Explosives Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

ABOUT THE ROLE

Anduril is seeking a Senior Explosives Operations Engineer to join our team in Costa Mesa, CA. Our Lethality Team supports the safe development, testing, and fielding of explosive systems across multiple Anduril product lines, including Roadrunner, Bolt, Barracuda, Altius, and Copperhead. This team plays a critical role in helping Anduril deliver advanced defense capabilities by combining operational rigor, technical judgment, and uncompromising safety standards.
This is a strong fit for someone who wants to work at the intersection of hands-on explosives operations, safety, compliance, and mission execution. Rather than sitting narrowly in a design-only role, you will help enable explosive systems to move from development to test and field support by building safe, compliant, and executable operations in support of real products and real customer needs.
You will partner closely with engineering, manufacturing, program teams, legal, finance, business development, and other cross-functional stakeholders to translate product and customer requirements into operational plans that support systems deployed across land, sea, and air domains. You should be excited by meaningful ownership, a broad cross-functional scope, and the opportunity to help strengthen a growing capability inside one of the most ambitious defense technology companies in the industry.

What You'll Do

• Plan, organize, and execute explosives operations in support of current and future Anduril products.
• Support hands-on explosives operations across test, field, and operational environments.
• Lead and support range safety activities and contribute to the overall safety and compliance posture of explosive operations.
• Develop site laydowns, blast and fragmentation considerations, quantity-distance evaluations, and other mitigation strategies related to explosive operations.
• Draft and enforce explosive safety procedures and operating instructions, and ensure personnel understand and follow them.
• Ensure operations are executed in accordance with applicable DoD, ATF/ATFE, DOT, OSHA, and internal safety requirements based on the operational context.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on explosives operations, handling, safety, and compliance.
• Partner across legal, operations, finance, program leadership, business development, engineering, manufacturing, and EHS to support products involving explosives.
• Oversee explosives storage, including inventory, security, inspections, and forecasting.
• Improve explosives operations and training programs to meet regulatory, company, and customer requirements.
• Train and instruct others on safe handling and operational execution.
• Work effectively with Anduril customers, both USG and non-USG, and internal teams in austere environments.
• The impact you'll have:
• Enable safe, scalable deployment across Anduril's product portfolio. You will help move explosive capabilities from development to testing and field support by building and executing operations that meet the speed, rigor, and safety demands of mission-critical programs.
• Increase operational velocity without compromising compliance. You will apply sound judgment across DoD, ATF/ATFE, DOT, OSHA, and internal safety requirements to help Anduril test, field, and support explosive systems efficiently while protecting people, programs, and long-term business continuity.
• Strengthen explosives operations as the business scales. You will improve procedures, training, storage practices, and operational readiness so teams can execute more independently, safely, and consistently across products, sites, and customer environments.
• Translate mission needs into real-world execution. By partnering across technical and business teams, you will help turn complex customer and program requirements into executable operations that advance Anduril's mission and expand its ability to deliver differentiated defense technology to the field.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in explosives operations, including practical experience with explosives safety, storage, transportation, and test or field execution.
• Hands-on experience executing or supporting explosive operations in operational, test, range, or field environments.
• In-depth knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding explosives and energetic materials, including DoD explosives safety regulations, ATF/ATFE requirements, DOT, OSHA, and related compliance considerations. Candidates do not need rote memorization of regulations, but they should have experience applying them in real operating environments.
• Experience developing or enforcing SOPs and supporting safe operating practices, incident investigations, and corrective actions.
• Ability to work cross-functionally in support of explosives-related activities across engineering, manufacturing, operations, and program teams.
• Ability to travel up to 25%-50%, including domestic test sites and occasional international travel.
• Must possess and maintain a U.S. security clearance (DoD Secret or DOE L).

Preferred Qualifications

• Military EOD or equivalent explosives operations background. EOD experience is especially valued given the need for broad explosives understanding, operational maturity, and the ability to work independently on a small team.
• Active U.S. Top Secret or DOE Q security clearance.
• Experience with munitions field testing, explosives training, or leadership in explosive operations environments.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical discipline is preferred, but hands-on explosives experience is more important than a specific degree path.
• Experience operating in austere environments and engaging effectively with internal teams and external customers in the field.