Four notable companies announced funding rounds last week, with implications for job seekers in defense:

On Tuesday, ASI (formerly Air Space Intelligence) raised a $325M Series C at a $3B valuation, led by Spark Capital. ASI’s AI predicts and plans complex operations: air traffic, power grids, and military command. It has an $875M FAA contract and a $99M Army contract for Next Generation Command and Control. ASI has 32 open roles on their careers page.

On Thursday, Xona Space Systems raised a $250M Series D at a $2.45B valuation, led by Future Ventures. Xona builds Pulsar, a navigation network in low Earth orbit. It launched six more satellites last week, and four of them will serve customers in 2027. Xona has 54 open roles.

Also on Thursday, Warhound launched with a $200M seed at a $1.2B valuation. Backers include Sequoia, In-Q-Tel, and 8VC. Warhound plans to breed working dogs for the military and first responders, and pair them with gear from Anduril. No jobs yet…

On Friday, Arda Industries came out of stealth with $232M: a $160M Series A at a $1.5B valuation, co-led by Altimeter, Accel, and Khosla, plus a $72M seed. Arda’s software turns a CAD design into assembly-line instructions, and updates them when the design changes. Anduril is its first customer. No jobs just yet… but a stacked team.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Anduril (autonomy) - Manager, Proposals and Capture - Washington, DC

Fictiv (on-demand manufacturing) - Regional Sales Director, Territory Sales - Remote

HiddenLayer (AI security) - Director of Federal Sales - Washington, DC

Impulse Space (in-space transportation) - National Security R&D Growth Manager - Redondo Beach, CA

Machina Labs (robotic manufacturing) - Head of Business Development, Defense Primes - Los Angeles, CA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear) - Senior Director, Sales & Customer Management - Everett, WA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Arbor (next gen turbines) - Head of Policy and Public Affairs - Remote

Chaos Industries (radars and sensing) - Director, Government Affairs - Washington, DC

Divergent (additive manufacturing) - VP, Washington Operations - Washington, DC

Formlabs (3D printing) - Vice President of Operations - Somerville, MA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Director, Ops Analysis - Washington, DC

SpaceX (launch / internet) - Sr. Government Affairs Manager - Austin, TX

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Apex Space (satellite buses) - Senior Product Operations Manager, Factory X - Washington, DC

Divergent (additive manufacturing) - Principal Product Manager, Design - Torrance, CA

Onebrief (military planning software) - Group Product Manager - Remote

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Deputy Program Manager, Marauder - Franklin, LA / New Orleans, LA / Austin, TX

STR (national security R&D) - Lead Program Manager - Arlington, VA / Woburn, MA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear) - Director, Project Management Office - Everett, WA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer - Austin, TX / El Segundo, CA

HawkEye 360 (RF geospatial intelligence) - Principal RF Electrical Engineer - Herndon, VA

Overview Energy (space-based solar power) - Electrical Engineer / Optics Lab Manager - Ashburn, VA

True Anomaly (space security) - Staff / Senior Propulsion Engineer - Denver, CO / Long Beach, CA

Voyager Technologies (space systems) - Chief Engineer - Mojave, CA

X-Bow Systems (solid rocket motors) - Lead Systems Engineer - Energetic Manufacturing - Luling, TX

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Anduril (autonomy and weapons) - Staff Software Engineer, Navigation and Control - Costa Mesa, CA

Blue Origin (reusable launch) - Principal AI Engineer - Blue Ring - Kent, WA / Renton, WA / Reston, VA

Forterra (ground autonomy) - Lead Software Test Engineer, Safety Critical Embedded Systems - Clarksburg, MD

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Sr. Director, Forward Deployed Engineering - San Francisco, CA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Principal Software Engineer, Mission Design - San Jose, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Staff Engineer, Autonomy Software Integration - San Mateo, CA

Turion Space (maneuverable spacecraft) - Staff Ground Software Engineer - Irvine, CA

📝 Internships

Joby Aviation (electric air taxis) - Electrical Engineer / Mechanical Engineer, Autonomy - San Carlos, CA

Palantir (AI software): Deployment Strategist Intern, Warp Speed / Forward Deployed Software Engineer Intern, Warp Speed / - New York, NY

Scale AI (AI data) - Machine Learning Research Intern - New York, NY / San Francisco, CA

Sierra Space (spaceplanes and space stations) - Flight Software Engineer Intern - Louisville, CO

Ursa Major (rocket propulsion) - 9 Summer internships across propulsion, combustion devices, systems, manufacturing, additive manufacturing, embedded flight software, software, IT, and business process - Berthoud, CO / Longmont, CO / Youngstown, OH

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Pharmaceutical Lab, Crystallization / Construction Management - Los Angeles, CA

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Two companies announced rounds last week, for a total of $215M.

On Tuesday, ICON raised a $200M Series D, co-led by Baillie Gifford and BlackRock. ICON prints buildings with large robots. Most people know it for houses, but the Army is now a big customer. Its careers page lists about 60 roles, most in Austin.

On Thursday, Austin Sensing Company came out of stealth with an $11M seed led by Bow Capital. ASC builds the RF, radar, and acoustic sensors that find drones, and the software that joins them. It has a new 20,000-square-foot factory in Austin. Its job board lists 15 roles, all on-site in Austin.

Defense Tech contracts:

• Hadrian signed a seven-year deal with Lockheed Martin. Hadrian will run 24 machines inside Lockheed’s missile plant in Grand Prairie, Texas, starting with parts for PAC-3 and PrSM.

• Shift5 announced a $99M Army IDIQ for Next Generation Command and Control.

• Epirus won $18M from the Army to put its Leonidas microwave weapon on vehicles.

📍 NYC-area readers: Join us this Wednesday, October 21, for N3: NYC Next-Gen NatSec, an inaugural mixer for the people who build national security in New York. We are hosting it with ACME General, 8090 Industries, and friends, from 5:30 to 8:00pm. RSVP here to get on the list. We hope to see you there.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Austin Sensing Company (counter-drone sensors) - Head of Federal - Austin, TX

Firehawk Aerospace (rocket motors) - Director of Growth, Missile Systems - Addison, TX

Icon Prime (robotic building solutions) - Sr. Capture Specialist I - Austin, TX

Nozomi Networks (industrial cybersecurity) - Sales Enablement Director - Remote

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Director of Business Development, Indo-Pacific Defense Strategy - Honolulu, HI

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Director, Government Relations - Washington, DC

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Head of Hardware Manufacturing Operations - Sunnyvale, CA

Defense Unicorns (secure software delivery) - Director of Federal Operations - Remote

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Sr. Manager, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) - Torrance, CA

Onebrief (military planning) - Principal Contracts Strategist - Remote

Skydio (drones) - Head of Supply Chain & Manufacturing Strategy - San Mateo, CA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Staff Technical Program Manager, Advanced Targeting Systems - Costa Mesa, CA

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Senior Program Manager - Austin, TX / Westminster, CO / El Segundo, CA

HawkEye 360 (RF geospatial intelligence) - Sovereign Program Manager - Herndon, VA

Planet Labs (satellite imagery) - Senior Director, Product Management, Defense and Intelligence - San Francisco, CA / Arlington, VA

Skydio (drones) - Director of Product Management, Platform & Infrastructure - San Mateo, CA

Turion Space (maneuverable spacecraft) - Program Director - Irvine, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - Staff Mechanical Engineer, Structures & Mechanisms - Houston, TX

Blue Origin (space launch) - Principal RF Communications Engineer - Denver, CO

Boom Supersonic (supersonic aircraft) - Principal Manufacturing Engineer, Machining - Centennial, CO

Lunar Outpost (lunar rovers) - RF Communications Engineering IPT Lead - Golden, CO

Overview Energy (energy on orbit) - Optics Lab Manager - Ashburn, VA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Manufacturing Engineering Manager - Austin, TX / Brownsville, TX

Valar Atomics (advanced nuclear) - Staff Mechanical Engineer, Torrance, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Aurelius Systems (counter-drone lasers) - Sr. Robotics Engineer, Controls - San Francisco, CA

Beacon AI (AI flight safety) - Staff Applied AI Engineer, Agentic Systems - San Carlos, CA

Chaos Industries (counter-drone radar) - Senior/Principal Radar Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

Kratos (missile systems) - Principal Software Engineer (UAV Embedded) - Roseville, CA

Merlin Labs (autonomous flight) - Staff Software Integration Engineer - Boston, MA

SpaceX (launch and satellite internet) - Lead Software Engineer, Components Test (Starshield) - Hawthorne, CA

Striveworks (AI ops) - Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Senior DevOps Engineer - Fort Belvoir, VA / Schofield Barracks, HI

📝 Internships

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - 8 internships across mechanical/aerospace, systems, software, mission operations, production, supply chain, legal, and marketing - Houston, TX

Anduril (autonomy) - 3 internships: Flight Test Engineer, Firmware Engineer, and Product Designer - Costa Mesa, CA

Inversion Space (space re-entry vehicles) - 5 internships: RF, avionics software, avionics mechanical, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering - Los Angeles, CA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Ground Software Engineering / Spacecraft Test Engineering - San Jose, CA

Skydio (drones) - 4 internships across embedded software, software, manufacturing software, and process engineering - San Mateo, CA

Xona Space Systems (precision navigation) - Mechanical Engineering Co-op - Burlingame, CA

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

To celebrate the occasion, we’re co-hosting N3: NYC NatSec NextGen in . Request an invite here.

Four defense and space companies announced rounds last week:

On Wednesday, Gallatin AI raised a $50M Series A, led by 8VC and Silent Ventures. That brings its total to $70M. Gallatin’s AI tool, Navigator, plans how supplies move to units in the field. U.S. military units around the world use it, and this summer it signed a deal with III Armored Corps at Fort Hood. Check out the 23 open roles on their careers page.

Fortastra raised a $30M Series A led by First In. Fortastra builds small spacecraft that move on their own to guard friendly satellites. It was founded in 2025 and has already flown two demo missions. Its careers page lists 13 roles.

Also on Wednesday, Furientis raised a $25M seed led by Benchmark, and won its first OTA with the Pentagon. It builds a 100-mile interceptor from car-grade metal parts, off-the-shelf electronics, and its own solid rocket motors. The goal is a price under $250K and 1,000 interceptors a year from each factory. Its job board lists 18 roles in Los Angeles.

On Thursday, Kapta Space raised a $24M Series A led by Washington Harbour Partners and Bison Ventures. The Seattle company builds low-cost satellite radar to track moving targets on land, at sea, and in the air. Its job board lists 12 roles.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Loft Orbital (space infrastructure) - Director, Business Development, Americas - Golden, CO / San Francisco, CA

Machina Labs (robotic manufacturing) - Director, Defense Business Development, Europe & Middle East - Remote

Nominal (engineering test data) - Business Development Lead, OSW and Defense Agencies - New York, NY / Washington, DC

Planet Labs (satellite imagery) - Senior Solutions Architect I, Pre-Sales - US Government Defense & Intelligence - Arlington, VA

Q-CTRL (quantum technology) - Business Development Executive, Quantum Sensing - Los Angeles, CA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Chaos Industries (distributed radar) - Factory Operations Manager - El Segundo, CA

Firehawk Aerospace (rocket motors) - Director of Operations - Lawton, OK

SandboxAQ (AI and quantum technology) - Hiring Experience and Operations Manager - Remote

Stoke Space (fully reusable rockets) - Security Operations Manager - Kent, WA

Stord (fulfillment and logistics software) - VP, GTM Strategy & Operations - Remote

Teledyne FLIR (thermal imaging and sensors) - Director, Technology Strategy and Architecture - Milpitas, CA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Apptronik (humanoid robotics) - Director of Product Management, Software - Mountain View, CA

Chaos Industries (distributed radar) - Program Manager, Long-Range Missile Program - El Segundo, CA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Head of Product, SLS - Somerville, MA

Lambda (AI developer cloud) - Principal Product Manager, Nvidia Technology Partnerships - Bellevue, WA / San Francisco, CA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Senior Program Manager, Missile Warning & Tracking - San Jose, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Anduril (autonomy) - Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Imaging - Waltham, MA

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Senior Staff Mechanical Engineer - Westminster, CO

Epirus (directed energy) - Principal Mechanical Engineer - Torrance, CA

Sila (silicon-anode batteries) - Director of Cell Equipment and Manufacturing Engineering - Alameda, CA

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Principal RF Components Engineer - El Segundo, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Anduril (autonomy) - Staff Software Engineer, Stateful Systems - Seattle, WA

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Sr. Director, Forward Deployed Engineering - Torrance, CA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) - Senior/Principal Mission Software Engineer - Atlanta, GA

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Principal Software Engineer - Woburn, MA

Shift5 (onboard cybersecurity) - Principal Platform Engineer - Arlington, VA

Snorkel AI (AI data platform) - Staff Applied AI Engineer - Enterprise AI Solutions - San Francisco, CA / New York, NY

📝 Internships

Firehawk Aerospace (rocket motors) - 9 internships - Addison, TX / Lawton, OK

Astra (on-orbit mobility) - Winter/Spring Intern (Dec–Apr) - Alameda, CA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Global Operations and Sourcing Program Management - Somerville, MA

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - Battery Test and Test Engineering - Garden Grove, CA

Overland AI (ground autonomy) - Software Engineering Intern - Seattle, WA

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

In this week’s funding / jobs news, four companies raised about $547M:

Quartermaster raised a $140M Series B: $100M in equity and a $40M debt facility from Stifel. Insight Partners led, with Overmatch Ventures new to the round and First Round Capital returning. The Arlington, Virginia company puts SmartMast sensors on ships to track vessels beyond what standard AIS shows. Its careers page lists 16 open roles.

Hertha Metals raised a $133.65M Series A co-led by Khosla Ventures and Doerr Capital. $65M of it came from the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program and the Economic Defense Unit. Hertha makes high-purity iron for the rare earth magnets inside radars, aircraft, and data centers. Its careers page lists 4 roles, all in Conroe, Texas.

Armadin raised a $255.5M Series B at a valuation above $2.5B. Andreessen Horowitz and Accel co-led, and In-Q-Tel joined. Its AI agents act like attackers, for Fortune 500 and government customers. Its careers page lists 20 roles.

Aventra announced a $17.5M Series A led by Konvoy Ventures, with Lavrock Ventures and Booz Allen Ventures. The Virginia company drops guided glide bombs from balloons at 60,000 feet. No public jobs page, yet!

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Vice President of Business Development (Commercial) - El Segundo, CA / Austin, TX / Westminster, CO

Fictiv (on-demand manufacturing) - Senior Enterprise Account Executive, Space Technology - Austin, TX

goTenna (off-grid mesh networking) - USAF Growth Lead / USMC Growth Lead / European Growth Lead - Fairfax, VA

Onebrief (military planning) - Head of Growth, Navy - Remote

Overland AI (off-road ground autonomy) - Proposal Manager - Seattle, WA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Head of Business Line Operations — Tactical Effects - Costa Mesa, CA

Air (defense acquisition software) - People Operations Director - Arlington, VA

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Managing Director, Government Relations — Defense Budgeting - Washington, DC

Rivet Industries (soldier-worn hardware) - Senior Global Supply Chain Manager - San Jose, CA / Bellevue, WA

Strider (strategic intelligence) - Director of Global Communications - Remote

Swift Navigation (precision positioning) - Senior People Operations Manager - San Francisco, CA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Head of Technical Program Management, EW - Costa Mesa, CA

Joby Aviation (electric air taxis) - Staff Program Manager, Advanced Development - Concord, CA

Scale AI (AI data and evaluation) - Product Marketing Lead, Public Sector - Washington, DC

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Lead Program Manager - Boston, MA / Woburn, MA

SpaceX (launch) - Starlink Product Growth Director (Pricing & Monetization Strategy) - Bastrop, TX

Vast (commercial space stations) - Technical Product Manager, Special Projects - Long Beach, CA

Venus Aerospace (hypersonic propulsion) - Deputy Program Manager for Propulsion Development - Houston, TX

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - Staff Mechanical Engineer, Powertrain - Garden Grove, CA

Orbit Fab (in-space refueling) - Mechanical Engineering Manager - Lafayette, CO

Radiant (portable microreactors) - Staff Manufacturing Engineer, DFM - El Segundo, CA

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Staff Manufacturing Engineer, Structures - Long Beach, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Director, Avionics Mechanical Engineering - Seattle, WA

Vast (commercial space stations) - Lead Manufacturing Engineer, Thermal Control Systems - Long Beach, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

BeaconAI (AI copilots) - Staff Software Engineer, AI/LLM - San Carlos, CA

Chaos Industries (radars) - Principal Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

Defense Unicorns (secure software delivery) - Senior Platform Engineer - Springfield, VA

First Resonance (manufacturing software) - Forward Deployed Engineering Leader - Los Angeles, CA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Staff Software Engineer, IR Data Products - Denver, CO

Red Cell (national security incubation) - Senior Software Engineer — Full Stack (TS Clearance) - Washington, DC

Stellar Cyber (security operations) - Principal Software Engineer — Integration - Remote

📝 Internships

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - 13 internships across propulsion, GNC, avionics, flight software, thermal, structures, cybersecurity, and mission operations - El Segundo, CA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - 13 internships across GNC, flight software, electrical, thermal, harness design, mission architecture, BD, and legal - San Jose, CA / Mountain View, CA / Woodbridge, VA

Anduril (autonomy) - Industrial Engineer / Supply Chain - Costa Mesa, CA / Ashville, OH / Fort Collins, CO

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Electrical Engineering, FPGA / Power Electronics - El Segundo, CA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) - Flight Software (Simulation/HITL) / Loads & Dynamics - Los Angeles, CA

K2 Space (high-power satellites) - Supply Chain Internship - Torrance, CA

Nominal (engineering test data) - Instrumentation Engineer Intern - New York, NY / Los Angeles, CA

Seasats (autonomous surface vessels) - Mechanical Engineering Intern - San Diego, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

In this week’s funding / jobs news:

Mesa Quantum announced an $11.8M round led by Playground Global, with DCVC and J2 Ventures. The Boulder, Colorado company makes chip-scale quantum sensors that can keep a drone, a satellite, or a GPS receiver on precise time when GPS is jammed or gone. Mesa does not post jobs on its website but you can contact them directly.

Hubble Network announced a $200M Series C at a $1.6B valuation. The Seattle-based company lets any standard Bluetooth chip talk to a satellite. Hubble flies six satellites now and plans 54 more by the end of 2029. Its careers page shows 7 postings.

TEKEVER made its $580M Series D official at a $6.4B valuation. TEKEVER was founded in Portugal in 2001, is now based in the UK, and builds AI-powered drones for surveillance. It says the US market is a main focus for the new money. Its careers page lists 28 postings.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Apex Space (satellite buses) - Business Development Director, US Government Markets - Los Angeles, CA

Blue Origin (reusable launch) - Senior Manager, Corporate Business Development & Strategic Partnerships - Seattle, WA

Forterra (ground-based autonomy) - Growth Lead, Army Fires - Huntsville, AL

GoTenna (mesh networking) - DHS Growth Lead - Fairfax, VA

Rubrik (data security) - Regional Sales Director, SLED - Remote

Vast (commercial space stations) - Director, Satellite Business Development & Commercialization - Domestic - Long Beach, CA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Apptronik (humanoid robotics) - Principal People Analytics Specialist - Austin, TX

Blue Origin (reusable launch) - Strategy Manager - Seattle, WA

ID.me (digital identity) - Director of Government Affairs, SLED - McLean, VA

Sila (battery materials) - VP, Foundry Operations - Alameda, CA

SpaceX (space launch) - Sr. Government Affairs Manager (National Security) - Washington, DC

Ursa Major Technologies (solid rocket motors) - Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy - Washington, DC

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Principal Product Manager - Westminster, CO

Air (acquisition software) - Vice President of Design - Arlington, VA / Pittsburgh, PA / San Francisco, CA

Overwatch Imaging (airborne / maritime ISR) - Director of Product - Maritime - Hood River, OR / Remote

Recorded Future (threat intelligence) - Director, Product Marketing - Washington, DC

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Staff Technical Program Manager, Tooling & Automation - Long Beach, CA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Senior Program Manager, Shipbuilding - Austin, TX / New Orleans, LA / Arlington, VA + more

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Anduril (autonomy) - Staff Manufacturing Process Engineer - Ashville, OH

Chaos Industries (radar) - Staff Mechanical Engineer - El Segundo, CA / Tucson, AZ

Hubble Network (Bluetooth-to-satellite network) - Senior Embedded Engineer - Space Systems - Seattle, WA

Rainmaker (cloud seeding) - Lead, UAV Integration Technician - El Segundo, CA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear reactors) - Fuel Manufacturing Lead Engineer - Bellevue, WA

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Mechanical Test Engineer, Automation - El Segundo, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Anduril (autonomy) - Chief Engineer, Air Defense, Middle East Programs - Huntsville, AL / Irvine, CA / Seattle, WA + more

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Staff Software Engineer – Test Automation & Infrastructure - Austin, TX

Loft Orbital (space infrastructure) - Director of Embedded Software & FPGA Engineering - Golden, CO

Teledyne FLIR (thermal imaging) - Director, Software Engineering - Goleta, CA

Vannevar Labs (AI for defense) - Senior Full-Stack Engineer, Product (TS/SCI Required) - New York, NY

📝 Internships

Apex Space (satellite buses) - Sensors Team Internship (Spring or Summer 2027) - Los Angeles, CA

Hawkeye 360 (RF data) - Space Team Intern - Herndon, VA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) - Build Reliability Engineering (Atlanta, GA) and Propulsion Test Engineering (Jacksonville, FL)

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Applied Science Intern (Summer 2027) - Woodbridge, VA

Overview Energy (space-based solar power) - Mechanical Engineering, Optics, and Policy - Ashburn, VA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Supply Chain Intern (Summer 2027) - Franklin, LA / Austin, TX

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Two big rounds last week, both putting the money in the same place: the factory floor.

Impulse Space announced a $308M Series D extension. That brings the full Series D to $808M. The Redondo Beach company, led by founder Tom Mueller, builds the Mira spacecraft and the Helios kick stage. In July, Helios won a place in the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1, and Space Systems Command added $28M for two more VICTUS SALO missions. The careers page lists 193 open postings today.

Rapta closed an $8M round led by Voyager Capital and Access Venture Partners. The Lake Oswego, Oregon company puts cameras and AI at the assembly station. Its jobs page lists 4 open roles. We put its Senior Software Engineer in the Software section below.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Albedo (LEO satellite imagery) - Business Development & Capture Manager - Broomfield, CO / Washington, DC

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Manager, Growth Operations - Costa Mesa, CA

Fictiv (on-demand manufacturing) - VP, Territory Sales - United States

Infleqtion (quantum computing) - Senior Manager, Proposals - Louisville, CO

Privateer Space (space data / satellites) - Senior Manager, Army Business Development - Remote

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Senior Business Development Manager, Advanced Manufacturing - Long Beach, CA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Head of Operations, Space Orbital Systems - Costa Mesa, CA

Darktrace (AI cybersecurity) - VP, Security & AI Strategy - New York, NY

Regent (electric seagliders) - Director, Government Relations - Washington, DC

Striveworks (AI ops) - Legal and Contracts Operations Manager - Austin, TX

Teledyne FLIR (thermal imaging and sensors) - Sr. Director, Operations - Wilsonville, OR

TerraPower (advanced nuclear reactors) - Manager, Operations Programs - Everett, WA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Director, Program Director, Ground Maneuver - Costa Mesa, CA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Head of Software Product Management - Somerville, MA

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Principal Program Manager - Arlington, VA

Snorkel AI (AI data platform) - Staff Product Manager, Data Products - San Francisco, CA

Teledyne FLIR (thermal imaging and sensors) - Director, Product Line Management - San Diego, CA

Zoox (autonomous vehicles) - Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager, Compute Hardware - Foster City, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

K2 Space (high-power satellites) - Principal Electrical Manufacturing Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

Lambda (AI developer cloud) - Staff Mechanical Engineer - San Francisco, CA

Overland AI (off-road ground autonomy) - Head of Production - Seattle, WA

SpaceX (launch and satellite internet) - Principal Electrical Engineer, AI Satellites (Starmind) - Bastrop, TX

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

BeaconAI (AI copilots) - Lead Software Engineer, Advanced Pilot Assistant Software - San Carlos, CA

Forterra (ground-based autonomy) - Senior Software Engineer, Platform Integration - Arlington, VA

Rapta (manufacturing quality assurance) - Senior Software Engineer - Portland, OR / Remote

Seasats (autonomous surface vessels) - Senior Software Systems Engineer - San Diego, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy — Behavior and Motion Planning - San Diego, CA

Sierra Space (space infrastructure) - Principal Software Engineer, Ground Software - Centennial, CO

📝 Internships

Anduril (autonomy) - 6 internships and co-ops in flight software, manufacturing, mechanical, software, and program management - Costa Mesa, CA / Lexington, MA / Washington, DC + more

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - 5 internships in electrical, mechanical, mission operations, software, and systems engineering - Houston, TX

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - 11 internships across RF, FPGA, power electronics, GNC, embedded software, manufacturing, and finance - Austin, TX / Westminster, CO

Gecko Robotics (robotic infrastructure inspection) - 4 internships in AI/ML, embedded, full-stack, and test engineering - Pittsburgh, PA / New York, NY

Lunar Outpost (lunar rovers) - 11 internships across robotics, electrical, embedded and ground software, simulation, thermal, and business development - Golden, CO

Nominal (engineering test data) - Mission Dev Engineer Intern (Summer 2027) - New York, NY

Vannevar Labs (AI for defense intelligence) - MBA Intern Summer 2027 (Mission Lead, Clearance Required) - Remote

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Three rounds landed inside 48 hours last week.

On Wednesday, Covenant came out of stealth having raised $250M across three rounds at a valuation above $1B, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, 8VC, Aleph, and Lightspeed. The product is Anthem, a long-range strike missile built mostly from commercial off-the-shelf parts. 105,000 square feet in Grand Prairie, Texas, 1,000 missiles out of it in the first year, another 1,000 from a German line starting in Q1 2027, and roughly $150M already booked — including a ~$70M agreement with the Navy’s Rapid Capabilities Office for a maritime variant. (30+ roles)

The same day, Poseidon Aerospace raised a $60M Series A led by TQ Ventures, with JAWS, G Squared, Hanwha Asset Management USA, Starship Ventures, Drover Ventures, and Draper Associates. The Bay Area company designs cargo aircraft from scratch instead of retrofitting existing planes. Money goes to flight testing and production of the Egret cargo drone and to the Heron seaplane variant. Total raised is now above $70M. (20+ roles)

A day later, Mach Industries added $600M to its Series C at a $3.7B valuation — double what it was worth in June — from Ribbit Capital, Infinite Capital, Bedrock Capital, and Sequoia. Mach runs a 115,000-square-foot plant at its Huntington Beach headquarters, with more sites in Victorville and San Luis Obispo.(100+ open roles)

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

AIC (industrial HoldCo) - Head of Business Development - Brooklyn, NY / El Segundo, CA

Apex Space (satellite buses) - Business Development Director, US Government Markets - Washington, DC / Denver, CO

Epirus (directed energy) - Vice President, Marketing & Communications - Torrance, CA / Washington, DC

ID.me (digital identity) - Director, Head of Revenue Operations - Mountain View, CA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Director of Growth Operations - Arlington, VA / San Jose, CA

Stord (fulfillment software) - Director of Business Development - Remote

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Legal Operations Manager - Sunnyvale, CA

Firefly Aerospace (lunar landers) - Composite Operations Manager - Briggs, TX

Formlabs (3D printing) - Senior Manager, Digital Strategy - Somerville, MA

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - IT Operations Lead - Los Angeles, CA / Torrance, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Lead Program Finance - Dallas, TX

SpaceX (space launch / internet) - Sr. Manager, Supply Chain (Data Operations) - Palo Alto, CA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Divergent (digital manufacturing) - Staff Technical Program Manager - Torrance, CA

Lambda (AI developer cloud) - Senior Director, Product Management — Foundations - Bellevue, WA / San Francisco, CA

Rivet Industries (soldier-worn AI hardware) - Deployment Strategist, U.S. Army - Washington, DC

SambaNova Systems (chip performance) - Director of Product, Ecosystem - San Jose, CA

Sila (silicon-anode batteries) - Program Manager - Alameda, CA

Skydio (autonomous drones) - Senior Product Manager, Dock Hardware Platform - San Mateo, CA

Striveworks (AI ops) - Senior Product Manager, AI Infrastructure & Agentic Systems - Austin, TX

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Anduril (autonomy) - Lead Manufacturing Engineer, Propulsion & Energetics - Costa Mesa, CA

Chaos Industries (radar) - Senior Communications Systems Engineer - El Segundo, CA

Inversion Space (space re-entry vehicles) - Engineering Manager, Arc Vehicle Mechanical - Los Angeles, CA

Joby Aviation (electric air taxis) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Advanced Development - Concord, CA

Regent (electric seagliders) - Senior Manager, Composite Production - North Kingstown, RI

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Senior Launch Pad Technician - Cape Canaveral, FL

TerraPower (advanced nuclear reactors) - Senior Manager, Project Controls - Kemmerer, WY

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Apptronik (humanoid robotics) - Principal Robotics Machine Learning Engineer - Austin, TX

Genlogs (freight intelligence) - Director of Software Engineering - Remote

Air (defense acquisition analytics) - Senior AI Engineer - Arlington, VA / Pittsburgh, PA

Red Cell (national security incubation) - Staff DevOps Engineer, Federal/National Security - Remote

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Public Sector - Denver, CO / Honolulu, HI / Washington, DC

Striveworks (AI ops) - Senior Software Engineer (TS/SCI) / Senior Machine Learning Engineer (TS/SCI) - Northern Virginia, VA / Fort Belvoir, VA

📝 Internships

BasePower (distributed home batteries) - 3 internships in factory construction, supply chain tooling, and commercial partnerships - Austin, TX

Impulse Space (in-space transportation) - 22 internships across propulsion, avionics, RF, GNC, software, and manufacturing - Redondo Beach, CA / Boulder, CO / Mojave, CA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - 9 internships in naval architecture, manufacturing, mechanical, electrical, and software - Austin, TX / Franklin, LA

Tanium (endpoint security) - 5 internships in software, technical support, revenue operations, customer success, and sales - Durham, NC / Emeryville, CA / Addison, TX

Vast (commercial space stations) - 3 internships in mechanical/aerospace, manufacturing, and electrical engineering - Long Beach, CA / Hawthorne, CA / Mojave, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Three American defense companies raised money last week, taking in $51.1M.

On Tuesday, Easy Aerial announced a $20M Series B led by Insight Partners, with Entrée Capital and private US investors. The Brooklyn company builds drone-in-a-box systems; a UAS that lives in a weatherproof enclosure and launches itself. Their careers page lists 11 open roles: eight in New York City and three in Belgrade.

Aslan Protects came out of stealth with a $20.8M announcement, co-led by Khosla Ventures and XYZ. Aslan builds AI agents that pose as people inside criminal forums and dark web markets, collecting evidence for the FBI and intelligence agencies. They have 6 open roles and are planning to double their headcount (from 10) by the end of October.

On Wednesday, Critical Materials Group raised a $10.3M seed led by Overmatch Ventures, with Victory Six Advisors and Fulcrum Ventures. CMG builds modular, automation-ready plants for making energetics — the propellants and explosives that go inside everything else. No careers page is live yet.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

GoTenna (mesh networking radios) - USAF Growth Lead - Fairfax, VA

Nominal (engineering test data) - Business Development Lead — U.S. Government - New York, NY / Washington, DC

Planet Labs (satellite imagery) - Senior Business Development Manager, US Department of War - Arlington, VA

PsiQuantum (quantum computing) - Solution Business Development Lead - Palo Alto, CA

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Principal Strategic Account Manager - Arlington, VA

Sift (hardware test observability) - Field Marketing & Growth Lead - San Francisco, CA

Wirescreen (supply chain intelligence) - Senior Account Executive, DoW - Washington, DC

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Arbor (zero-emission baseload power) - Operations — Head of Legal - El Segundo, CA

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - Senior Recruiter - Houston, TX

Chaos Industries (counter-drone radar) - Director, People Operations - El Segundo, CA

Onebrief (military planning) - Operations Manager, U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Washington, DC

Radiant (portable microreactors) - Director of Policy and Government Affairs - Washington, DC

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Senior Program Coordinator, Mission Operations - Austin, TX

Ursa Major (rocket propulsion) - Director of Operations - Berthoud, CO

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Apptronik (humanoid robotics) - Director, Product Learning & Development - Austin, TX

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Senior Program Manager - Melbourne, FL

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Senior EHS Program Manager - Long Beach, CA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear reactors) - Core Component Design Manager, Pinned Assemblies - Bellevue, WA

Yubico (hardware security keys) - Principal Customer Success Manager - Washington, DC

Zeitview (aerial asset inspection) - Senior Product Manager — Asset Insights - San Francisco, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Arbor (zero-emission baseload power) - Sr. Mechanical Engineer — Turbomachinery - El Segundo, CA

Boston Materials (advanced materials) - Principal Engineer, Advanced Manufacturing - Billerica, MA

Impulse Space (in-space transportation) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Kick Stage - Redondo Beach, CA

K2 Space (high-power satellites) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Propulsion - Los Angeles, CA

Loft Orbital (space infrastructure) - Lead Manufacturing Engineer - Golden, CO

Regent (electric seagliders) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer - North Kingstown, RI

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Aalyria (networking) - Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure & Platform - San Francisco, CA

Defense Unicorns (secure software delivery) - Senior Software Engineer — Open Source - Remote

Epirus (directed energy) - Senior Software Engineer — Test - Torrance, CA

Joby Aviation (electric air taxis) - Staff Autonomy Robotics Software Engineer - Santa Cruz, CA / Concord, CA

LeoLabs (space domain awareness) - Senior Software Engineer - Denver, CO / Huntington Park, CA

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Spacecraft Mission Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA / Washington, DC / Huntsville, AL

📝 Internships

Hard to believe, but Summer 2027 postings opened last week. Seven companies posted 73 internships between them. If you are a student, good time to start looking!

Apex Space (satellite buses) - 10 internships across avionics, RF, thermal, mechanical, and software - Los Angeles, CA

Blue Origin (reusable launch) - 27 internships, graduate and undergraduate, across propulsion, GNC, avionics, and manufacturing - Seattle, WA / Denver, CO / Titusville, FL + more

Formlabs (3D printing) - 7 internships in hardware R&D, industrial design, manufacturing, and sourcing - Somerville, MA

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - 6 internships in powertrain manufacturing, cybersecurity, finance, legal, and business systems - Garden Grove, CA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) - 12 internships in GNC, flight software, propulsion, structures, and supply chain - Atlanta, GA / Los Angeles, CA

K2 Space (high-power satellites) - 8 internships in avionics, GNC, RF, electrical, mechanical, and vehicle operations - Los Angeles, CA

Stoke Space (fully reusable rockets) - 3 internships in engineering, software, and operations - Cape Canaveral, FL / Kent, WA / Moses Lake, WA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Two big fundraising announcements this week with jobs implications:

On Tuesday, Ursa Major agreed to go public through a SPAC merger with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. III at a post-deal value of about $2.3B, with at least $350M in PIPE commitments and roughly $110M funded at signing. The money is going to be used to turn the Galeton, Colorado test site into a large-scale solid rocket motor production campus. The company already runs six facilities and about 360 people on nearly 500 acres. (100 Open Jobs)

Two days later, Regent closed a $240M Series B — half equity, half debt — co-led by Mare Liberum and AE Ventures (with Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Japan Airlines, and Giant Step Capital returning). That takes Regent to $340M total. This goes to: the first human flight of the Viceroy seaglider, manufacturing at the Rhode Island plant, and the unmanned Squire.(18 open roles)

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Red Cell (national security incubation) - VP of Defense Solutions & Growth — Clearance Required - Washington, DC

Rivet Industries (soldier-worn AI hardware) - Head of War - Washington, DC

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Sr Proposal Manager - San Diego, CA

Skydio (drones) - Telecom Partnerships & Business Development Lead - San Mateo, CA

Tulip Interfaces (frontline operations software) - Enterprise Account Executive, Aerospace & Defense - Somerville, MA

VAST Data (AI data platform) - Account Executive — Federal - Washington, DC

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Armada (edge compute) - Vice President, Data Center Operations - Bellevue, WA

Firehawk Aerospace (rocket motors) - Senior Operations Manager - Addison, TX

Maybell Quantum (cryogenic infrastructure) - Strategy and Operations - New York, NY

Peregrine (public safety data) - Recruiting Lead - Washington, DC

Picogrid (sensor fusion) - VP of Government Affairs - Washington, DC

Planet Labs (satellite imagery) - Vice President, Revenue Operations - San Francisco, CA

Rubrik (cyber resilience) - VP, Government & Legal Affairs - Washington, DC

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Vice President, Strategy - Arlington, VA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Head of Programs, Space Special Programs - Chantilly, VA / Reston, VA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Head of Software Product Management - Somerville, MA

ID.me (digital identity) - Director of Product Security - Mountain View, CA

LeoLabs (space domain awareness) - Senior Program Manager, National Security Programs - Washington, DC

Lunar Outpost (lunar surface mobility) - Deputy LTVS Program Manager - Golden, CO

Scale AI (AI data and evaluation) - Technical Program Manager, Homeland Layered Defense - Washington, DC

Zoox (autonomous vehicles) - Director, Product Management - Foster City, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Arbor (zero-emission baseload power) - Sr. Mechanical Engineer — Turbomachinery - El Segundo, CA

Blue Origin (reusable launch) - Principal Engineer — Manufacturing Castings - Arlington, WA

Boston Materials (advanced materials) - Principal Engineer, Advanced Manufacturing - Billerica, MA

Impulse Space (in-space transportation) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Kick Stage - Redondo Beach, CA

K2 Space (high-power satellites) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Propulsion - Los Angeles, CA

Loft Orbital (space infrastructure) - Lead Manufacturing Engineer - Golden, CO

Regent (electric seagliders) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer - North Kingstown, RI

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Aurelius Systems (counter-drone laser systems) - Forward Deployed Engineer - San Francisco, CA

BeaconAI (AI copilot for aircraft) - Lead Backend Software Engineer - San Carlos, CA

Forterra (ground autonomy) - Forward Deployed Engineer - Clarksburg, MD

Infleqtion (quantum sensing and computing) - Senior Software Engineer, QRF - Louisville, CO

Ursa Major (rocket propulsion) - Staff GNC Software Engineer - Longmont, CO

Valar Atomics (nuclear power) - Principal Software Engineer - Torrance, CA / Orangeville, UT

Xona Space Systems (LEO precision navigation) - Director of Flight Software Engineering - Burlingame, CA

📝 Internships

Joby Aviation (electric air taxis) - Technical Program Management Intern - San Carlos, CA

Sila (silicon-anode batteries) - FP&A Internship - Alameda, CA

Valar Atomics (nuclear energy) - Apprentice Instrumentation & Electrical Technician Orangeville, UT / Torrance, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

This week the money kept pouring in, with significant amounts heading to factories.

Castelion closed a $1B Series C on Thursday — $800M in equity plus a $250M credit facility — at a $13B valuation, co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Carlyle, and JPMorganChase. The company has booked more than $500M in military contracts since 2022, and now it has to build the Blackbeard missile in quantity. Its careers page is carrying roughly 200 openings.

The same day, Muon Space raised a $250M Series C at a $1.5B valuation, led by Eclipse with Google and Salesforce in the round. Muon put ten roles on the board this week alone — mechanical, FPGA, onboard compute, and an engineering manager for mission mechanical. Their jobs board has over 100 active listings.

A day later, Starcloud added $250M at a $2.3B valuation to put data centers in orbit, with Nvidia joining the round. Thirteen open roles, all engineering, nearly all in Redmond, WA. Satellite work, with AI budgets!

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Defense Unicorns (secure software delivery) - Account Executive — Aerospace & Mission Systems - Remote

Evolved Aerospace (unmanned aerial mission systems) - Senior Executive Director, Strategic Programs & Partnerships - Horseheads, NY

goTenna (off-grid mesh networking) - USAF Growth Lead / USMC Growth Lead / European Growth Lead - Fairfax, VA

Hidden Layer (AI security) - VP of Sales - Remote

Overview Energy (space-based solar power) - Director, National Security Business Development - Ashburn, VA

Recorded Future (threat intelligence) - Regional Director, Federal Sales, DoD and IC - Washington, DC

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Senior Proposals and Capture Manager - Arlington, VA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear) - Senior Manager, Business Development - Bellevue, WA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Business Operations Lead - Costa Mesa, CA

Apex Space (satellite buses) - Head of Talent - Los Angeles, CA

Fuse (fusion energy) - Head of Government Affairs - Washington, DC

HawkEye 360 (RF data analytics) - Director, Commercial Strategy - Herndon, VA

Impulse Space (in-space transportation) - Manager, Test Operations - Redondo Beach, CA

Rivet Industries (soldier-worn AI hardware) - Corporate Development Lead - Washington, DC

Planet Labs (earth data analytics)— Director of Government Affairs — Arlington, VA

Stord (fulfillment and logistics software) - Chief of Staff - Atlanta, GA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Product Designer, Defense - Sunnyvale, CA

Anduril (autonomy)— Head of Production, Autonomous Airpower — Costa Mesa, CA

Loft Orbital (space infrastructure) - Product Manager - San Francisco, CA

Obviant (defense acquisition intelligence) - Founding Product Designer - Arlington, VA

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Lead Program Manager - Arlington, VA

Sphinx Defense (space ground software) - Product Manager, Mission Planning Operations - Chantilly, VA / Colorado Springs, CO / El Segundo, CA

Vast (commercial space stations) - Director, Lunar Programs - Houston, TX / Long Beach, CA

X-Bow Systems (solid rocket motors) - Technical Program Manager, Advanced Development - Luling, TX / Socorro, NM

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Apptronik (humanoid robotics) - Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering - Austin, TX

CHAOS Industries (coherent distributed networks) - Principal Mechanical Engineer - El Segundo, CA

K2 Space (high-power satellites) - Senior Satellite Mechanical Engineer, Optical Structures - Los Angeles, CA

Muon Space (mission-tailored satellites) - Engineering Manager, Mission Mechanical - San Jose, CA

Rainmaker (drone-based cloud seeding) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Salt Lake City, UT

Skydio (drones) - Head of Manufacturing Engineering Automation & Controls - Hayward, CA

Ursa Major (rocket propulsion) - Lead Manufacturing Mechanical Engineer - Berthoud, CO

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Forterra (ground autonomy) — AI Platform Engineer — Arlington, VA

goTenna (off-grid mesh networking) - Forward Deployed Engineer - Fairfax, VA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) - Senior Flight Software Engineer - Atlanta, GA

Istari Digital (digital engineering) - Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer, Deployment Services - Remote

Sandtable (agentic AI for the Army) - Forward Deployed Engineer - Remote

Sierra Space (space infrastructure) - Sr Principal Software Engineer (Clearance Required) - Centennial, CO

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Spacecraft Flight Software Engineer, C++ - El Segundo, CA

📝 Internships

E-Space (space IoT) - RF Product Development Lab Intern / Embedded Software Engineering Intern - Arlington, TX

Formlabs (3D printing) - Electrical Engineering Intern, Winter/Spring 2027 - Somerville, MA

Lambda (AI cloud) - Legal Intern, Fall 2026 - San Francisco, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

This week in market-moving action:

Boeing handed Archer three of its autonomy subsidiaries — Wisk Aero, Insitu, and SkyGrid — and took a nearly 20% stake in Archer in return. Boeing sheds the assets, Archer inherits the ScanEagle line and its old eVTOL rival, and a public company suddenly owns one of the deeper autonomy benches in the sector. (~167 roles)

AEVEX agreed to buy BlackSea Technologies for up to $650M, moving from air ISR into maritime autonomy in one step. Between the two deals, more than $1B of defense autonomy changed hands in 72 hours. (70+ roles)

Neros closed a $250M Series C at a $2.5B valuation, co-led by Sequoia and American Strategic, to scale FPV and interceptor drone production. (65 roles) And Heaviside raised $60M at $600M — three months after leaving stealth on a $28M Series A — alongside a warhead supply deal with Norwegian munitions maker Nammo. (10 roles)

Finally, NODA AI, which we featured last week, landed a $100M contract. Don’t sleep on NODA! (31 roles)

Happy hunting! Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Air (formerly Govini) (defense acquisition intelligence) - Strategic Account Executive, Federal Government West - San Diego, CA

Red 6 (AR flight training) - Senior Director of Business Development, CT2 Programs - Remote

Science & Technology Research (STR) (defense R&D) - Strategic Account Manager - Arlington, VA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Senior Staff BD Account Executive, Hivemind — Federal Civilian Agencies - Washington, DC

Ursa Major (rocket propulsion) - Vice President, Business Development - Berthoud, CO

Vast (commercial space stations) - Business Development Analyst II - Long Beach, CA

Wild West Systems (drone-launched missiles) - Director of Strategic Capture and Growth / Director of International Growth and Capture - Remote

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Avathon (industrial AI) - Director, Talent Acquisition - Austin, TX / Pleasanton, CA

Base Power (distributed energy) - Technical Talent Partner - Austin, TX

Costanoa Ventures (venture investing) - National Security / Deep Tech Investor - San Francisco, CA

Method Security (offensive cyber + AI) - Deployment Strategist - New York, NY / Washington, DC

Sila (silicon anode batteries) - VP, People & Culture - Alameda, CA

Skyryse (flight automation) - Vice President, Operations - El Segundo, CA

Stoke Space (reusable rockets) - Test Ops Manager, Nova Stage 1 & 2 - Moses Lake, WA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - Director, Program Management Office - Houston, TX

FedTech (defense innovation studio) - Project Lead, Defense & Commercial Innovation - Arlington, VA

Loft Orbital Federal (space infrastructure) - Subcontractor Program Manager - Golden, CO

Overwatch Imaging (autonomous airborne ISR) - Product Owner, Tactical - Nashville, TN

Parallel Systems (autonomous rail freight) - Head of Customer Success - Los Angeles, CA

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Staff Product Manager, Software - Long Beach, CA

Senra Systems (aerospace wire harnesses) - Head of Customer Programs - Cypress, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Avionics Manufacturing Engineer III - Cedar Park, TX

Inversion Space (space re-entry vehicles) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

Orbit Fab (in-space refueling) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Mechanisms - Lafayette, CO

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Principal Mechanical Design & Analysis Engineer, Tooling - Long Beach, CA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear) - Technical Lead, Mechanical Engineering Analysis - Bellevue, WA

Wild West Systems (drone-launched missiles) - Mechanical Design Engineer - Leander, TX

Xona Space Systems (precision navigation) - Sr. Mechanical Engineer - Burlingame, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

BeaconAI (AI copilot) - Lead Software Engineer, Advanced Pilot Assistant Software - San Carlos, CA

Gallatin AI (military logistics AI) - Cleared Senior Site Reliability Engineer - Austin, TX

Obviant (defense acquisition intelligence) - Senior AI/ML Engineer - Arlington, VA

Slingshot Aerospace (space domain awareness) - Senior Technical Architect, Data Engineering - Washington, DC

Turbine One (frontline ML) - Senior/Staff Software Engineer, DevOps - Remote

Turion Space (satellite servicing) - Principal Software Engineer, Vehicle Analysis - Irvine, CA

Vannevar Labs (defense AI) - Engineering Manager, AI Platform - Remote

📝 Internships

Anduril (autonomy) — Atlanta, GA / Boston, MA / Costa Mesa, CA:

• Electrical Engineer Intern

• Manufacturing Engineer Intern

• Software Engineer Intern

Apptronik (humanoid robotics) - Robotics Software Intern, Real-Time Controls - Austin, TX

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Launch Site Internship, Fall 2026 - California

Formlabs (3D printing) - Mechanical Engineering Intern, Winter/Spring 2027 - Somerville, MA

PsiQuantum (quantum computing) — Palo Alto / Milpitas, CA:

• Quantum Algorithms and Compilation

• System Architecture

• Optical Packaging and Characterization Engineer

Vast (commercial space stations) - Fall 2026 Supplier Quality Engineering Intern - Long Beach, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Drones (and counter drones) are the name of the game this week!

Europe on the board! Cambridge Aerospace raised $300M Series C at a $3.4B post-money this week, led by DFJ Growth with Lux, Accel, Lakestar, and Elad Gil participating. The British startup builds low-cost interceptors for drones and cruise missiles — the whole pitch being that $500 drones shouldn’t have to be met with $2M missiles. Nearly 50 open roles available.

Similar thesis, smaller check: Aurelius Systems took a $40M Series A co-led by Draper Associates and KAS to scale Archimedes, its autonomous laser c-UAS platform. Aurelius is currently just 19 people but has 16 roles open and a stated plan to double headcount by year-end.

Atlas Motion came out of stealth with $11.5M from Greycroft, building motors and actuators for drones and defense platforms. Hiring still TBD.

And we can’t close out the lede without mentioning manufacturing rockstar Hadrian, which closed $1.37B at a $7.87B valuation on Thursday, its second raise in 13 months. Wunderkind Chris Power has 132 open roles for the factory-curious.

This week’s board skews heavily toward manufacturing and production engineering. If you have been on the fence about a factory-floor role at a venture-backed company, this is the week to look.

Now, onto the jobs…

Featured Job: if you are an experienced Forward-Deployed Engineer who has hacked it at the highest levels and is now looking to be employee #1 in a career-defining role with a heroic founder in the Special Operations, reach out with your resume. Must be technical. Don’t kid yourself!

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Director of Business Development - Austin, TX

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Director, Business Development - Washington, DC / Virginia

NODA AI (autonomy orchestration) - Business Development Manager, Special Operations / Senior Integrated Marketing Manager - Austin, TX

Rainmaker (cloud seeding) - Director of Business Development - Utah - Salt Lake City, UT

Sierra Space (space infrastructure) - Director, Business Development (Clearance Required) - Louisville, CO

Swift Navigation (precise positioning) - Senior Manager Business Development New Markets - San Francisco, CA

Veilant (signature management) - Solutions Engineer - Tysons, VA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Associate Director, International Project Logistics - Costa Mesa, CA / Ashville, OH

Blue Origin (space launch) - Sr. Manager, National Security Space Policy - Arlington, VA

Chaos Industries (sensing systems) - Contracts & Legal Operations Specialist - El Segundo, CA

Defense Unicorns (secure software delivery) - Director Of Space Operations - Remote

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Mission Execution Chief of Staff - San Jose, CA

NODA AI (autonomy orchestration) - Contracts Manager - Austin, TX

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Senior Security Operations Analyst - Austin, TX / San Diego, CA

Zoox (autonomous vehicles) - Manager, City Operations - Miami, FL

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Program Manager, Launched Effects - Atlanta, GA

Apptronik (advanced robotics) - Senior Product Manager, Hardware Platform - Austin, TX

Genlogs (freight intelligence) - Scaled Customer Success Manager - Richmond, VA / Washington, DC / Atlanta, GA

Infleqtion (quantum technology) - Director, Manufacturing and Program Development Operations - Louisville, CO

Overland AI (ground autonomy) - Senior Program Manager - Seattle, WA

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Senior AI Product Manager, Cybersecurity - New York, NY / San Francisco, CA

Sierra Space (space infrastructure) - Sr Director, Production Operations - Satellite and Spacecrafts - Louisville, CO

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Castelion (low-cost strike weapons) - Lead Manufacturing Engineer - Avionics - Torrance, CA

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Senior RF Test Engineer II - Westminster, CO

Epirus (directed energy) - Senior Manager, Manufacturing Engineering - Torrance, CA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Senior Mechanical Engineer - Boston, MA / Somerville, MA

Hgen (clean hydrogen) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

K2 Space (large satellites) - Senior Fluids Manufacturing Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

Radiant (microreactors) - Senior Mechanical Engineer (Structures) - El Segundo, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Lead Software Engineer, Physical AI (Defense) - Arlington, VA

Chaos Industries (sensing systems) - Staff Software Engineer - San Francisco, CA

Forterra (ground autonomy) - Director of DevOps and Tooling - Clarksburg, MD

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Data Platform Engineer / ML Platform Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

NODA AI (autonomy orchestration) - Senior Full Stack Engineer - Austin, TX

Overland AI (ground autonomy) - Director of Software Engineering, Behaviors and Planning - Seattle, WA

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Flight Software Engineer, C++ - El Segundo, CA

📝 Internships

Varda and SpaceX both dropped big 2027 classes this week. Some highlights:

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - all in El Segundo, CA:

• Applications Engineering Internship

• Cybersecurity Internship

• Mechanisms & Payload Internship

• Site Reliability Internship

• Structures Engineering Internship

• Supply Chain Internship

• Vehicle Integration & Test Internship

SpaceX (space launch) - Spring 2027 classes:

• Business Operations Internship/Co-op - Brownsville, TX / Cape Canaveral, FL / Hawthorne, CA

• Civil/Structural Engineering Internship - Hawthorne, CA / Cape Canaveral, FL / Starbase, TX

• Engineering Internship/Co-op - Brownsville, TX

Everyone else:

E-Space (space IoT) - Engineering / Characterization Lab Intern - Arlington, TX

Formlabs (3D printing) - Social Media Engineering Intern (Fall) - Somerville, MA

Impulse Space (in-space mobility) - Avionics Manufacturing Engineering Intern (Fall) - Redondo Beach, CA

Rainmaker (cloud seeding) - Mechanical Engineering Intern (Fall) - El Segundo, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Fresh Capital, Fresh Roles…

Valar Atomics — 54 open roles
Engineering and corporate roles in Hawthorne, CA (e.g., CFD Analyst, Manufacturing Engineer, Fire Protection Engineer, Legal Counsel), while Orangeville is site buildout and nuclear ops (Health Physicist, Plant Operator, Structural Concrete Superintendent, Nuclear Operations Manager).

Mariana Minerals — 64 open roles
$310M Series B led by Khosla, with a16z and Breakthrough Energy participating, bringing total to $400M at a $1.5B valuation. Roles skew SF autonomy engineering (Mechatronics, ML Engineer, Perception), general G&A roles in Houston, TX, and site roles in Moab, UT.

Base Power — 168 open roles
$1B Series D at a $13B post-money (their second billion-dollar round in ten months). The valuation more than tripled in ten months. This is a fast-growing (600+ member) team, and the vast majority of roles are Austin-based and 100% in person.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Blue Origin (space launch) - Sr. Manager, National Security Sales - Arlington, VA / Titusville, FL / Denver, CO

Method Security (autonomous cyber defense) - CYBERCOM Growth Lead - Washington, DC

Mythic (analog AI compute) - VP, Marketing - Palo Alto, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Territory Business Development Manager, Intel/Space Force - Washington, DC

Shift5 (OT observability) - Air Force Strategic Account Executive - Arlington, VA

TurbineOne (frontline machine learning) - Principal, Business Development Marine Corps - Remote

Voyager Technologies (space and defense systems) - Business Development Manager – Space Electronics - San Diego, CA / Long Beach, CA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Head of Aftermarket Strategy & Offering Management, Europe - London, United Kingdom

Base Power (home batteries / power) - Head of Regulatory Policy - Austin, TX

Chainalysis (blockchain data) - Head of Policy, North America - Washington, DC

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - Principal, Capital Markets and Strategy - Garden Grove, CA

Infleqtion (quantum computing) - Director of Accounting Operations - Louisville, CO

Planet Labs (satellite / geospatial data) - Senior Director, Global Talent Acquisition - San Francisco, CA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Armada (edge computing) - Principal Product Manager, AEP Foundation & Partner Platforms - Bellevue, WA

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Senior Quality Manager, Space Systems Production - Texas

Govini (defense acquisition software) - Principal Product Manager, Supply Chain & Sustainment - Arlington, VA / Pittsburgh, PA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Senior Program Manager, Secure Space Data Systems - San Jose, CA

Recorded Future (threat intelligence) - Sr.Product Manager, Threat Intelligence Analytics - London, United Kingdom

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Director of Product Strategy, Physical AI - San Francisco, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Principal Spacecraft Mechanical Engineer - Westminster, CO

Chaos Industries (advanced sensing) - Staff RF Engineer - El Segundo, CA

Divergent (digital manufacturing) - Senior Mechanical Engineer - Torrance, CA

Impulse Space (in-space mobility) - Lead Manufacturing Engineer - Redondo Beach, CA

TerraPower (advanced nuclear) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Fuel - Bellevue, WA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Gallatin AI (military logistics AI) - Infrastructure Engineer - El Segundo, CA / Austin, TX / San Francisco, CA / Washington, DC

Parallel Systems (autonomous rail) - Senior ML Ops Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

Sift (hardware observability) - Senior Software Engineer, Frontend - San Francisco, CA

STR (defense R&D) - Autonomy Algorithms Senior Software Engineer - Woburn, MA / Arlington, VA / Dayton, OH

Striveworks (ML ops) - Senior Data Scientist / Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Senior Software Engineer (all Active TS/SCI) - Northern Virginia

Vannevar Labs (defense intelligence software) - Senior Software Engineer, Full-Stack, Security Platform - Remote

Varda (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Space Ground Systems Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

📝 Internships

Skydio (drones):

• Product Management Intern - San Mateo, CA

• Electrical Engineer Intern - San Mateo, CA

• Product Design Engineer Intern - San Mateo, CA

• Operations Program Management Intern - Hayward, CA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Hardware R&D Engineering Intern (Fall 2026) - Somerville, MA

Impulse Space (in-space mobility) - Precision Cleaning Intern (Fall 2026) - Redondo Beach, CA

Joby Aviation (eVTOL ridesharing) - Flight Test Intern (Dec 2026-Feb 2027) - Marina, CA

Palantir (big data analytics) - Product Designer, Internship - US Government - Palo Alto, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Three security companies raised big money last week and we dove into the hiring implications:

Cathedral, founded by former DOGE staffers, closed $160M at a $1.4B valuation from a16z and Sequoia to build AI for military cyber operations. And, with no public presence, we’ve got nothing for you… yet.

Twenty added a $30M Series B extension from Khosla at $1.2B, barely a month after its $100M Series B. Twenty is hiring 34 people right now — more openings than the 43 cyber roles we track across a dozen companies combined!

• 21 of the 34 are engineering roles, and 24 sit in the DC area.

• Five roles carry “offensive” in the title.

• Two require TS/SCI on day one.

Glow emerged from stealth with $180M at $1.2B, led by Sequoia and Cyberstarts. They have 14 openings, out of Tel Aviv and Palo Alto.

We’ll keep an eye on how news impacts hiring, whether on the private or public side, so keep us posted on any “scoops!”

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Sales & Capture Manager — Voyager - Costa Mesa, CA / Seattle, WA / Washington, DC

Castelion (advanced weapons) - Director, Business Development – Air Force Programs - Washington, DC

Forterra (autonomous ground vehicles) - Growth Lead - Washington, DC

GenLogs (freight intelligence) - Head of Pre Sales - Chicago, IL

NuQuatnum (quantum computing) - Head of U.S. Business Development - DC / VA / Boston, MA

Onebrief (military planning) - Director of Communications - Washington, DC

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Business Development Manager, Special Operations (SOCOM) - Tampa, FL

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Cesium Astro (communications systems) - Strategy Analyst - Austin, TX

CHAOS Industries (distributed networking) - Technical Operations Team Lead - El Segundo, CA

Epirus (directed energy) - Legal Operations Manager - Torrance, CA

Istari Digital (digital engineering) - Deployment Strategist - Washington, DC / Huntsville, AL / El Segundo, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Director of AI Operations & Governance - Remote

TurbineOne (frontline AI) - Field Operations Manager - Remote

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Technical Program Manager - Core Autonomy - Sunnyvale, CA

Darktrace (AI native cybersecurity) - Director of Customer Experience Programs - Miami / NYC / Virginia

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Project Manager, Launch - Cedar Park, TX

Lamda (AI cloud infrastructure) - VP, Product Marketing - San Francisco / San Jose, CA

Planet Labs (satellite / geospatial data) - Senior Manager of Product, Imagery - San Francisco, CA

Swarm Aero (UAV swarms) - PLM Architect, Teamcenter - Oxnard, CA

Umbra (space systems) - Program Manager - Arlington, VA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Lead, Manufacturing Engineering, DFM - Los Angeles, CA

Inversion Space (space re-entry vehicles) - Senior Mechanical Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

Joby Aviation (eVTOL ridesharing) - Staff Manufacturing Technology Engineer - San Carlos, CA

Machina Labs (robotic craftsmen) - Senior Mechanical Engineer – Aerospace & Defense - Los Angeles, CA

RISE Robotics (electric actuation) - Senior Mechanical Design Engineer - Somerville, MA

Swarm Aero (UAV swarms) - Senior Structures Design Engineer / Materials & Process Engineer, Composites R&D - Oxnard, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Beacon AI (AI for pilots) - Lead Software Engineer, Advanced Pilot Assistant Software (Autonomy/Robotics) - San Carlos, CA

Kaizen (government services software) - Senior Software Engineer - New York, NY

Red Cell Partners (incubation) - Staff Software Engineer (Product + Platform Development) - Seattle, WA / McLean, VA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration, Emerging Domains - Washington, DC / San Diego, CA / Boston, MA

Sift (telemetry observability) - Senior Software Engineer, Full Stack (Agentic AI) - San Francisco, CA

Varda (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Spacecraft Embedded Linux Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

📝 Internships

Apptronik (advanced robotics) - Software Engineer Intern - ML Systems - Austin, TX

HyperLight (photonics) - Software Engineer Intern - Cambridge, MA

Impulse Space (in-space mobility) - Manufacturing Data Analytics Intern - Redondo Beach, CA

Joby Aviation (eVTOL ridesharing) - Product Support Engineering Intern - Santa Cruz, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Good morning! Before we get into this week’s roles, we’ve got a Featured Job courtesy of the US Air Force:

DAF CDAO, Enterprise AI Lead (GS-14) — National Capital Region

The Department of the Air Force Chief Data & AI Office is hiring an Enterprise AI Lead to drive implementation of enterprise AI capabilities against broad-reaching requirements. The ideal candidate speaks AI well enough to hold their own with Tier 1 vendors, and brings enough in-government (or adjacent) experience to navigate bureaucratic barriers. NCR, in-person, PCS available.

To apply, respond by email with your resume.

Let’s go! Onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Divergent (digital manufacturing) - Principal, Business Development Operations & Strategy - Torrance, CA

Fortaegis Technologies (ultra-secure semiconductors) - Executive Director, Defense & Federal Business Development and Sales - Washington, DC / Northern VA

Red Cell Partners (incubation) - Senior Enterprise Sales Executive - Washington, DC

Second Front (government SaaS) - Commercial Sales Account Executive - Washington, DC

Turbine One (frontline AI) - Principal, Business Development Special Operations Command (socom) - Washington, DC

Versa Networks (SASE / networking security) - Head Of Field & Channel Marketing - Santa Clara, CA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - Talent Director - Houston, TX

Cape (private mobile carrier) - Head Of Government Relations - Washington, DC

Lambda (AI developer cloud) - Senior Director, Project Controls - Remote

Picogrid (sensor networks) - Head Of People - El Segundo, CA

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Head Of International Security - London, England

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Director Of AI Operations & Governance - Remote

Sphinx Defense (defense software) - Senior Technical Recruiter - Remote

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Program Director, Dive XL - Costa Mesa, CA

Apptronik (advanced robotics) - Director of Product Management, Hardware - Austin, TX

Fictiv (supply chain) - Principal Product Manager, AI & Intelligent Manufacturing Systems - Oakland, CA

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Director, National Security Space Programs - Austin, TX

Lambda (AI developer cloud) - Principal Product Manager, Hardware - Bellevue, WA

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Forward Deployed Product Manager, Public Sector - New York, NY

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Director, Manufacturing Operations, Imaging - Waltham, MA

Divergent (digital manufacturing) - Principal Manufacturing Engineer - Torrance, CA

FormLabs (3D printers) - Senior Mechanical Engineer - Somerville, MA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) - Components Manufacturing Engineer - Los Angeles, CA

Lunar Outpost (lunar robots) - Principal RF Engineer - Golden, CO

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Senior Software Engineer, World Modeling & Simulation - Arlington, VA

Chaos Industries (sensing & detection) - AI Engineer, Physical Systems And Sensing - El Segundo, CA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Security Engineer, AI Platform Engineering - Austin, TX

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Agent Oversight - San Francisco, CA

STR (defense R&D) - Senior Machine Learning Engineer - Arlington, VA

Umbra (space data) - Senior Flight Software Engineer (rust) - Santa Barbara, CA

📝 Internships

Formlabs (3D printing) - Fall 2026 - Somerville, MA:

• AI Software Intern

• Algorithms Software Intern

• Supply Chain Operations Software Intern

• Test Software - Manufacturing Intern

Xona Space (precision navigation) - Burlingame, CA:

• Mechanical Engineering Co-Op

• Mechanical Engineering Intern

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Massive moment for defense tech as defense darling Saronic sees combat employment in Hormuz.

Yesterday, CENTCOM confirmed that three Corsair attack drones struck Bandar Abbas in an historic first.

Congratulations to the teams involved. Ready to get involved?

Let’s go! Onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Dataiku (data science) - Enterprise Account Executive - Federal / Public Sector - Washington, DC

Divergent (additive manufacturing) - Sr. Principal, Business Development & Head of Air Force Strategy - Torrance, CA

K2 Space (large satellites) - Business Development Director - Los Angeles, CA

Red 6 (AR training) - Director of Business Development - Orlando, FL

Sierra Space (space infrastructure) - Director, Business Development, National Security Space - Remote, VA

Swift Navigation (GNSS positioning solutions) - Director, Sales and Business Development, Autonomous Platforms and New Mobility - San Francisco, CA

Whisper Aero (electric propulsion) - Business Development Manager, Defense - Nashville, TN

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Base Power (energy) - Deployment Finance & Business Operations - Austin, TX

Broadcom (semiconductors) - Director, AI & Automation – Channel Business Operations - Remote

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Deployment Strategist - Los Angeles, CA

SpaceX (space launch) - Sr. Satellite Policy Manager (Starlink Mobile) - Washington, DC

Vannevar Labs (AI / OSINT tools) - Government Relations Manager (cleared) - Washington, DC

Whisper Aero (quiet electric propulsion) - Head of People - Nashville, TN

Zoox (autonomous vehicles) - Team Lead, Fusion Center Operations - Scottsdale, AZ

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Staff Product Manager, Ghost - Costa Mesa, CA

Overwatch Imaging (sensor autonomy) - Product Owner, Maritime - Hood River, OR

SandboxAQ (AI + quantum) - Sr. Director of Product Management, Core Platform - Remote

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Product Documentation Lead - Austin, TX

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Senior Technical Program Manager, Robotics - San Francisco, CA

Sphinx Defense (space software) - Cybersecurity Lead / Sr. Program Manager - Chantilly, VA

Zoox (autonomous vehicles) - Staff Technical Program Manager, Powertrain & Thermal - Foster City, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

CX2 (electronic warfare) - RF Hardware Engineer - El Segundo, CA

E-Space (space IoT) - Senior Mechanical Engineer — Antenna Systems - Saratoga, CA

Joby Aviation (eVTOL aerial ridesharing) - Final Integration Manufacturing Engineer - Marina, CA

Relativity Space (3D-printed rockets) - Sr. Additive Manufacturing Engineer, PBF - Long Beach, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Test - X-BAT - Dallas, TX

SpaceX (space launch) - Lead Mechanical Engineer (Starship) - Starbase, TX

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Senior C++ Software Engineer (Defense Autonomy) - Arlington, VA

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Software Engineering Director, Infrared Data Products - San Jose, CA

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Staff Software Engineer - New York, NY

Snorkel AI (AI data platform) - Staff Software Engineer, Expert Contributor Lifecycle - Redwood City, CA

SpaceX (space launch) - Principal AI Engineer, Special Programs - Washington, DC

Sphinx Defense (space software) - Chief Engineer / Software Systems Architect - Chantilly, VA

📝 Internships

Exowatt (modular solar energy) listed a handful of internships this week, including:

• Software Engineering Intern — Agent Platform (AI) (Austin, TX)

• Software Engineering Intern — Inventory Automation & IoT/Robotics (Austin, TX)

• Supply Chain & Manufacturing Intern — Facilities & EHS (Austin, TX)

• Business Development Intern (Miami, FL)

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - Intern, Power Electronics Engineering - Garden Grove, CA

Joby Aviation (eVTOL ridesharing) - Quality Engineering Intern - Marina, CA

Palantir (big data analytics) - Forward Deployed Infrastructure Engineer, Internship - US Government - Washington, DC

Vannevar Labs (defense intelligence software) - Public Policy & Community Affairs Intern - Honolulu, HI

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

This week, Helsing’s US office staffs up, Skyborne Technologies enters our list, and the defense tech growth cycle rolls along.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Formlabs (3D printing) - Senior Manager, Marketing Strategy - Somerville, MA

Merlin (autonomous flight) - Director, Business Development - Washington, DC

Planet Labs (satellite / geospatial data) - Senior Solutions Architect, Pre-Sales (South Korea Defense & Intelligence) - Remote

Radiant (microreactors) - Business Development Manager - El Segundo, CA

Skyborne Technologies (unmanned systems) - Field Service Representative - McLean, VA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Manager, M&A People Integration - Washington, DC

BasePower (electric grid) - Go To Market Finance & Business Operations - Austin, TX

Fictiv (manufacturing automation) - Vice President, Commercial Strategy - Remote

Relativity Space (reusable rockets) - Director, Internal Communications - Long Beach, CA

Vannevar Labs (decision advantage tools)- People Lead - Remote

Xona Space Systems (precision navigation) - Lead Recruiter - Burlingame, CA

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Anduril (autonomy) - Head of Production, Imaging - Waltham, MA

Apptronik (advanced robotics) - Product Manager, Human Robot Interaction - Austin, TX

Fictiv (manufacturing automation) - Principal Product Manager, AI & Intelligent Manufacturing Systems - Oakland, CA

Formlabs (3D printing) - Head of Software Product Management - Somerville, MA

RTI (realtime data streaming) - Senior Product Manager - Denver, CO

Sarcos (defense robotics) - Senior Product Marketing Manager, Defense & Partnerships - Salt Lake City, UT

TerraPower (nuclear reactor tech) - Reactor Components Design Lead - Bellevue, WA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

BRINC Drones (public safety drones) - Principal Mechanical Engineer, Hardware - Seattle, WA

Castelion (hypersonic strike systems) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Solid Rocket Motors - Torrance, CA

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Master PCB Designer (Power) - Austin, TX

Relativity Space (additive manufacturing / rockets) - Staff Avionics Mechanical Engineer - Long Beach, CA

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Principal Manufacturing Engineer, Avionics/Electromechanical/Harnessing - El Segundo, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Auterion (drone software) - Senior Software Engineer, Radio Systems - Zurich, Switzerland

Helsing (AI for defense) - Washington, DC:

• Software Engineering roles for: Rust | Platform Engineering | DevSecOps

• Sr Engineering Roles for: Design | Navigation | RF

K2 Space (large satellites) - Principal Application Software Engineer - Seattle, WA

Loft Orbital (space infrastructure) - Backend Engineer, Mission Operations Services - Golden, CO

Recorded Future (threat intel) - Senior Platform Engineer - Boston, MA

📝 Internships

Castelion (hypersonic strike systems) - Electrical Engineer Intern – Fall 2026 (Avionics) - Torrance, CA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft): Structures/Mechanical Engineering Intern / Flight Test Operations Pilot Intern - Atlanta / Los Angeles

Palantir (big data analytics) - Privacy and Civil Liberties Software Engineer, Internship - New York, NY

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Two searhces we’re supporting this week:

1. GM / US Lead for a world-class drone company

2. Whiz-Bang Program Manager for a company shepherding the adoption of unmanned systems to the US government

Please respond to this email (or email noah@frontdoordefense.com) with your resume and a brief statement of interest.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Anduril (autonomy) - Associate Director, Business Development - Remote

BasePower (energy grid) - Growth Lead, Base Energy - Austin, TX

Compound Eye (perception solutions) - Marketing Specialist - Redwood City, CA

Orca AI (shipping operations) - Business Development Director - Remote

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Head of Field Marketing And Events, Gen AI - San Francisco, CA

Strider (supply chain intelligence) - VP of Government & Public Sector Sales - Tysons, VA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

BasePower (energy grid) - Lead, Deployment Operations - Austin, TX

BRINC Drones (public safety drones) - Head of People - Seattle, WA

Chaos Industries (distributed networking) - Chief of Staff, Manufacturing - El Segundo, CA

Defense Unicorns (DevSecOps tooling) - Director, RevOps - Remote

Scale AI (AI data platform) - Head of Global Policy - SF / DC

Stord (fulfillment software) - Head of Billing & Revenue Operations - Remote

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Beacon AI (pilot assistant AI) - Product Designer - San Carlos, CA

Firehawk Aerospace (propulsion systems) - Program Manager - Addison, TX

Genlogs (truck intelligence) - Customer Success Manager - ATL / Richmond / DC

Senra Systems (wire harnesses) - Head of Customer Programs - Cypress, CA

Sila Nano (battery materials) - Staff Technical Program Manager - Alameda, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Subsystem Integration & Test - Costa Mesa, CA

Boston Materials (advanced composites) - Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Billerica, MA

Capella Space (SAR imagery) - Staff Manufacturing Engineer, Spacecraft - Louisville, CO

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Manufacturing Engineer, Composites - Cedar Park, TX

Salient Motion (actuation systems) - Principal Mechanical Engineer - Torrance, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Senior Software Engineer - Sunnyvale, CA

Apptronik (advanced robotics) - Senior Robot Platform Software Engineer, Perception - Austin, TX

Divergent (digital manufacturing) - Staff Full Stack Software Engineer - Torrance, CA

Lambda (AI developer cloud) - Staff Software Engineer — Infrastructure Storage - San Francisco, CA

Swarm Aero (swarming UAV) - Forward Deployed Engineer / Full Stack Engineer - Remote

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Controls And Automation Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

📝 Internships

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) — Software Test / Health, Safety & Environment - Cedar Park, TX

Formlabs (3D printing) — Manufacturing Test Software - Somerville, MA

Hermeus (hypersonic aircraft) — Structures/Mechanical Engineering Intern / Flight Test Operations Pilot - Atlanta, GA

Joby Aviation (eVTOL ridesharing) — Marketing & Communications Intern / Financial Analyst Intern - Marina, CA

Impulse Space (in-space transport) — Test Automation Intern - Redondo Beach, CA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) — IT Intern - Austin, TX

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Another fun subscriber milestone this week — if you like DTJ, check out Crossing the Valley for in-depth conversations with the minds behind these companies and products!

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Proposal Manager - Washington, DC

ID.me (digital identity) - Head of Marketing Data and Measurement - Mountain View, CA

Formlabs (3d printing) - VP, Brand & Narrative Marketing - Somerville, MA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Senior Business Development Lead, Nordics - Denmark

Snorkel AI (AI data platform) - Mission Account Executive – Intelligence Community - Washington, DC

Stord (fulfillment software) - Senior Manager, Salesforce & Revenue Operations - Remote

Xona Space Systems (precision navigation) - Commercial Program Manager - Business Development - Burlingame, CA

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Forterra (ground-based autonomy) - Mission Operations Lead, Commercial - Remote

Hadrian (manufacturing automation) - Director, Training Operations - Austin, TX

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Security Operations Analyst - San Diego, CA

Second Front Systems (government SaaS) - Technical Recruiter - Washington, DC

Strider (supply chain intel) - Client Success Operations Manager - South Jordan, UT

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Formlabs (3D printing) - Director Of Product Management, Software / Head Of Software Product Management - Somerville, MA

Merlin (autonomous flight) - Senior Program Manager, Air Vehicle Integration - Boston, MA

Palantir (big data analytics) - Events Program Manager - Washington, DC

Planet Labs (satellite / geospatial data) - Product Marketing Manager, AI Solutions - San Francisco, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Sr. Director Program Management, Strategic Systems - Washington, DC

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Apptronik (advanced robotics) - Senior Mechanical Engineer - Actuation - Austin, TX

Axiom Space (commercial space station) - Life Support Systems Mechanical Engineer - Houston, TX

K2 Space (large satellites) - Mechanical Engineering Supply Chain Lead - Los Angeles, CA

Radiant (microreactors) - Senior Mechanical Engineer, Mechanisms - El Segundo, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Applied Intuition (autonomy) - Robotic Software Engineer, Drone Stack - Arlington, VA

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - Software Engineer, Diagnostics & Tools - Garden Grove, CA

Machina Labs (robotic craftsmen) - Forward Deployed Engineer - Dayton, OH

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Senior Software Engineer, Test Infrastructure - San Jose, CA

Planet Labs (satellite / geospatial data) - Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - Remote

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Automation and Controls Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

📝 Internships

Armada (edge computing) - UX Design Intern - Bellevue, WA

Exowatt (energy) - AI Marketing Intern - Miami, FL

Formlabs (3D printing) - Hardware R&D Engineering Intern - Somerville, MA

Impulse Space (space propulsion) - Propulsion Test Engineering Intern (Fall 2026) - Mojave, CA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Electrical Engineer Intern - Austin, TX

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️

Good morning. If your feel like the money in defense tech is moving faster than before, you’re not wrong: venture funding into defense, national security, and law enforcement startups has already topped $14.6B in the first five months of 2026 — blowing past the entire full-year record of $9.6B set in 2025. Three takeaways from the last week of hiring and headlines:

1. The capital is concentrating, and so are the jobs. 2026 is the year of “fewer, bigger” rounds — Anduril’s $5B Series H (a $30.5B valuation), Shield AI’s $2B Series G, and Saronic’s $1.75B Series D have soaked up an outsized share of the sector’s dollars. That gravity shows up directly in our board this week: Anduril, Shield AI, and the space primes are posting across every job family at once, from talent acquisition to weapons program management.

2. Manufacturing scale is the new battleground. Analysts are calling production throughput the defining competition of 2026, and the open roles back that up. The most senior listings this week skew heavily toward manufacturing engineering, operations leadership, and process — think VP of Operations, Director of Manufacturing, and a wave of senior manufacturing engineers. Defense hardware shops now post ~50% more unique roles per company than software startups, because shipping a physical product needs mechanical, firmware, and forward-deployed talent simultaneously.

3. Autonomy and space keep pulling demand. With the talk of a new Robotic and Autonomous Systems command being stood up, the engineering demand is clustering around autonomy, GNC, and orbital infrastructure. You’ll see that reflected below in the software and hardware sections.

Now, onto the jobs…

📈 Growth Family Jobs (BD, Sales, Contracting)

Epirus (directed energy) - Army and Joint Growth Associate - Washington, DC

GreyNoise Intelligence (cybersecurity) - Regional Sales Manager, Enterprise - Remote, US

Hypori (secure mobility) - Senior Manager, DIB & CMMC Marketing - Remote, US

Orbit Fab (in-space refueling) - Marketing Manager - Lafayette, CO

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Business Development Lead, Premier/SIS - Remote

📋 Strategy & Ops Family Jobs (Biz Ops, People, CoS, Finance)

Anduril (autonomy) - Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition (Manufacturing) - Costa Mesa, CA

Apex Space (satellite buses) - Vice President, Government Relations - Washington, DC

Firefly Aerospace (space launch) - Finance Director, Manufacturing Operations - Remote

Formlabs (3D printing) - Vice President of Operations - Somerville, MA

Gecko Robotics (industrial inspection robots) - Robot Operations Manager - Pittsburgh, PA

Trail of Bits (security research) - Technical Chief of Staff - Remote, US

Unstructured (data extraction) - Marketing Operations Manager - Remote

🏗️ Product Family Jobs (Product, Program, Success)

Muon Space (LEO satellites) - Senior Technical Program Manager - San Jose, CA

Radiant (microreactors) - Senior Manager, National Security Programs - El Segundo, CA

Shield AI (AI pilot) - Program Director, Weapons - Washington, DC

Skydio (drones) - Program Manager, Strategic Defense Accounts - Remote, US

Stord (fulfillment software) - Senior Product Manager, Parcel Shipping - Atlanta, GA

ThoughtSpot (AI analytics) - Director, Product Marketing - Mountain View, CA

🔨 Engineering - Hardware

Boston Materials (composite materials) - Principal Mechanical Engineer, Process Equipment - Billerica, MA

CesiumAstro (phased arrays) - Principal Mechanical Engineer - Westminster, CO

Forterra (ground autonomy) - Sr Mechanical Engineer - Remote

Orbit Fab (in-space refueling) - Mechanical Engineering Manager - Lafayette, CO

PsiQuantum (quantum computing) - Thermal Mechanical Engineer - Milpitas, CA

Vast (commercial space station) - Senior RF Engineer - Long Beach, CA

🧑‍💻 Engineering - Software

Accrete AI (AI agents) - Director, Forward Deployed Engineering - New York, NY

Chaos Industries (distributed networking) - Software Engineer, Guidance, Navigation & Controls - Hawthorne, CA

Divergent (digital manufacturing) - Staff Software Engineer, Robotics - Torrance, CA

Sphinx Defense (defense software) - Senior DevOps Engineer - Remote

Varda Space Industries (in-space manufacturing) - Senior Spacecraft Mission Software Engineer - El Segundo, CA

Zoox (autonomous vehicles) - Senior ML Engineer, Perception Detection & Tracking - Foster City, CA

📝 Internships

Anduril (autonomy) - 2027 Software Engineer Intern & 2027 Mechanical Engineer Intern - Costa Mesa, CA (+ multiple sites)

Harbinger (commercial EVs) - Intern, Cybersecurity - Garden Grove, CA

Impulse Space (in-space propulsion) - RF Test Engineering Intern (Fall 2026) - Redondo Beach, CA

Saronic (autonomous surface vessels) - Naval Architect Intern (Fall 2026) - Austin, TX

Seasats (autonomous surface vessels) - Marketing & Communications Intern - San Diego, CA

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, submit a job to be featured in our next newsletter, or email us to get your job featured! ⭐️