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Air Defense Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Integrated Air & Missile Defense (IAMD) SME Location: Washington, DC Clearance: Active TS/SCI Required *Contingent on Contract Award Overview STi is seeking an IAMD SME to support strategic ...

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Air Defense information

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$11K

$39.5K

$46K

How much do air defense jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 16, 2026, the average yearly pay for air defense in the United States is $39,463.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $35,000.00 and $45,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is an air defense?

An Air Defense job involves protecting assets, personnel, and territories from aerial threats such as enemy aircraft, missiles, and drones. Personnel in this role operate and maintain defense systems like radar, surface-to-air missiles, and automated tracking systems. They work in coordination with intelligence and surveillance teams to detect and neutralize threats effectively. Air Defense professionals are commonly found in military organizations and specialized security units. Their duties require technical expertise, rapid decision-making, and a strong understanding of aerospace defense strategies.

What does a typical workday look like for someone in air defense?

A typical day in Air Defense involves monitoring airspace using advanced radar and surveillance technology, assessing potential threats, and coordinating responses with other defense personnel. You may participate in regular training exercises, system maintenance, and readiness drills to ensure you can respond efficiently in real-world situations. The role is highly collaborative, often requiring close communication with operators, technical specialists, and commanding officers. Shifts can be irregular, and the environment is fast-paced and mission-focused, providing opportunities to develop technical and leadership skills.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the air defense position, and why are they important?

To thrive in Air Defense, you need strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and the ability to quickly interpret and act on radar data, typically supported by military training and relevant technical certifications. Familiarity with air defense systems such as radar tracking, missile guidance, and command and control software is essential. Exceptional teamwork, clear communication, and the ability to remain calm under pressure are key soft skills for this role. These attributes are crucial to rapidly assess threats, coordinate responses, and maintain operational effectiveness in high-stress environments.

More about Air Defense jobs

What cities are hiring for Air Defense jobs?

Cities with the most Air Defense job openings:

What states have the most Air Defense jobs?

States with the most job openings for Air Defense jobs include:

Infographic showing various Air Defense job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $39,463 per year, or $19 per hour.

Software Engineer, Air Defense

Anduril Industries

Broomfield, CO • On-site

$144K - $191K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 7 days ago


Anduril rating

9.1

Company rating: 9.1 out of 10

Anduril

Based on 17 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

7.4

Company rating compared to similar companies: 7.4 out of 10

Manufacturers average

Based on 75,479 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz


Job description

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 TEAM
The Air Defense team builds robots that find other robots and knock them out of the sky. At a time when air superiority can no longer be taken for granted, the Air Defense Team provides mission critical capabilities to warfighters. From detection to tracking, identification, deterrence, and defeat, our family of networked sensors and effectors enables our customers to rapidly close the kill chain against a broad range of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) threats. Working across product, engineering, sales, logistics, operations, and mission success, the Air Defense team develops, tests, deploys, and sustains the Anduril Air Defense Family of Systems (FoS) in challenging operational environments worldwide.
ABOUT THE JOB
We're seeking a Software Engineer to join our rapidly growing team in Broomfield, CO. As a Software Engineer on the Air Defense team, you will solve a wide variety of problems involving networking, autonomy, systems integration, robotics, and more, while making pragmatic engineering tradeoffs along the way. Your efforts will ensure that Anduril products seamlessly work together to achieve a variety of critical outcomes. Above all, Mission Software Engineers are driven by a "Whatever It Takes" mindset-executing in an expedient, scalable, and pragmatic way while keeping the mission top-of-mind and making sound engineering decisions to deliver successful outcomes correctly, on-time, and with high quality.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
  • Own the software solutions that are deployed to customers
  • Write code to improve products and scale the mission capability to more customers
  • Collaborate across multiple teams to plan, build, and test complex functionality
  • Create and analyze metrics that are leveraged for debugging and monitoring
  • Triage issues, root cause failures, and coordinate next steps
  • Partner with end-users to turn needs into features while balancing user experience with engineering constraints
  • Travel up to 30% of time to build, test, and deploy capabilities in the real world

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
  • Strong engineering background from industry or school, ideally in areas/fields such as Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics
  • 3+ years working with a variety of programming languages such as Python, C++, Rust, Go, JavaScript, etc.
  • Experience building software solutions involving significant amounts of data processing and analysis
  • Ability to quickly understand and navigate complex systems and established code bases
  • A desire to work on critical software that has a real-world impact
  • Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
  • Strong background with focus in Physics, Mathematics, and/or Motion Planning to inform modeling & simulation (M&S) and physical systems
  • Developing and testing multi-agent autonomous systems and deploying in real-world environments
  • Feature and algorithm development with an understanding of behavior trees
  • Developing software/hardware for flight systems and safety critical functionality
  • Distributed communication networks and message standards
  • Knowledge of military systems and operational tactics

US Salary Range
$144,000-$191,000 USD
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:
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.
Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams
Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.
To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:
  • No Financial Requests: Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.
  • Please always verify communications:
    • Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an @anduril.com address.
    • Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to contact@anduril.com.
  • Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach: If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.
  • What to Do If You Suspect Fraud: Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to contact@anduril.com. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.

Data Privacy
To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.
By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.

Working at Anduril

About Anduril, in their own words

From Anduril

As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril delivers cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the warfighter in months, not years.


What Anduril employees say

Pay

Benefits

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Get the full story on Breakroom


Anduril Industries logo

About Anduril Industries

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

Anduril Industries is a trailblazer in the technology industry based in Costa Mesa, CA, US. Founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, the creator of Oculus VR, the company focuses on developing innovative technology to equip and empower those in the defense sector. Its primary products include cutting-edge autonomous systems and AI software that assist in combating threats to national and global security. The mission of Anduril Industries is to integrate technology and defense by building transformative, scalable solutions that ensure a safer world.

Industry

Guided missile and space vehicle manufacturing

Company size

501 - 1,000 Employees

Headquarters location

Costa Mesa, CA, US

Year founded

2017

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