Wargaming Research Systems Specialist (Game Designer)

The Advanced Capabilities team at Anduril develops operationally relevant wargaming and training to customers in multiple regions. This position is in a new simulation center in Abu Dhabi to provide training and simulation services to partners and customers in the region.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are looking for a Wargame Designer to join our growing team in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Initial role will be in London, UK, while the simulation center is being constructed. In this role, you will:

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Research, design, and develop operationally relevant wargames within the Air Maneuver Dominance / Advanced Capabilities team, working directly with EDGE and the Emirati Ministry of Defense to translate customer objectives and operational problems into structured, immersive wargames built in Anduril’s own proprietary modeling and simulation tools and Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality software. You will own scenario design end-to-end, including operational context, orders of battle, friendly and adversary forces, objectives, timelines, victory conditions, and the analytic questions each event is meant to answer.
• Run and facilitate in-depth multi-day Wargaming Exercises, serving as the designer and control cell lead for planning, preparation, execution, and recovery. You will drive game play, adjudicate outcomes, manage friendly and opposition moves and injects, and adapt scenarios in real time to keep events challenging, credible, and aligned to customer learning objectives.
• Build and maintain a reusable library of wargame scenarios, models, and content in Anduril M&S and AR/VR software, refining and improving processes across our Software, Hardware, Logistics, Growth, and Engineering teams so that events can be rapidly configured, repeated, and scaled from small demonstrations to large exercises without loss of fidelity.
• Design and implement structured After-Action Reviews and user feedback loops to gather, triage, and prioritize insights, requirements, and challenges surfaced during wargames, exercises, and daily corporate demo use, and turn those findings into concrete improvements to scenarios, adjudication logic, and event delivery.
• Provide input to product and engineering teams to drive the development of features, models, and configurations that enhance or greatly improve Anduril’s wargaming, mission simulation, and Virtual Warfare products while you advocate for the tools and content designers need to build better wargames faster.
• Support end-users in understanding advanced warfare concepts through the development of relentlessly improving wargame content, integration into existing Anduril and customer systems, and delivery of effective events that maximize engagement and learning while minimizing the impact of hardware or software issues on the experience.
• Develop and contribute to an Advanced Capabilities team that includes cross-functional representation from Project and Program Managers, Operations Analysts, Mission Simulation Engineers, Wargaming Engineers, Design/Artists, senior Air Maneuver Dominance team and corporate leadership, other business lines, as well as customers. You will be critical to ensure the team continues to improve, refine, and streamline how wargames are designed, delivered, and learned from across both small-scale demos and large-scale exercises and events.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven experience designing, developing, and running wargames, structured analytic exercises, or operational training scenarios across a diverse set of clients, teams, roles, and operational environments while providing excellent customer service to the Air Maneuver Dominance business line (primary) as well as additional business lines (Secondary).
• Demonstrated comfort communicating effectively both internally and externally: on the team, as well as across Anduril’s many other business lines, software platforms, organizations and clients.
• Experience with scenario design, complex problem solving, proactive planning, rehearsals, and troubleshooting to ensure a seamless, transparent customer experience. Successful teammates have demonstrated a level of ‘healthy paranoia’ that borders on OCD-level attention to detail and obsession with ensuring the wargame plausible, repeatable, controllable, and without breaking, before putting customers inside Anduril’s immersive wargaming and VR/AR world.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain associated country background check and security clearance to support increasingly complex and potentially classified exercises.
• Willingness to travel, be based in the UAE, and participate in collaboration with teammates in the UK and USA.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience designing and building wargames or simulations in government or civilian wargaming or simulation software such as AFSIM, SIMDIS, DCS, or comparable constructive, virtual, or gaming-engine platforms.
• Experience and familiarity with military operations, tactics, techniques, procedures, and hierarchies for both friendly and adversarial forces.
• Familiarity with Confluence, Jira, Slack, Quip, MS Office and Zoom as means to organize data and communicate across our teams effectively.
• Experience building trust with clients and teammates quickly and effectively under sometimes stressful conditions.
• Prior military or government experience, particularly in wargaming, operational planning, red teaming, or exercise design.