Production Talent, Planning & Strategy Lead
People & HR
Costa Mesa, CA, USA
USD 129k-171k / year + Equity
Posted on Jun 23, 2026
<div class="content-intro"><p>Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.</p></div><h3 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">About The Role</h3> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">At Anduril, our ability to achieve ambitious goals is directly tied to our ability to plan for and attract the right talent. The TA Operations role for Talent Planning & Strategy is the embedded strategic operations partner to the Head of Talent for Production — owning the data, the capacity model, the demand narrative, and the prioritization framework so your leader can make decisions with confidence and the business always knows where we stand.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">This is a high-impact, strategic role designed for a systems-thinker with a recruiting background who thrives on translating business ambiguity into a clear, actionable roadmap. While your roots are in talent acquisition, your primary focus will be on the "before the req" strategy — capacity planning, demand prioritization, and the executive narrative that connects hiring to business outcomes. You will not carry a req load, but your TA practitioner DNA is what gives you credibility with the recruiting team and the instinct to catch plans that won't survive contact with the market.</p> <h3 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">What You'll Do</h3> <h4 class="text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold">Strategic Headcount, Capacity & Demand Planning </h4> <ul class="[li_&]:mb-0 [li_&]:mt-1 [li_&]:gap-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3"> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Own the Planning System for Production:</strong> Build, operate, and continuously improve the headcount planning and capacity modeling system for the Production TA function. This is not a shared service — you own it end-to-end for your Head of TA.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Model Capacity Against Demand:</strong> Maintain a real-time view of recruiting capacity (OBd recruiters, ramp curves, hires/recruiter/month) vs. incoming demand. Surface gaps before they become crises. Frame trade-offs — not just "we're short" but "here are three options to close the gap: prioritize, improve efficiency, or add capacity."</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Drive Prioritization:</strong> Work with your Head of TA and Production/site leaders to prioritize hiring demand against constrained capacity. Build the data-backed narrative that explains WHY certain roles are sequenced before others (revenue impact, contract milestones, build-rate and ramp dependencies, single-point-of-failure).</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Build the Executive Narrative:</strong> Translate raw data into compelling stories for leadership. Your Head of TA should never walk into a QBR, MBR, or exec review without a capacity story you built — one that connects hiring progress to business outcomes, frames risks clearly, and proposes solutions rather than just surfacing problems.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Standardize Demand Intake:</strong> Design and operate the framework for how business lines and sites in Production submit, justify, and prioritize hiring needs. Create a single source of truth from disparate requests.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Govern the Plan:</strong> Serve as the steward of the master headcount plan for Production. Track approvals, model scenarios, manage change control, and ensure leadership always has a reliable, current view of where we stand.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Align Cross-Functionally:</strong> Partner with Finance, Strategy, HR, and your peer planning partners (the other two in this team) to ensure Production's plan ladders into the enterprise view. Same methodology, same tools, same reporting cadence — but deep expertise in Production's dynamics.</li> </ul> <h4 class="text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold">TA Program Leadership </h4> <ul class="[li_&]:mb-0 [li_&]:mt-1 [li_&]:gap-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3"> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Lead Assigned TA Projects:</strong> Act as the TA subject-matter expert for projects that impact Production — process improvements, system enhancements, reporting maturity, or cross-functional initiatives.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Drive Efficiency:</strong> Identify inefficiencies in the broader talent ecosystem for Production. Surface them with data, propose solutions, and lead implementation. Your Head of TA should view you as the person who makes the recruiting machine run better — not just measures it.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2"><strong>Be the Connective Tissue:</strong> Because you see the full demand/capacity picture for Production, you are uniquely positioned to spot patterns — where pipeline is building faster than expected, where conversion rates suggest a systemic issue, where a process change could unlock capacity without adding headcount.</li> </ul> <h3 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">Who You Are</h3> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">You are a strategic operator with recruiting DNA. You've been a great recruiter — you know what it feels like to manage a pipeline, miss a target start, close a hard candidate, and feel the weight of capacity constraints firsthand. But you've evolved beyond individual execution into systems thinking: how do you build the operational engine that makes 50 recruiters more effective without adding a 51st?</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">You find joy in creating order from chaos. You are equally comfortable building a multi-quarter forecast in a spreadsheet and telling a VP why their demand plan is infeasible at current capacity — and what to do about it. You are a master facilitator, skilled at leading rooms of strong-willed leaders to consensus. You see talent acquisition not as a series of transactions, but as a complex system that can be optimized for massive business impact.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Your Head of TA will come to rely on you the way a Division SVP relies on their DivOps leaders: you're the person who always knows the number, always has the context, and always has a recommendation — not just a report.</p> <h3 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">Required Qualifications</h3> <ul class="[li_&]:mb-0 [li_&]:mt-1 [li_&]:gap-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3"> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">6+ years of professional experience with a foundation in talent acquisition (minimum 3 years as a practicing recruiter or recruiting leader) PLUS experience in planning, operations, strategy, or analytics.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Proven experience building or significantly redesigning a planning, capacity, or demand management process — not just operating within one.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Demonstrated mastery of data analysis and modeling: highly proficient in Excel/Google Sheets, capable of building headcount and capacity models from the ground up.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Exceptional communication and narrative skills: can translate a spreadsheet into a 3-slide executive story that drives a decision. Not just "here's the data" but "here's what it means and what we should do."</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Experience driving prioritization decisions across competing stakeholders — not just collecting inputs, but shaping outcomes through data and influence.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Deep understanding of the recruiting lifecycle, capacity math (hires/recruiter/month, ramp models, conversion rates), and labor market dynamics — enough to catch infeasible plans before they're committed.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Ability to operate with high autonomy in an ambiguous, fast-paced environment. You will be building infrastructure that doesn't exist yet.</li> </ul> <h3 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">Preferred Qualifications</h3> <ul class="[li_&]:mb-0 [li_&]:mt-1 [li_&]:gap-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3"> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Experience in a BizOps, FP&A, or Strategy & Ops role (in addition to TA background) — the combination is the superpower.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Direct experience building and managing a headcount planning or workforce planning process in a high-growth technology or manufacturing environment.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Experience in management consulting with a focus on human capital, org design, or operational strategy.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Familiarity with HRIS (Workday, ChartHop) and ATS (Greenhouse) — you'll be pulling data from these systems to build your models.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Experience operating in a matrixed or divisional org structure where planning requires aligning multiple P&Ls with different incentives.</li> <li class="font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Experience with the DivOps or BizOps embedded partner model — you've seen this operating rhythm and want to bring it to TA.</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">US Salary Range</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$129,000</span><span class="divider">—</span><span>$171,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p><span data-contrast="auto">The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:</span><span data-ccp-props="{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559738":240,"335559739":240}"> </span></p> <p> </p> <h3 class="detailElios"><strong>Benefits</strong></h3> <p><span data-contrast="auto">At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. </span><em><span data-contrast="auto">For more information, <a href="https://www.anduril.com/careers">Explore Our Benefits</a>.</span></em></p> <p> </p> <div class="RichText column1"> <h3 class="detailElios"><strong>Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams</strong></h3> <p class="detailElios">Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.</p> </div> <div class="RichText column2"> <p class="detailElios">To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:</p> <ul> <li> <p class="detailElios"><strong>No Financial Requests: </strong>Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.</p> </li> <li><strong>Please always verify communications:</strong> <ul> <li>Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will <em>only</em> come from an <code>@anduril.com</code> address.</li> <li>Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to <a href="mailto:contact@anduril.com">contact@anduril.com</a>. </li> </ul> </li> <li> <p class="detailElios"><strong>Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach:</strong> If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.</p> </li> <li> <p class="detailElios"><strong>What to Do If You Suspect Fraud:</strong> Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to <a href="mailto:contact@anduril.com">contact@anduril.com</a>. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <h3> </h3> <h3><strong>Data Privacy</strong></h3> <p><span data-contrast="auto">To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit </span><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink"><a href="https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/">https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/</a></span></span><span data-contrast="auto">.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559738":240,"335559739":240}"> </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span data-ccp-props="{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559738":240,"335559739":240}">By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.</span></p></div>