact meaningful, mission-driven work is well worth the effort.

Understanding the compensation landscape is a crucial part of your preparation. The salary data provided gives you a baseline for what to expect, though actual offers will vary based on your specific experience level, your performance during the interview loop, and the exact scope of the team you are joining. Use this information to anchor your expectations and inform your eventual negotiation strategy.

You have the skills and the drive to succeed in this rigorous environment. Continue to practice your STAR responses, research Anduril Industries' latest product releases, and refine your understanding of agile execution in complex domains. For more insights, deep dives, and peer experiences, explore the additional resources available on Dataford to ensure you walk into your interviews with total confidence.