Lead, Mission Operations

Who We Are:

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.

Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.

In addition to our San Francisco lab, we’ve opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

The Role and Your Impact:

We need a field-first mission operations leader to be the company's primary bridge between the warfighter and the build team. This is a foundational MOPs role and a player-coach seat for the first 6 to 12 months, you'll build the function from scratch and run it yourself before you scale it.

You'll build training plans, train end users, run demos and deployments, capture operator feedback, and translate real-world operational needs into action for engineering, product, and growth. The fielding of Archimedes will rise or fall on how well this loop runs.

The person who wins this role lives in the field by choice. Not someone who tolerates travel, someone who wants to be downrange, at the test, or with the operator, and is restless anywhere else. You'll cycle fluidly between operators, engineers, and customers, moving between an austere field site and a program office in the same week and being credible in both rooms.

You'll report to the Head of Growth and work closely with the CEO as part of the company's face to the military.

What You'll Own:

• Build and own training plans, plans of instruction, and user enablement for military operators

• Lead field training and support during demonstrations, pilots, and deployed use

• Ensure operators can use the system confidently and correctly in real-world conditions

• Act as the primary bridge between end users and internal teams, translating operator experience into engineering and product feedback

• Reduce cognitive load and improve usability by informing setup, displacement, interface, and training design

• Cycle engineering and growth teams in and out of the field, getting them in front of real operators in real conditions

• Support growth and business development by bringing operational credibility, user insight, and field relationships into customer engagements

• Serve as a first point of contact for military customers and program offices

• Participate in test events, lab reviews, and field exercises to represent the operator perspective throughout product iteration

What We're Looking For:

• A track record of choosing the field, you've spent your career finding ways to be where the operating happens, not behind a desk

• Operational deployment background that lets you build trust with operators fast, special operations or equivalent is valued but not sufficient on its own, what matters is that you live this work

• Experience preparing military or foreign users to operate systems independently in high-stakes environments, train-the-trainer experience strongly preferred

• Demonstrated ability to translate field realities into practical internal action engineers can act on

• Comfort operating fluidly across training, deployment support, customer interface, and internal technical collaboration

• Track record working alongside engineers and product teams on novel technology

• Willingness and desire to travel constantly, including OCONUS on short notice

Where you probably come from: SOF community with train-the-trainer experience, foreign internal defense, technology integration cells, JSOC tech / SMU staff, or equivalent, but specifically the people from those communities who kept finding their way back to the field instead of up the staff ladder. Defense startup or non-traditional vendor candidates who live forward-deployed also strongly considered.

We want to talk if: You've stood in front of operators using something brand new and gotten them proficient. You've taken what they said, what they did, and what broke, and turned it into changes engineers could act on. Going home from the field feels like the hard part, not the reward.

Not a fit if: Your operational experience is conventional only, you haven't supported novel technology fielding, you want a desk or a staff role, or field time is something you'd tolerate rather than seek out.

Nice to Haves:

• Counter-UAS or directed energy familiarity

• Experience inside a defense startup or non-traditional vendor

• Active TS/SCI clearance

• Experience authoring system requirements, TTPs, capability documents, or after-action frameworks

Education: No specific degree required. Operational track record matters more than credentials.

How You Operate:

• Extreme bias for action. You'd rather be at the test or with the operator than in a planning meeting

• You translate ambiguity into a plan and a plan into reps

• Comfortable with the tempo of real-world operations, including OCONUS travel on short notice

• Clear communicator across operators, engineers, and senior leadership

• Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Why Join Aurelius Systems?

• Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.

• Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.

• Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer — infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.

• Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

How We Work:

We work Monday through Friday, 9 to 6, most Saturdays, and some evenings. Supporting the whole company across engineering, operations, and leadership is the core of this role. We don't manufacture intensity for show, the pace is real because the work is real.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary + equity

• United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage

• Flexible 18 days PTO + 5 sick days

• Travel to field test events and range days

• Covered daily lunches and office snacks + drinks

• E-bike / scooter stipend ( Up to $500)

• Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

Export Control Notice:

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require "U.S. Person" status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a "U.S. Person": (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).