What is a Product Manager at Anduril?

As a Product Manager at Anduril, you are at the forefront of transforming defense technology. Anduril operates at the intersection of cutting-edge software and advanced hardware, building autonomous systems, computer vision capabilities, and the foundational Lattice OS to solve complex national security challenges. In this role, you are not just optimizing conversion funnels or tweaking UI; you are defining the capabilities of systems that operate in high-stakes, real-world environments.

Your impact spans across multiple domains, influencing how products are conceived, developed, and deployed to users in the field. You will act as the crucial bridge between visionary engineering teams, rigorous software architects, and the operational needs of defense and enterprise stakeholders. The scale and complexity of the problems you will tackle require a unique blend of technical fluency, strategic foresight, and unwavering execution.

Expect a highly dynamic, mission-driven environment. The work here is fast-paced and occasionally intense, reflecting the critical nature of the products. You will collaborate daily with world-class software leaders, peer product managers, and hardware engineers to deliver solutions that redefine modern defense capabilities. If you thrive on complex problem-solving and want your work to have a profound real-world impact, this role offers an unparalleled opportunity.

Common Interview Questions

The questions you face will be challenging and highly specific to your past experiences. While you cannot predict every question, understanding the patterns will help you prepare structured, impactful answers. Use these representative questions to practice your delivery and refine your frameworks.

Product Strategy & Prioritization

These questions test your ability to navigate ambiguity, understand market needs, and make difficult trade-offs.

• How do you balance building features for a specific, high-value customer versus building for the broader market?
• Walk me through a time you had to deprecate a feature or kill a product entirely.
• How do you measure the success of a product when standard metrics (like daily active users) don't apply?
• Tell me about a time you identified a new product opportunity. How did you validate it?
• If you were the PM for [Specific Anduril Product], what would you focus on improving in the next six months?

Cross-Functional Leadership & Behavioral

These assess your emotional intelligence, conflict resolution skills, and ability to influence without authority.

• Tell me about a time you had to influence a senior engineering leader to change their technical approach.
• Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult or uncooperative peer. How did you handle it?
• Give an example of a time you failed to deliver on a commitment. What happened, and how did you manage the fallout?
• How do you ensure your team stays motivated when working on grueling, high-pressure timelines?
• Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete data.

Technical & System Design

These evaluate your ability to engage with architects and understand the constraints of complex systems.

• Explain the architecture of the most complex product you have managed.
• How do you approach writing technical requirements for a system that involves both hardware and AI software?
• Tell me about a time a technical limitation forced you to drastically alter your product design.
• How do you manage technical debt on your product backlog?
• Walk me through how you would design a system to track and identify moving objects in a low-bandwidth environment.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation for a Product Manager role at Anduril requires a strategic approach. You must demonstrate not only your core product management competencies but also your ability to thrive in a highly technical, fast-moving, and mission-oriented culture.

Your interviewers will evaluate you against several key criteria:

Technical & Domain Aptitude – Anduril builds highly complex systems involving AI, sensor fusion, and autonomous hardware. Interviewers will assess your ability to engage deeply with software architects and engineering managers, understand technical trade-offs, and translate complex capabilities into product requirements. You can demonstrate this by speaking clearly about system architectures and technical constraints you have managed in the past.

Strategic Problem Solving – You will be evaluated on how you break down ambiguous, large-scale problems. Interviewers want to see a structured approach to identifying user needs, prioritizing features, and making hard decisions when resources or time are constrained. Show strength here by walking through your frameworks for prioritization and risk mitigation.

Cross-Functional Leadership – A successful Product Manager here must influence without authority across diverse teams, from peer PMs to company co-founders. You will be tested on your communication style, your ability to align differing viewpoints, and how you drive consensus among highly opinionated experts.

Mission Alignment & Resilience – The culture at Anduril is intense, rigorous, and deeply tied to its national security mission. Evaluators will look for your resilience under pressure, your operational bias for action, and your genuine passion for the company's broader objectives.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a Product Manager at Anduril is appropriately thorough, rigorously coordinated, and designed to accurately assess your performance for the realities of the job. Candidates typically begin with a screening call with a recruiter to align expectations, followed by a 1:1 interview with the hiring manager or a Director of Product.

If you advance to the onsite or virtual panel stage, expect a series of up to five intensive Zoom interviews. You will meet with a cross-functional group that includes peer product managers, engineering managers, software leaders, and systems architects. The conversations are deep and probing; interviewers are well-prepared and will challenge your assumptions. While the process can feel stressful due to the high expectations, candidates consistently report that the recruiting team is top-notch, polite, and deeply respectful of their time.

For final rounds, it is common to have another 1:1 interview with the hiring manager, and in many cases, a 1:1 interview with a company co-founder. This final stage is heavily focused on cultural alignment, long-term vision, and your ability to operate at the highest levels of the organization.

This visual timeline outlines the typical progression from initial recruiter screening through the cross-functional panels and final leadership rounds. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you are ready for deep technical discussions in the middle stages and high-level strategic alignment in the final rounds. Note that the exact sequence may vary slightly depending on the specific team or office location.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must excel across several distinct evaluation areas. Your panel will be composed of different specialists, each probing a specific facet of your product management skill set.

Product Strategy & Vision

Interviewers need to know that you can build a roadmap that aligns with Anduril's overarching mission while solving immediate user needs. This area tests your ability to navigate ambiguity, identify the true core of a problem, and define a winning strategy. Strong performance looks like a clear, data-informed narrative that connects high-level defense or enterprise goals to specific product features.

Be ready to go over:

• Market and user discovery – How you identify needs in environments where users (e.g., military operators) might be difficult to access directly.
• Roadmap prioritization – Frameworks for deciding what to build next when facing competing demands from engineering and leadership.
• Success metrics – Defining what success looks like for complex, non-traditional software/hardware products.
• Advanced concepts – Navigating DoD procurement cycles, dual-use technology strategies, and edge-computing product constraints.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through a time you had to pivot your product strategy due to a sudden shift in technical constraints or market needs."
• "How would you prioritize features for a new autonomous surveillance drone with limited battery life and processing power?"
• "Tell me about a product you launched that failed to meet its objectives. What did you learn, and how did you adjust?"

Technical Depth & Architectural Collaboration

Because you will be working closely with software leaders and architects, you must demonstrate technical fluency. You are not expected to write code, but you must be able to debate system design, understand the implications of AI/ML models, and grasp how software integrates with physical hardware. Strong candidates ask insightful technical questions and quickly grasp system limitations.

Be ready to go over:

• System design basics – Understanding data flow, latency, and system reliability, especially in low-bandwidth or edge environments.
• Engineering collaboration – How you push back on engineering estimates or negotiate technical debt versus feature delivery.
• Hardware/Software integration – Managing release cycles where software updates must sync with physical hardware deployments.
• Advanced concepts – Computer vision fundamentals, sensor fusion basics, and real-time operating system constraints.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe a time you disagreed with an engineering manager or architect about a technical approach. How did you resolve it?"
• "How do you manage a product roadmap when the underlying AI models are still in the research and development phase?"
• "Explain a complex technical system you managed to a non-technical stakeholder."

Execution & Cross-Functional Leadership

Anduril moves incredibly fast. This area evaluates your bias for action and your ability to drive a project to completion despite roadblocks. Interviewers, particularly peer PMs and cross-functional team members, want to see that you can unblock teams, manage stakeholder expectations, and maintain momentum.

Be ready to go over:

• Agile execution – Adapting standard agile methodologies to fit rapid prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop development.
• Stakeholder management – Keeping leadership, engineering, and external partners aligned when timelines shift.
• Crisis management – How you handle critical bugs, deployment failures, or supply chain delays affecting your product.
• Advanced concepts – Leading tiger teams for rapid deployment, managing highly classified or sensitive project streams.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Give me an example of a project that was falling behind schedule. What specific steps did you take to get it back on track?"
• "How do you ensure alignment between a hardware team and a software team that operate on fundamentally different release cadences?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to deliver a difficult message to a key stakeholder or founder regarding a product delay."

Key Responsibilities

As a Product Manager, your day-to-day work is a blend of high-level strategy and in-the-weeds execution. You will be responsible for defining the product vision, gathering complex requirements, and translating them into actionable engineering tasks. This often involves writing detailed product requirement documents (PRDs) that bridge the gap between operational needs and technical execution.

Collaboration is at the heart of this role. You will spend a significant portion of your time in deep technical discussions with software leaders, engineering managers, and architects to ensure the feasibility of your roadmaps. You will also work closely with operations and deployment teams to understand how your products perform in the field, gathering feedback from real-world usage to iterate quickly.

You will drive major initiatives from conception to deployment. Whether it is launching a new module within the Lattice OS, integrating a novel sensor payload, or streamlining user interfaces for operators in high-stress environments, you are the ultimate owner of the product's success. You will be expected to clear roadblocks, make rapid prioritization decisions, and continuously align your team with Anduril's strategic goals.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a competitive candidate for the Product Manager role at Anduril, you must possess a strong foundational PM skill set paired with the technical aptitude to handle complex, mission-critical systems.

• Must-have skills – Proven experience in end-to-end product management (ideation to launch). Strong technical background or demonstrated ability to work seamlessly with deeply technical engineering and architecture teams. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, particularly the ability to distill complex concepts for executive leadership. A strong bias for action and the ability to thrive in ambiguous, high-pressure environments.
• Must-have requirements – Due to the nature of the work, candidates must typically be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance.
• Nice-to-have skills – Prior experience in the defense sector, aerospace, or working with government procurement. Background in artificial intelligence, computer vision, robotics, or hardware/software integration. Previous experience at a hyper-growth startup or a top-tier technology company.
• Nice-to-have experience – A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field is highly advantageous but not strictly required if you have a proven track record of technical product management.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult is the interview process, and how much should I prepare? The process is widely considered rigorous and difficult. You should prepare extensively, focusing on your ability to articulate complex technical trade-offs and your strategies for cross-functional leadership. Expect to spend significant time refining your behavioral stories and reviewing system architecture concepts.

Q: Do I need a background in defense or national security to be hired? While a background in defense is a strong "nice-to-have," it is not strictly required. Anduril frequently hires top-tier PMs from consumer and enterprise tech companies who bring strong fundamental product skills, technical depth, and a passion for the mission.

Q: What is the culture like for a Product Manager at Anduril? The culture is intense, highly collaborative, and mission-first. You will be surrounded by exceptionally smart, driven people. There is a strong emphasis on ownership, moving fast, and solving hard problems without getting bogged down in unnecessary bureaucracy.

Q: How long does the interview process typically take? From the initial recruiter screen to the final offer, the process generally takes between three to six weeks. The recruiting team is known for being well-coordinated and respectful of your time, keeping communication timely throughout the stages.

Q: Is remote work an option for Product Managers? Anduril strongly values in-person collaboration, especially given the hardware components and classified nature of some projects. While there is some flexibility, PMs are generally expected to be onsite or work in a hybrid capacity at key hubs like Costa Mesa, CA, or Boston, MA.

Other General Tips

• Communicate Your Note-Taking Clearly: Anduril has strict corporate policies against the use of AI assistants during interviews. If you plan to take notes during your Zoom calls, explicitly state this at the very beginning of the interview (e.g., "I will be typing some notes on my second monitor to capture your insights"). This prevents interviewers from mistaking your typing or eye movements for the use of an unauthorized AI bot, which can instantly derail the conversation.
• Lead with the Mission: Interviewers want to see that you are genuinely motivated by Anduril's goal of transforming defense technology. Frame your answers in a way that shows you care about real-world impact, not just shipping software for the sake of it.
• Embrace the Stress: The interview panels, particularly with engineering managers and architects, are designed to test the limits of your knowledge. If an interviewer probes deeply into a technical constraint, do not get defensive. Acknowledge what you know, admit what you do not, and collaboratively discuss how you would find the answer.
• Use the STAR Method with a Focus on "We vs. I": When answering behavioral questions, clearly outline the Situation, Task, Action, and Result. However, be highly specific about your exact contribution (the "I") while still acknowledging the collaborative effort of the team (the "we").
• Prepare for Directness: The communication style at Anduril is direct and no-nonsense. Expect interviewers to cut straight to the point and potentially interrupt you if they need to redirect the conversation. View this as a sign of an efficient, fast-paced culture rather than a lack of politeness.

Summary & Next Steps

Securing a Product Manager role at Anduril is a challenging but incredibly rewarding endeavor. You are stepping into a company that is fundamentally reshaping national security through rapid innovation and technical excellence. The role demands a unique combination of strategic vision, technical fluency, and the grit to execute in a high-stakes environment.

Your preparation should focus heavily on bridging the gap between complex engineering concepts and actionable product roadmaps. Review your past experiences through the lens of Anduril’s core values: moving fast, owning outcomes, and collaborating deeply with technical experts. Be ready to defend your decisions, articulate your technical understanding, and demonstrate your capacity for cross-functional leadership.

This compensation data provides a baseline for what you can expect at Anduril. Keep in mind that total compensation for Product Managers often includes a competitive base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits, scaling significantly based on your seniority and past technical experience.

Approach your interviews with confidence and a clear narrative of your past successes. The recruiting team wants you to succeed, and the interviewers are looking for peers who can help them build the future. Continue exploring insights and refining your strategies on Dataford to ensure you are fully prepared. You have the skills and the drive—now go show them what you can build.