Senior Industrial Engineer, Labor Standards
Anduril · Costa Mesa, United States · 22d ago
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 TEAM
Anduril's Manufacturing Design Team is seeking a Senior Industrial Engineer to own and scale our enterprise labor standards capability and system. The Manufacturing Team is responsible for rapidly iterating and building cutting-edge defense hardware — including static equipment, moving ground equipment, sensors, undersea, and flight vehicles — and scaling these products across our production footprint, including our new 5M sq ft manufacturing facility, Arsenal-1.
Within Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering delivers labor standards as an internal service: validated, defensible time standards that quantify the true labor content (cycle time) of every manufacturing operation. Done right, labor standards are the foundation that every other IE and production capability builds on — line balancing, capacity planning, staffing models, cost estimation, and continuous improvement all depend on knowing how long work should take = what good looks like. This role sets the standard for how time studies are conducted, documented, stored, loaded into our MES, and maintained through engineering changes across the company, in close collaboration with Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Program Management, Supply Chain, and Business Operations.
ABOUT THE ROLE
This is not a "run a time study and move on" role. We are looking for a senior engineer who can demonstrate holistic ownership of Anduril's labor standards capability as a durable, enterprise-wide system — one that produces consistent, defensible standards regardless of which IE conducts the study, stores and archives those standards for future reference or challenge, loads validated times into our MES matched to work instruction details, and maintains accuracy through the full product lifecycle. The right person thrives in a fast-paced, resource-limited environment, is flexible to change and ambiguity, and can act as the connective tissue among operational stakeholders to bring a production system forward.
The mandate is bigger than any single study. Anduril manufactures diverse products at varying maturity stages — from early NPI prototypes through production ramp to steady-state rate — and each stage demands a different approach to labor measurement. You will decide how time studies are scoped and triggered across the NPI maturity plan (MDP), how standards evolve as products mature from engineering builds to full-rate production, and how changes propagate when an engineering change order (ECO) alters work content. The goal is a system where "what's the labor content?", "is this standard still valid?", and "how did this ECO affect cycle time?" become queries against a maintained, centralized system — not one-off spreadsheets that go stale the week they're delivered.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Own Anduril's enterprise labor standards capability as a long-lived, foundational asset — architecting it for consistency, traceability, and organizational adoption rather than ad-hoc studies.
- Define the enterprise standard for how time studies are conducted: methodology selection (stopwatch, MODAPTS, MTM, video analysis, work sampling), observation protocols, sample sizing, rating and leveling, allowance factors, and documentation requirements — so that any IE across the organization produces a consistent, defensible result.
- Design and deploy standardized tools and formats for time study execution — templates, data collection forms, analysis workbooks, and reporting formats — so that studies are conducted and documented consistently across all sites, products, and business lines.
- Establish and maintain a centralized labor standards repository aligned with existing MES / Tech systems — the single source of truth for all time studies, element-level standards, and labor content data — with governance for how studies are archived, versioned, searched, referenced, and challenged.
- Own the integration between labor standards and MES: define the business process for how validated times are matched to work instruction details, loaded into the MES system, and consumed by production planning, scheduling, and earned-value tracking.
- Define when and how time studies are triggered across the NPI maturity plan (MDP) — from initial engineering estimates through pilot builds to validated production standards — establishing the cadence and criteria for when preliminary standards are set, when formal studies are conducted, and when standards are locked for rate production.
- Build the business process for maintaining labor standards through engineering change (ECO): how an ECO triggers a standards review, how affected operations are identified, how re-study or adjustment is scoped, and how updated times flow back into the MES and downstream systems.
- Conduct and lead the highest-stakes time studies and train BL embedded IEs: new production line stand-ups, rate-readiness validations, cost reduction initiatives, make-vs-buy analyses, and labor content challenges from program management or finance.
- Proactively identify operations with high labor variation, inconsistent standards, or outdated studies; flag these with the appropriate owners and drive re-study or method improvement to resolution.
- Translate labor standards into action: connect validated times to line balancing, staffing models, capacity plans, and cost estimates so that standards aren't just measured but actively drive operational decisions.
- Drive the migration from scattered, inconsistent study files and tribal knowledge to a governed, centralized platform so the whole organization plans against one labor content source of truth instead of divergent local copies.
- Make standards accessible to non-specialists — build the documentation, dashboards, and training that let production supervisors, planners, and program managers understand and trust the numbers.
- Establish how the team leverages AI tools to accelerate standards work — video-based time study analysis, automated element breakdowns, and data extraction from work instructions — with appropriate validation guardrails.
- Mentor other engineers on time study methodology and raise the bar for labor measurement discipline across the manufacturing organization.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 6+ years of experience developing and maintaining labor standards in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, with hands-on proficiency in multiple time study methodologies (stopwatch time study, MODAPTS, MTM, predetermined time systems, video analysis, or work sampling).
- Deep understanding of time study fundamentals: element breakdown, performance rating/leveling, allowance determination (PFD), sample size calculation, and the statistical basis for defensible standards.
- Experience designing and deploying standardized time study processes, tools, and templates across an organization — not just conducting studies, but building the system that scales the capability.
- Demonstrated experience integrating labor standards with MES, ERP, or production planning systems — loading times matched to work instructions/routings and maintaining accuracy as products and processes change.
- Strong understanding of how labor standards connect to downstream IE deliverables: line balancing, capacity planning, staffing models, and cost estimation.
- Ability to read technical documentation including work instructions, assembly drawings, process specifications, and manufacturing procedures for electronic, mechanical, and electromechanical assembly.
- A track record of building tools, processes, or systems that others actually used and maintained — evidence you think about organizational adoption, governance, and longevity, not just the study itself.
- Ability to work in ambiguity and communicate measurement uncertainty clearly, translating technical output into a clear recommendation for non-technical decision-makers.
- Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's or advanced degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
- Experience standing up a centralized labor standards capability from scratch — methodology selection, repository architecture, MES integration, governance, training, and organizational adoption.
- Experience managing labor standards through NPI maturity stages — from engineering estimates through pilot validation to locked production standards — and through engineering change management (ECO/ECN) processes.
- Prior work in high-mix, complex manufacturing or defense/aerospace environments where product diversity and design iteration create unique challenges for standards maintenance.
- Proficiency with data analytics and visualization tools (Python, SQL, Power BI) for analyzing labor data, identifying trends, and reporting standards health across the organization.
- Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, and Six Sigma principles — particularly standard work, waste identification, and method improvement driven by time study data.
- Knowledge of learning curve theory and its application to NPI labor forecasting in low-volume, high-mix production environments.
- Experience with video-based time study tools and software for motion analysis and element-level time capture.
- Experience integrating labor standards with earned value management (EVM) or production cost accounting systems.
- Prior experience mentoring engineers or setting technical standards for a team.
- Active security clearance, or ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.
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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