Innovative Fluids Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

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 JOB
Anduril is seeking a Staff Fluids Systems Engineer to join the Omen Team at our Costa Mesa HQ. Omen is Anduril's hover-to-cruise autonomous air vehicle (AAV) that packs the endurance, payload, and mission flexibility of much larger airplanes into a novel runway-independent Group 3 platform. Omen can operate from ship decks, beaches, or remote island clearings, providing true runway independence and freedom of maneuver across defense and civilian domains. Omen is the first tail-sitter aircraft with a mass-production contract, with an order of 50 systems representing a decisive investment that anchors production and accelerates the development of future systems.
You will work on new aircraft development in a lean, high-ownership culture where you directly shape the product and operate at a velocity to fly new designs within months, not years
ABOUT THE TEAM
Here you will work on core product development for unmanned rotorcraft and complex systems, including but not limited to composites, mechanisms, structures and tooling. The ideal candidate would be practical, hands-on and a self-starter. High growth potential is possible as well as additional leadership opportunities.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Own and drive the design, development, and qualification of fluids systems on a Group 3 autonomous air vehicle, including fuel, hydraulics, thermal management, environmental control, and pneumatic systems, from concept through low rate initial production.

• Lead technical efforts to define system requirements, develop architectures, evaluate trade studies, and establish methodologies for analyzing, verifying, and validating fluids systems.
• Perform system-level analysis including pressure drop, flow distribution, thermal balance, transient response, water hammer, slosh, two-phase flow, and CFD as needed to support design decisions.
• Work in close partnership with propulsion, structures, electrical, avionics, controls, and software teams to ensure fluids systems integrate cleanly into a reliable, flexible, cost-effective vehicle.
• Specify, source, and qualify fluids components including pumps, valves, actuators, accumulators, heat exchangers, lines, fittings, seals, filters, and tanks.
• Spearhead design reviews, conduct hands-on rig and aircraft-level testing, visit vendors, and develop hardware test plans that validate performance across the flight envelope.
• Define and own fuel system architecture suitable for tail-sitter operation, including center-of-gravity management, vent and pressurization design, and unusable-fuel characterization across all attitudes.
• Support thermal management of propulsion, avionics, and payload heat loads under hover, transition, and cruise conditions.
• Actively contribute to the enhancement of team tools, templates, processes, and standards for fluids systems engineering.
• Cultivate a vibrant, positive, dedicated, high-energy, educational, and enjoyable community environment.
• Balance operational needs across vehicle subsystems while optimizing for development speed, mass, manufacturability, and cost.
• Support critical hardware demonstrations with customers as needed.
• Travel to test sites and vendors as needed.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• A minimum of 8+ years in a technical engineering role in a professional setting, with a focus on aircraft or aerospace fluids systems.
• Strong technical knowledge in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and the design, analysis, testing, and qualification of aircraft fluids systems.
• Deep understanding of fuel, hydraulic, thermal management, environmental control, and/or pneumatic system architectures and the trades between them.
• Hands-on experience designing, building, and testing fluids systems hardware, including component selection, plumbing routing, and integration into a flight vehicle.
• Experience in an immersive technical project (collegiate project teams or professional settings).
• Strong proficiency in CAD software (any platform, but NX preferred), with specific emphasis on plumbing, routing, and complex system installations.
• Proficiency with system-level fluids analysis tools (e.g., Flowmaster, AFT Fathom/Arrow, GT-SUITE, EASY5, Simulink/Simscape, or equivalent).
• Working knowledge of applicable airworthiness and aerospace standards (e.g., SAE AS, MIL-STD, AS9100) for fluids components and systems.
• BS or MS in mechanical, aerospace, or chemical engineering, or equivalent work experience.
• Demonstrated hands-on fabrication and test skills.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. security clearance

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in NX/Teamcenter.
• Experience with clean sheet aircraft fluids system architecture and integration.
• Experience designing fuel systems for unconventional aircraft configurations (tail-sitter, VTOL, tilt-rotor, or other multi-attitude platforms).
• Experience with two-phase and pumped-loop thermal management systems for high-power-density electronics or propulsion.
• Experience qualifying fluids components to aerospace environmental and vibration standards (e.g., DO-160, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-704).
• Experience leading vendor development and qualification of fluids components.
• Experience with CFD (Star-CCM+, Fluent, OpenFOAM) applied to internal flows, sloshing, or thermal analysis.
• Familiarity with running system-level development and qualification testing on fluids rigs and integrated aircraft.

US Salary Range
$191,000-$253,000 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.
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