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Air Defense Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Booz Allen Hamilton

Air Defense Control SME

Stafford, TX · On-site

$86.80 - $198/hr

Experience operating within a Tactical Air Operations Center (TAOC) to direct aircraft and air-defense assets, integrate intelligence for targeting, prosecute deep air support missions, and identify ...

Booz Allen Hamilton

Air Defense Control SME

Stafford, VA · On-site

$86 - $198/hr

Experience operating within a Tactical Air Operations Center (TAOC) to direct aircraft and air-defense assets, integrate intelligence for targeting, prosecute deep air support missions, and identify ...

Booz Allen Hamilton

Air Defense Control SME

Stafford, VA · On-site

$86K - $198K/yr

Air Defense Control SME The Opportunity: As a defense mission professional, you ask questions others don't. You understand the nuances of complex situations. You use your skills to think bigger and ...

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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 Sep 6, 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.

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What cities are hiring for Air Defense jobs?

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What states have the most Air Defense jobs?

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What job categories do people searching Air Defense jobs look for?

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Air Defense jobs near you
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 86% In-person, and 14% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $39,463 per year, or $19 per hour.

Staff Software Engineer, Air Defense

Anduril Industries

Irvine, CA

Full-time

Re-posted 10 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 76,812 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

Job description

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 Staff Software Engineer to join our rapidly growing team in Irvine, CA. As a Staff Software Engineer, 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
  • 10+ years working with a variety of programming languages such as Python, C++, Rust, Go, JavaScript, etc.
  • Strong Experience with React and Javascript/TypeScript
  • 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

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

Hours and flexibility

Workplace

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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