Mes Software Engineer Jobs in Washington, DC (NOW HIRING)

ABOUT THE TEAM:

ArsenalOS is the digital backbone of Anduril's hardware enterprise. It connects the full lifecycle, from concept to build to field feedback, into one operating environment built for speed, traceability, autonomy, and continuous improvement. That environment includes not just the software used to design, plan, and execute work, but also the factory-facing infrastructure that connects operators, machines, test systems, and OT networks into the same adaptive Build Chain. It is not a support function, but rather a strategic investment by Anduril that the operating system of the hardware lifecycle is how we win. It will be one of the mechanisms by which Anduril out-builds, out-adapts, and out-scales the traditional defense industrial base.

ABOUT THE JOB:

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our QualityOS team within Forge MES (Manufacturing Execution System). As a Staff Engineer, you will set the technical direction and architectural standards. You'll architect and implement mission-critical distributed systems that scale Anduril's manufacturing operations while maintaining the technical bar for reliability, performance, and maintainability.
Your impact will span beyond the immediate team. You'll serve as a technical bridge between the QualityOS product team and our Platform/Foundations organization, ensuring we build on solid infrastructure while influencing platform capabilities to meet manufacturing needs. You'll represent the quality domain in broader MES architectural decisions, contributing to technical strategy that affects multiple product teams.
We're looking for someone who combines deep technical expertise with strong collaborative instincts-someone who can dive into complex distributed systems, establish patterns that others follow, and drive consensus across engineering teams. You'll balance hands-on technical execution on critical features with raising the technical standards of the team through architecture reviews, code quality, and operational excellence. Your decisions will have lasting impact on how Anduril scales manufacturing quality systems into a next-generation defense company.

Technical Architecture & Execution:

• Define and drive technical architecture for QualityOS - make decisions on system design, scalability patterns, integration strategies, and platform vs. build tradeoffs that shape team execution
• Architect and implement complex distributed systems - build mission-critical services, APIs, and tooling that enable safe, fast delivery across manufacturing quality workflows
• Lead by example with engineering excellence - establish patterns through hands-on work: comprehensive testing, deployment safety (blue/green/canary), infrastructure as code, observability, and operational rigor

Cross-Team Influence & Collaboration:

• Bridge product and platform teams - collaborate with Platform/Foundations to shape shared infrastructure based on QualityOS needs while driving adoption of platform capabilities
• Partner across MES product teams - integrate QualityOS into cohesive manufacturing experiences, evolve data models across quality/production domains, and drive technical consensus on cross-cutting concerns
• Represent quality domain technically - work with architecture, security, operations, and infrastructure teams to ensure quality requirements influence broader technical decisions

Team & Technical Standards:

• Raise the technical bar for the team - through rigorous code review, architecture discussions, establishing shared ownership models, and improving practices that balance velocity with correctness
• Remove friction and unblock execution - identify systemic technical issues, eliminate single points of failure, and create leverage through automation and improved tooling

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 12+ years of experience in a software engineering role building products in fast-paced environments
• Proven ability to influence technical direction across teams - drive architectural consensus, build alignment, and lead technical initiatives beyond a single team
• Experience working with large enterprise applications and platforms with high availability requirements
• Strong full-stack capabilities with expertise in modern web technologies - JavaScript/TypeScript, React, and web frameworks (Next.js, Remix, etc.)
• User-focused engineering mindset - ability to translate user needs into technical solutions while balancing user experience with engineering constraints
• Excellent communication skills, able to influence stakeholders, translate ambiguous requirements and build cross-team alignment.
• U.S. Person status is required as this position needs to access export controlled data

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply but our tech stack uses AWS, Typescript, and React/Remix so familiarity with all of these tools will be particularly helpful
• Experience in hyper growth startup-like environments. Demonstrated successes in scaling and maturing software development processes, team culture and methods, and ability to balance short-term and long-term trade offs
• Manufacturing/quality domain knowledge - experience with quality management systems (QMS), manufacturing execution systems (MES), or incident management platforms
• Experience in defense, autonomy, robotics, or mission-critical systems (helpful but not required)
• Experience with AI/LLM integration - leveraging state-of-the-art models and agentic tooling in production software development
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. TS/SCI clearance