What is a Security Engineer at Anduril Industries?

As a Security Engineer at Anduril Industries, you are the primary line of defense for some of the most advanced defense technology in the world. Anduril is not a traditional software company; we build autonomous systems, sensor networks, and the Lattice OS platform that integrates them all. Your role is to ensure that these highly complex, life-critical systems are resilient against sophisticated, nation-state-level adversaries.

The impact of this position cannot be overstated. You will operate at the intersection of hardware, software, and operational deployment. Whether you are threat-modeling a new autonomous drone, securing communications for sentry towers, or ensuring the integrity of our core command-and-control software, your work directly protects the warfighter and national security interests. You are expected to be a force multiplier, embedding security into the engineering culture rather than acting as a blocker.

You can expect a fast-paced, highly mission-driven environment where ambiguity is the norm. We do not rely on standard enterprise security playbooks because our products do not fit standard molds. Candidates who thrive here are deeply technical, passionately aligned with our mission, and capable of designing bespoke testing methodologies for proprietary systems. If you are ready to tackle unprecedented security challenges at scale, this role will be the defining work of your career.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation for an Anduril interview requires a shift in mindset. We care less about your ability to recite security trivia and more about how you apply your expertise to our specific technology stack.

Technical Depth and Methodology – We evaluate your foundational understanding of product security, vulnerability assessment, and threat modeling. Interviewers want to see a structured, repeatable methodology when you are presented with a novel system, especially when bridging software and hardware boundaries.

Cross-Functional Problem Solving – Security at Anduril is highly collaborative. You will be evaluated on your ability to work with lead software and hardware engineers. We look for candidates who can communicate risks clearly to "stakeholders" who may not be security experts, and who can devise pragmatic, actionable solutions.

Mission Alignment and Culture Fit – We build technology to solve critical national security problems. We evaluate your passion for this mission, your bias for action, and your ability to operate without a highly rigid corporate structure. We want builders who take extreme ownership of their domain.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a Security Engineer at Anduril is typically a rigorous, five-step journey designed to test your technical mettle and your ability to integrate with our engineering teams. You will start with a recruiter screen to align on baseline qualifications, location (often our Costa Mesa, CA headquarters), and clearance eligibility. This is usually followed by an initial discussion with a hiring manager, which focuses on your background, high-level security philosophy, and mission alignment.

The core of the evaluation takes place during the technical and stakeholder rounds. You will meet with Product Security Leads who will walk you through applied testing scenarios. Uniquely, Anduril places a heavy emphasis on cross-functional interviews; you will speak directly with Lead Software Engineers (your future stakeholders) who will ask you to deep-dive into how you would test and secure their specific systems. The process concludes with a dedicated culture fit interview with a member of a separate team to ensure you align with Anduril’s core values.

For candidates invited to an onsite interview, the experience is highly engaging. We pride ourselves on a well-managed candidate experience, which often includes a comprehensive tour of our engineering facilities where you can see our hardware up close (and yes, you will likely leave with some Anduril gear).

This visual timeline outlines the progression from your initial recruiter screen through the technical deep dives and stakeholder evaluations. Use this to pace your preparation: focus on high-level methodology and past experiences for the early rounds, and pivot to highly applied, system-specific threat modeling for the stakeholder and onsite stages. Expect the technical rounds to be highly conversational rather than rigidly formatted exams.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must demonstrate competence across several distinct evaluation areas. Our interviewers are calibrated to look for practical application over theoretical knowledge.

Product Security and Applied Testing

This is the technical core of the interview. Anduril engineers build complex, non-standard systems, and we need to know that you can adapt your testing methodologies to fit them. We do not just want to hear that you would run a vulnerability scanner; we want to know how you would break our specific implementations.

Strong performance here means taking a generic testing scenario and systematically breaking it down. You should be able to identify attack vectors, propose custom test cases, and explain your tooling choices.

Be ready to go over:

• Threat Modeling – Identifying trust boundaries, data flows, and potential attack surfaces in distributed, edge-compute environments.
• Vulnerability Assessment – Methodologies for discovering flaws in both web applications (like Lattice) and embedded systems.
• Custom Test Case Generation – Designing specific exploits or test cases for proprietary, non-standard protocols.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Hardware reverse engineering, RF security, and secure boot mechanisms.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would threat model a newly deployed sensor network communicating over a mesh network."
• "If you were handed a black-box piece of proprietary hardware, what is your step-by-step methodology for testing its attack surface?"
• "Describe a generic testing scenario for an API endpoint that controls physical drone movements. What edge cases are you looking for?"

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Collaboration

Security Engineers at Anduril do not work in silos. You will frequently interact with Lead Software Engineers and Product Managers who are driving aggressive timelines. This evaluation area tests your ability to influence, communicate, and collaboratively secure systems without being a roadblock.

Interviewers will act as "stakeholders" and ask you to deep-dive into how you would test their specific systems. Strong candidates will engage eagerly, ask clarifying questions about the system architecture, and propose security measures that respect the engineering constraints.

Be ready to go over:

• Risk Communication – Translating complex security vulnerabilities into business or operational risks.
• Pragmatic Security – Finding the balance between perfect security and deploying critical capabilities to the field.
• Security Paved Roads – How you build tools or processes that make the secure way the easiest way for developers.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "I am a lead SWE building a new feature for Lattice. How would you approach testing my system without slowing down my deployment schedule?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to convince a reluctant engineering team to prioritize a critical security fix."
• "How do you handle a situation where a stakeholder disagrees with your risk assessment of a vulnerability?"

Culture and Mission Alignment

Anduril’s culture is unique. We are highly mission-focused, operate with a strong bias for action, and expect extreme ownership. The culture fit round is not a formality; it is a critical evaluation of whether you will thrive in our environment.

Strong candidates demonstrate a genuine belief in the mission of defense technology. They show resilience, adaptability, and a history of taking initiative in ambiguous situations.

Be ready to go over:

• Mission Motivation – Why you want to work in defense technology and specifically at Anduril.
• Navigating Ambiguity – Examples of executing projects where the requirements or tools were not fully defined.
• Extreme Ownership – Times you took responsibility for a failure or drove a project outside your immediate scope.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Why Anduril? What draws you to our specific mission compared to traditional tech companies?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to solve a problem where no established process existed."
• "Describe a situation where you had to quickly learn a completely new technology stack to secure a product."

Key Responsibilities

As a Security Engineer, your day-to-day work is highly dynamic. You will spend a significant portion of your time conducting deep-dive security assessments and threat models on upcoming Anduril products. This involves dissecting system architectures, identifying potential vulnerabilities, and designing bespoke test cases to validate the security posture of both our software platforms and physical assets.

Collaboration is at the heart of this role. You will partner directly with software engineering, hardware engineering, and product teams. Rather than throwing security requirements over the wall, you will sit with these teams to understand their constraints, review their code, and build security directly into the development lifecycle. You will act as a consultant to internal stakeholders, guiding them on secure design principles from the earliest stages of product ideation.

Additionally, you will drive systemic security improvements. This means developing automated testing tools, refining our internal security methodologies, and responding to emerging threats. You are expected to continuously adapt your approaches as Anduril’s technology stack evolves, ensuring that our defensive measures scale alongside our rapid product deployments.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for the Security Engineer role at Anduril, you need a blend of deep technical expertise and strong interpersonal skills. We look for builders who can operate independently and drive security initiatives across the finish line.

• Must-have skills – Deep expertise in application security, product security, and threat modeling. You must have a strong, repeatable methodology for vulnerability assessment and penetration testing. Proficiency in at least one scripting language (Python, Go, etc.) is required to automate testing and build custom tools.
• Experience level – Typically, candidates have 3 to 7+ years of experience in security engineering, product security, or offensive security roles. Experience working closely with software development teams is essential.
• Soft skills – Exceptional communication skills are non-negotiable. You must be able to clearly articulate complex security risks to non-security stakeholders and build strong, collaborative relationships with lead engineers.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience with hardware security, IoT/embedded systems, or RF security is highly valued given our product suite. Familiarity with defense industry standards or prior experience holding a U.S. security clearance is a strong plus, though not strictly required for all roles.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below are representative of what candidates face during the Anduril interview process. They are designed to test your applied knowledge rather than your ability to memorize frameworks. Use these to practice your structured thinking.

Threat Modeling & System Testing

These questions test your core technical methodology. Interviewers want to see how you break down complex, often proprietary systems.

• Walk me through your methodology for testing a system you have never seen before.
• How would you threat model a distributed command-and-control application?
• If you had limited time to assess a new hardware product before deployment, what areas would you prioritize?
• Explain how you would design test cases for a proprietary communication protocol.
• What is your approach to identifying logic flaws versus standard injection vulnerabilities?

Cross-Functional & Stakeholder Scenarios

These questions evaluate your ability to work with engineering leads and integrate security into the development process.

• How would you explain a complex vulnerability to a software engineer who does not believe it is a real risk?
• Tell me about a time you had to compromise on a security requirement to meet a critical business deadline.
• A lead engineer asks you to deep-dive into how you would test their newly built system. How do you approach this conversation?
• How do you ensure security is embedded early in the product lifecycle without slowing down development?
• Describe a time you built a tool or process that made security easier for developers.

Behavioral & Culture Fit

These questions assess your alignment with Anduril’s mission and your ability to thrive in a high-ownership environment.

• Why do you want to work in defense technology, and why Anduril specifically?
• Tell me about a time you operated in a highly ambiguous environment. How did you find clarity?
• Describe a project where you took extreme ownership, even if it fell outside your direct responsibilities.
• How do you handle situations where you are blocked by another team?
• Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn, and how did you adapt?

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult is the interview process, and how should I prepare? The difficulty is generally rated as average to challenging, but it is highly applied. You should spend your preparation time refining your threat modeling methodologies and practicing how to communicate your testing strategies clearly. Do not just study generic security trivia; prepare to discuss how you would test complex, real-world systems.

Q: What differentiates a successful candidate from an unsuccessful one? Successful candidates treat the interviews as collaborative working sessions. When asked to deep-dive into testing a system by a stakeholder, they eagerly apply their methodology, ask insightful questions about the architecture, and propose practical solutions. Unsuccessful candidates often give generic answers or seem hesitant to share their specific testing methodologies.

Q: I felt like the interviewer was "phishing" for my test cases. Is this normal? Yes, this is a core part of our evaluation. Because our systems are highly proprietary and complex, we need to see exactly how you think. Interviewers will push you to deep-dive into your methodologies and specific test cases to ensure you can apply your skills to Anduril’s unique challenges. We are evaluating your practical expertise, not just theoretical knowledge.

Q: What is the onsite experience like? Our onsite interviews are designed to be engaging and well-managed. If you interview at our Costa Mesa headquarters, you will typically receive a comprehensive tour of the facility to see the hardware and autonomous systems you will be protecting. Expect a fast-paced day, but also expect to be treated well and given the opportunity to ask deep questions about our technology.

Q: How important is mission alignment? It is critical. Anduril is fundamentally a mission-driven company focused on national security. If you are not genuinely passionate about protecting the warfighter and advancing defense technology, you will likely struggle in the culture fit rounds.

Other General Tips

• Defend Your Methodology: You will be pushed to explain why you chose a specific testing approach. Be confident in your methodology, but remain open to new information about the system architecture.
• Ask Clarifying Questions: When given a generic testing scenario, do not jump straight into solutions. Ask questions about trust boundaries, user roles, and deployment environments to narrow down the scope.
• Speak the Language of Engineering: When talking to stakeholder interviewers (like Lead SWEs), frame your security findings in terms of system reliability, data integrity, and operational impact.

• Show Your Bias for Action: Highlight past experiences where you did not wait for permission to fix a security issue or improve a process. We value builders who take the initiative.
• Connect Everything to the Mission: Whenever possible, tie your security philosophies back to how they ultimately protect the end-user and ensure the reliability of critical defense systems.

Summary & Next Steps

Joining Anduril Industries as a Security Engineer means taking on some of the most complex and impactful security challenges in the technology sector today. You will be at the forefront of securing autonomous systems, advanced sensor networks, and the software that binds them together. This role requires a unique blend of deep technical rigor, pragmatic problem-solving, and a relentless dedication to the mission of national security.

This compensation data reflects the competitive nature of the defense technology market. When reviewing these figures, consider that total compensation at Anduril often includes significant equity components, reflecting our belief in shared ownership and long-term mission success. Your specific offer will depend heavily on your demonstrated ability to solve complex, applied security problems during the interview process.

As you prepare, focus on structuring your threat modeling methodologies and practicing how to communicate complex security concepts to cross-functional stakeholders. Embrace the deep-dive technical scenarios, and be ready to showcase your passion for building resilient systems. For further insights into technical evaluations and candidate experiences, continue exploring resources on Dataford. You have the expertise to succeed—now it is time to demonstrate how you will apply it to protect the future of defense technology.