Anduril

Mechanical Engineer Interview Experience - United States

September 1, 2025

Positive ExperienceNo Offer

Process

Initial recruiter call, which was pretty conversational. A few high-level/open-ended questions like "Why Anduril?" but mostly logistical stuff for the recruiter to fill out.

Got sent straight to a "Virtual Onsite" with a panel and technical presentation, but it sounds like usually there's another technical interview before that final stage.

Three engineers were on the panel. After the presentation, we went into individual interviews split into "Technical," "Problem Solving," and "Behavioral."

Technical was a lot of mechanics of materials questions (stress-strain curve, material properties, etc).

Problem Solving was a more multifaceted conversation which progressed through design considerations for a firefighting water bucket attached to a drone helicopter. Free body diagrams, winch power – "How would the design handle this problem?" type stuff.

Behavioral discussed additional questions from the presentation, other typical behavioral questions, and "What's your LEAST favorite Anduril product?"

Questions

What's your least favorite Anduril product?

Draw a FBD of a tethered object attached to a drone moving at constant velocity.

Label the parts of a stress/strain curve.

What material properties would you want to know for a particular sensor mount?

How would you determine the power needed for a winch?

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 14 interview experiences for the Anduril Mechanical Engineer role in United States.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

Anduril's interview process for their Mechanical Engineer roles in the United States is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive29%

Neutral29%

Negative43%

Candidates reported having negative feelings for Anduril's Mechanical Engineer interview process in United States.

Anduril Work Experiences

Great company! Great mission!

Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee

Costa Mesa, California, United States

Pros: Awesome company! All around great!

Cons: It's too awesome of a company.

Great company! Great mission!

Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee

Costa Mesa, California, United States

Pros: Awesome company! All around great!

Cons: It's too awesome of a company.

Toxic culture, but a great mission!

Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Many employees are deeply aligned with Anduril's core mission to enhance the defensive capabilities of the Western world. It's genuinely inspiring to collaborate with such intelligent and mission-driven colleagues. Anduril offers outstanding benefits and compensation that rival those of top-tier tech companies. Employees enjoy fully paid paternity leave, as well as comprehensive fertility support. Complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided daily. Palmer Luckey is widely regarded as a generational leader—charismatic, visionary, and one of the most brilliant minds of our era. His presence at company all-hands meetings is consistently inspiring, and his leadership is a key driver behind Anduril's success and ability to attract top talent.

Cons: Anduril's culture has been increasingly impacted by a top-down toxicity that originates from its inexperienced leadership. While a certain level of boldness and confidence is necessary to succeed in the defense startup space, that same arrogance has gone largely unchecked as the company has grown to thousands of employees. Leadership behavior frequently crosses professional boundaries. It's not uncommon to witness profanity and public disparagement of individuals in meetings. A recurring theme at Anduril is being “quick to fire.” While rapid decision-making can be a strength of a startup to move fast, this philosophy often comes at the expense of employee development and psychological safety. Rather than investing in mentorship or performance coaching, leadership tends to opt for termination. As a result, employees often operate under the fear of making mistakes. Collaboration suffers, and many teams prioritize self-preservation over shared goals. I have actually heard someone happily say, "I'm going to get someone fired."

Toxic culture, but a great mission!

Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Many employees are deeply aligned with Anduril's core mission to enhance the defensive capabilities of the Western world. It's genuinely inspiring to collaborate with such intelligent and mission-driven colleagues. Anduril offers outstanding benefits and compensation that rival those of top-tier tech companies. Employees enjoy fully paid paternity leave, as well as comprehensive fertility support. Complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided daily. Palmer Luckey is widely regarded as a generational leader—charismatic, visionary, and one of the most brilliant minds of our era. His presence at company all-hands meetings is consistently inspiring, and his leadership is a key driver behind Anduril's success and ability to attract top talent.

Cons: Anduril's culture has been increasingly impacted by a top-down toxicity that originates from its inexperienced leadership. While a certain level of boldness and confidence is necessary to succeed in the defense startup space, that same arrogance has gone largely unchecked as the company has grown to thousands of employees. Leadership behavior frequently crosses professional boundaries. It's not uncommon to witness profanity and public disparagement of individuals in meetings. A recurring theme at Anduril is being “quick to fire.” While rapid decision-making can be a strength of a startup to move fast, this philosophy often comes at the expense of employee development and psychological safety. Rather than investing in mentorship or performance coaching, leadership tends to opt for termination. As a result, employees often operate under the fear of making mistakes. Collaboration suffers, and many teams prioritize self-preservation over shared goals. I have actually heard someone happily say, "I'm going to get someone fired."

Great place, great people, great products.

Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Pros: Fast-paced. Agile. You get to do actual, substantial work.

Cons: You do have to put in the work and hours.

Great place, great people, great products.

Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Pros: Fast-paced. Agile. You get to do actual, substantial work.

Cons: You do have to put in the work and hours.

Great company! Great mission!

Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee

Costa Mesa, California, United States

Pros: Awesome company! All around great!

Cons: It's too awesome of a company.

5.0
Great company! Great mission!
Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee
Costa Mesa, California, United States
July 31, 2025
Pros: Awesome company! All around great!
Cons: It's too awesome of a company.

Toxic culture, but a great mission!

Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee

Pros: Many employees are deeply aligned with Anduril's core mission to enhance the defensive capabilities of the Western world. It's genuinely inspiring to collaborate with such intelligent and mission-driven colleagues. Anduril offers outstanding benefits and compensation that rival those of top-tier tech companies. Employees enjoy fully paid paternity leave, as well as comprehensive fertility support. Complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided daily. Palmer Luckey is widely regarded as a generational leader—charismatic, visionary, and one of the most brilliant minds of our era. His presence at company all-hands meetings is consistently inspiring, and his leadership is a key driver behind Anduril's success and ability to attract top talent.

Cons: Anduril's culture has been increasingly impacted by a top-down toxicity that originates from its inexperienced leadership. While a certain level of boldness and confidence is necessary to succeed in the defense startup space, that same arrogance has gone largely unchecked as the company has grown to thousands of employees. Leadership behavior frequently crosses professional boundaries. It's not uncommon to witness profanity and public disparagement of individuals in meetings. A recurring theme at Anduril is being “quick to fire.” While rapid decision-making can be a strength of a startup to move fast, this philosophy often comes at the expense of employee development and psychological safety. Rather than investing in mentorship or performance coaching, leadership tends to opt for termination. As a result, employees often operate under the fear of making mistakes. Collaboration suffers, and many teams prioritize self-preservation over shared goals. I have actually heard someone happily say, "I'm going to get someone fired."

2.0
Toxic culture, but a great mission!
Mechanical Engineer • Former Employee
June 19, 2025
Pros: Many employees are deeply aligned with Anduril's core mission to enhance the defensive capabilities of the Western world. It's genuinely inspiring to collaborate with such intelligent and mission-driven colleagues. Anduril offers outstanding benefits and compensation that rival those of top-tier tech companies. Employees enjoy fully paid paternity leave, as well as comprehensive fertility support. Complimentary breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided daily. Palmer Luckey is widely regarded as a generational leader—charismatic, visionary, and one of the most brilliant minds of our era. His presence at company all-hands meetings is consistently inspiring, and his leadership is a key driver behind Anduril's success and ability to attract top talent.
Cons: Anduril's culture has been increasingly impacted by a top-down toxicity that originates from its inexperienced leadership. While a certain level of boldness and confidence is necessary to succeed in the defense startup space, that same arrogance has gone largely unchecked as the company has grown to thousands of employees. Leadership behavior frequently crosses professional boundaries. It's not uncommon to witness profanity and public disparagement of individuals in meetings. A recurring theme at Anduril is being “quick to fire.” While rapid decision-making can be a strength of a startup to move fast, this philosophy often comes at the expense of employee development and psychological safety. Rather than investing in mentorship or performance coaching, leadership tends to opt for termination. As a result, employees often operate under the fear of making mistakes. Collaboration suffers, and many teams prioritize self-preservation over shared goals. I have actually heard someone happily say, "I'm going to get someone fired."

Great place, great people, great products.

Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Pros: Fast-paced. Agile. You get to do actual, substantial work.

Cons: You do have to put in the work and hours.

5.0
Great place, great people, great products.
Mechanical Engineer • Current Employee
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
May 23, 2025
Pros: Fast-paced. Agile. You get to do actual, substantial work.
Cons: You do have to put in the work and hours.

Anduril Interview Questions

Spiral Matrix

Traverse a given matrix in a spiral pattern, returning all elements in the order you visit them. Essentially, walk around the matrix layer by layer, adding elements to a list.

ArraysTwo Pointers

Number of Islands

Given a grid representing land and water, count the number of distinct islands. An island is formed by connected land cells.

Maximum Number of Visible Points

Imagine you're standing at a fixed location looking at points on a 2D plane. Determine the maximum number of points you can see within a given field of view by rotating your position.

ArraysTwo PointersSliding Windows

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