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Defense Startup Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Singularity Defense Corp.

Director of GNC

Gardena, CA · On-site

We are a stealth-mode Aerospace & Defense startup headquartered in Gardena, CA. Our founding team hails from SpaceX, Anduril, and Lockheed Martin, and we are backed by Joint Staff-level military ...

Sentradel

Mechanical Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$100 - $125/hr

Sentradel is a defense startup in San Francisco building autonomous, low‑cost kinetic turret systems designed to defeat Group 1 and FPV drone threats. We have shot down dozens of drones in ...

Sentradel

Electrical Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$100 - $125/hr

Sentradel is a defense startup in San Francisco building autonomous, low cost kinetic turret systems designed to defeat Group 1 and FPV drone threats. We have shot down dozens of drones in live fire ...

Picogrid

Executive Assistant

El Segundo, CA · On-site

$100 - $125/hr

A successful hire will learn how decisions get made at Picogrid, develop deep pattern recognition about what it takes to build a defense startup, and ultimately will have the option to hire their own ...

Reaxiomatic

Open Application

San Diego, CA · On-site

Experience at an aerospace or defense startup that has flown, tested, fielded, or delivered real hardware under aggressive schedules. * Background spanning more than one technical or operational ...

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Infographic showing various Defense Startup job openings in California as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 78% In-person, 11% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution.

Senior Contracts Manager

Gardena, CA • On-site

Singularity Defense Corp.
See more jobs at Singularity Defense Corp.external

$125K - $185K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement

Posted 27 days ago

Job description

About the Company:
We are an Aerospace & Defense startup headquartered in Gardena, CA. Our founding team hails from SpaceX, Anduril, and Lockheed Martin, and we are backed by Joint Staff-level military leadership and top-tier Silicon Valley rms. We're assembling a high urgency team committed to moving fast, solving hard problems, and defending what matters most. With a world-class business development & leadership team already in place, we are well positioned to capitalize on already overwhelming demand.
Role Overview:
The Contracts Manager owns contract formation, negotiation support, contractual risk management, and post-award contract administration across domestic and international defense opportunities. This role enables the company to move quickly while ensuring that contractual commitments, customer flowdowns, intellectual-property positions, payment structures, and compliance obligations are understood before the company commits.
The Contracts Manager owns the contractual relationship and obligations. The role does not own proposal production, pricing-model development, bookkeeping, or routine financial-system administration.
Core Responsibilities
  • Review, negotiate, administer, and maintain customer contracts, subcontracts, NDAs, teaming agreements, purchase terms, and related contractual instruments.
  • Lead review of contract type, terms and conditions, representations, warranties, indemnities, limitations of liability, termination provisions, delivery requirements, acceptance criteria, and payment terms.
  • Evaluate FAR/DFARS clauses, customer flowdowns, data rights, intellectual property provisions, export-sensitive provisions, and subcontract requirements.
  • Support BD and Proposal teams during solicitations by identifying contractual requirements, exceptions, risks, and required representations.
  • Coordinate with Pricing and Finance on contract structures that affect margin, billing triggers, milestone payments, funded value, cash timing, working capital, and financial exposure.
  • Coordinate with Security and Compliance on CUI, CMMC, DD254s, export controls, facility-clearance requirements, and customer-specific compliance obligations.
  • Maintain executed agreements, modifications, contractual deliverables, notice requirements, option dates, funding limits, periods of performance, and other contractual obligations.
  • Support contract modifications, change orders, claims, equitable-adjustment requests, closeout, and other post-award actions as applicable.
  • Establish scalable contract-review, approval, delegation-of-authority, and records-management processes.
  • Escalate material contractual, financial, IP, delivery, compliance, or operational risks before commitments are made.

Ideal Background
  • 7-12 years in defense contracts, government contracting, program contracts, legal operations, subcontract administration, or related work.
  • Strong working knowledge of FAR/DFARS, OTAs, CSOs, fixed-price and cost-type structures, data rights, flowdowns, and government-contract administration.
  • Experience negotiating and administering contracts involving hardware, manufacturing, R&D, prototypes, or defense technology strongly preferred.
  • Experience working directly with BD, Finance, Programs, Legal, Engineering, and Supply Chain.
  • Strong commercial judgment and ability to distinguish material contractual risk from issues that can be resolved pragmatically.
  • JD or legal background helpful but not required.

Compensation:
Salary: $125000- $185000 + Equity + Benefits ( Healthcare, Vision, Dental, 401k, and Lunch)

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