What is an Operations Manager at Anduril?

As an Operations Manager at Anduril, you are at the nexus of defense technology, manufacturing, and rapid deployment. Anduril moves at an unprecedented pace to build and deliver advanced autonomous systems, sensor networks, and the Lattice OS to military and defense partners. In this role, you are the engine that ensures these complex hardware and software systems transition smoothly from development into scaled production and real-world operational environments.

Your impact on the business is immediate and tangible. You will be responsible for unblocking bottlenecks, streamlining supply chains, and ensuring that operational execution matches the ambitious timelines of the engineering and product teams. Whether you are optimizing a manufacturing line in Costa Mesa or coordinating the logistics of a new counter-UAS deployment, your work directly enables the company to meet critical national security objectives.

Expect a highly dynamic, mission-driven environment. The problems you will solve are complex, ambiguous, and require a delicate balance of strategic planning and hands-on execution. This role is not for those who prefer maintaining the status quo; it is for leaders who thrive on scaling operations, collaborating with high-performing cross-functional teams, and driving measurable results in a high-stakes industry.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at Anduril requires a strategic approach that balances your operational expertise with a deep understanding of the company's core mission. Your interviewers will be looking for a blend of execution capability, cultural alignment, and leadership.

Here are the key evaluation criteria you should focus on:

Mission Alignment & Culture Fit – Anduril is fundamentally a mission-driven defense contractor. Interviewers will heavily evaluate your intrinsic motivation to work in the defense sector and your ability to integrate seamlessly with a team of former military personnel, hyper-driven engineers, and fast-paced operators. You can demonstrate this by showing adaptability, a lack of ego, and a clear passion for the company's objectives.

Operational Excellence & Problem Solving – You must prove that you can take ambiguous, complex operational challenges and distill them into actionable, efficient processes. Interviewers will look at how you structure your approach to supply chain disruptions, production scaling, and resource allocation. Strong candidates use data to drive decisions but remain flexible when the situation on the ground changes.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management – As an Operations Manager, you will constantly interface with diverse groups, from highly technical engineering directors to military stakeholders. You are evaluated on your ability to communicate clearly, influence without direct authority, and mobilize teams toward a unified goal.

Quantitative Agility – While the role is heavily focused on leadership and process, operations inherently run on numbers. You will be evaluated on your ability to quickly parse data, calculate yields, or estimate logistical timelines on the fly. Demonstrating comfort with basic operational math will set you apart.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for an Operations Manager at Anduril is generally described as tidy, efficient, and highly focused on behavioral alignment. Your journey will typically begin with a standard recruiter screen to align on your background, compensation expectations, and basic qualifications. From there, you will move into one or more virtual interviews via Teams with a hiring manager or operations director. These initial conversations are heavily indexed on your past experiences, leadership style, and cultural fit.

If you pass the initial screens, you will be invited to an onsite interview, most commonly at the Costa Mesa, CA headquarters. The onsite loop typically consists of a full day of about five back-to-back interviews. While Anduril builds highly technical products, candidates often report that the Operations Manager loop is overwhelmingly behavioral. Interviewers will dive deep into your resume, focusing intensely on how you navigate team dynamics, resolve conflicts, and drive operational success.

Unlike some tech companies that might grill you on complex system design, Anduril relies heavily on assessing your judgment, your ability to integrate with their existing personnel, and your raw problem-solving instincts. You should also be prepared for a dedicated segment—often within one of the onsite rounds—that tests your quantitative skills through practical math and logic questions related to operations.

This visual timeline outlines the typical progression from your initial recruiter screen through to the final onsite loop. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you have your behavioral narratives locked in early, while reserving time to practice operational math scenarios before your onsite visit. Keep in mind that while the structure is standard, the specific interviewers you meet may vary depending on the product line or deployment team you are interviewing for.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Behavioral and Cultural Fit

Because Anduril operates in a high-stakes, rapid-iteration environment, cultural fit is arguably the most critical component of the interview. Interviewers, many of whom may have defense or military backgrounds, will assess whether they trust you to lead under pressure. Strong performance here means providing highly structured, ego-free answers that highlight your ability to collaborate, adapt, and drive the mission forward.

Be ready to go over:

• Conflict Resolution – How you handle disagreements with highly opinionated engineers or stakeholders.
• Adaptability – Examples of times you had to pivot operations entirely due to unforeseen circumstances.
• Mission Drive – Your personal "why" for wanting to work in defense technology.
• Cross-functional integration – Less common but highly valued is your ability to translate military or defense requirements into operational manufacturing realities.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to build a process from scratch with zero existing documentation."
• "Describe a situation where you had to push back on a senior stakeholder to ensure operational efficiency."
• "How do you handle a scenario where your team is failing to meet a critical deployment deadline?"

Operational Strategy and Execution

Your core competency as an Operations Manager is your ability to execute. Interviewers want to see that you can take a high-level strategic goal and break it down into a tactical, step-by-step operational plan. They will look for your familiarity with scaling production, managing vendors, and optimizing workflows.

Be ready to go over:

• Process Optimization – Identifying bottlenecks in a manufacturing line or deployment schedule and resolving them.
• Resource Allocation – How you prioritize limited resources across competing high-priority projects.
• Supply Chain Management – Mitigating risks when key components are delayed.
• Continuous Improvement – Specialized frameworks like Lean or Six Sigma, though practical application is valued over theoretical jargon.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would scale production of a new hardware component by 300% in six months."
• "If a critical supplier suddenly goes bankrupt, what is your immediate action plan?"
• "How do you measure the success and efficiency of an operational team?"

Quantitative and Analytical Agility

While you may have technical degrees, candidate experiences indicate that Anduril will test your operational math rather than deep engineering theory. You need to prove you can think on your feet and use numbers to make operational decisions. Strong performance involves talking through your mental math clearly and showing a logical approach to estimations.

Be ready to go over:

• Capacity Planning – Calculating throughput, yield rates, and takt times.
• Logistical Estimations – Figuring out shipping times, load capacities, or inventory turnover.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis – Rapidly comparing the financial impact of two different operational strategies.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "If a production line yields 90% usable parts and you need 1,000 finished units, how many raw units do you need to start with?"
• "Calculate the expected delivery delay if a shipping route is rerouted by 400 miles at an average speed of 50 mph, factoring in mandatory rest stops."
• "Estimate the total warehouse space required to store a month's worth of components for our drone production line."

Key Responsibilities

As an Operations Manager at Anduril, your day-to-day work revolves around turning complex hardware and software innovations into scalable, deployable realities. You will serve as the primary bridge between the engineering teams designing the products and the supply chain and manufacturing teams building them. Your goal is to ensure that operational capabilities grow in lockstep with the company's aggressive product roadmaps.

You will frequently collaborate with cross-functional partners, including hardware engineers, product managers, and defense liaisons. A significant portion of your week will be spent identifying risks in the production timeline, negotiating with vendors, and re-allocating resources to clear bottlenecks. You are expected to be hands-on; this is not a role where you simply monitor dashboards from afar. You will be on the floor, in the warehouse, or deeply embedded in deployment logistics.

Furthermore, you will drive continuous improvement initiatives. Whether it is reducing the assembly time of an autonomous drone or optimizing the inventory tracking system for field deployments, you will be expected to design, implement, and measure new processes. You will also be responsible for reporting operational metrics to senior leadership, ensuring transparency and alignment across the organization.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a highly competitive candidate for the Operations Manager role at Anduril, you must possess a blend of rigorous operational experience and exceptional soft skills. The company values leaders who are both strategic thinkers and tactical executors.

• Must-have skills – Proven track record in operations management, manufacturing, or supply chain scaling. Exceptional cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management. Strong analytical skills with the ability to perform rapid quantitative assessments. High adaptability and a demonstrated ability to thrive in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.
• Nice-to-have skills – Prior experience in the defense, aerospace, or hardware tech sectors. A background in military service or deep familiarity with military operational standards. Advanced technical degrees (e.g., Engineering, Supply Chain Management) or certifications like Lean Six Sigma, though practical execution will always trump credentials.
• Experience level – Typically requires 5 to 8+ years of relevant experience in operations, logistics, or a related field, preferably with exposure to hardware manufacturing or complex system deployments.
• Soft skills – Unwavering communication skills, high emotional intelligence, and the ability to foster a collaborative, ego-free team culture. You must be able to influence highly technical peers and senior leadership effectively.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below represent the patterns and themes frequently encountered by candidates interviewing for the Operations Manager role at Anduril. Use these to guide your practice, focusing on the structure and clarity of your responses rather than memorizing answers.

Behavioral and Leadership

These questions test your ability to navigate the human elements of operations. Interviewers are looking for empathy, resilience, and your ability to drive alignment.

• Tell me about a time you had to lead a team through a significant operational pivot.
• Describe a situation where you strongly disagreed with a highly technical stakeholder. How did you resolve it?
• How do you build trust with a team that you have just taken over?
• Tell me about a time you failed to meet an operational goal. What did you learn?
• Why do you want to work in the defense technology sector specifically?

Operational Scenarios and Execution

These questions evaluate your practical knowledge of scaling, supply chain, and process optimization.

• Walk me through how you would set up a supply chain for a brand new hardware product.
• How do you identify and resolve bottlenecks in a manufacturing process?
• Tell me about a time you had to optimize a process that was already considered "working fine."
• If you have two critical projects but only enough resources to fully fund one, how do you decide which to prioritize?
• Describe your approach to managing and evaluating third-party vendors.

Quantitative and Analytical Math

Expect a round that tests your mental math and basic operational logic. The focus is on your approach and accuracy under pressure.

• If a machine produces 50 units an hour with a 5% defect rate, how long will it take to produce 500 perfect units?
• Estimate the logistical cost of shipping 1,000 units from our Costa Mesa facility to an East Coast deployment site.
• Walk me through the math of calculating the break-even point for purchasing a new automated assembly machine versus hiring three manual technicians.
• If our supply of a critical microchip is cut in half, calculate the immediate impact on our monthly production yield.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical is the Operations Manager interview at Anduril? While you are expected to understand complex hardware and software environments, the interview itself is overwhelmingly behavioral and operational. You will not be asked to code or design system architecture, but you must demonstrate that you can effectively manage operations around highly technical products.

Q: Do I need military experience to be hired? No, military experience is not a strict requirement. However, Anduril employs many veterans, and its products serve defense clients. Having an understanding of military culture or demonstrating deep respect and adaptability toward defense sector norms is highly beneficial.

Q: What is the typical timeline from the initial screen to an offer? The process is generally described as tidy and efficient. Candidates often move from the recruiter screen to the onsite loop within 2 to 4 weeks. Decisions are usually communicated promptly after the onsite interviews.

Q: What differentiates a successful candidate from an unsuccessful one? Successful candidates index heavily on "team fit" and lack of ego. Candidates who assume their technical degrees or past prestigious titles will carry them often fail. You must prove you are willing to roll up your sleeves, collaborate seamlessly, and execute flawlessly.

Q: Is this role remote or hybrid? Given the hardware and manufacturing nature of Anduril's products, Operations Manager roles are typically heavily onsite, especially in locations like Costa Mesa, CA. You should expect to be physically present to manage teams and oversee production lines.

Other General Tips

• Nail your behavioral stories: Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) rigorously. Because the onsite is heavily behavioral, having 5-7 versatile, high-impact stories ready will be your greatest asset.
• Practice mental math aloud: Do not let the quantitative questions catch you off guard. Practice basic yield, throughput, and logistical calculations, and make sure you speak your thought process aloud so the interviewer can follow your logic.

• Lean into the mission: Anduril is unapologetically pro-defense. Be prepared to articulate clearly and passionately why you want to contribute to national security and defense technology.
• Read the room: You will interview with people from vastly different backgrounds—from former USMC officers to Silicon Valley software engineers. Tailor your communication style to your audience, showing that you can bridge the gap between different cultures.

Summary & Next Steps

Securing an Operations Manager role at Anduril is an opportunity to stand at the forefront of defense technology innovation. The work you do will directly impact the speed and efficiency with which critical, life-saving technologies are deployed. It is a role that demands resilience, a bias for action, and an unwavering commitment to operational excellence.

Your preparation should focus heavily on crafting compelling behavioral narratives that highlight your leadership, adaptability, and execution skills. Do not neglect your basic operational math, and ensure you are mentally prepared for a robust, full-day onsite loop in Costa Mesa. Remember that interviewers are looking for a trusted partner who can integrate into their fast-paced, mission-driven culture just as much as they are looking for operational expertise.

This compensation data provides a baseline expectation for the Operations Manager role. Keep in mind that total compensation at Anduril often includes a mix of base salary and equity, reflecting the company's growth-focused, high-upside environment.

Approach your interviews with confidence, clarity, and a collaborative mindset. Focused preparation on your behavioral alignment and operational problem-solving will drastically improve your performance. For further insights and to continue honing your interview strategy, explore the additional resources available on Dataford. You have the foundational skills to succeed—now it is time to prove you are the right fit for the mission.