Director of Engineering, Infrastructure

About the role

HADRIAN - MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE

Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost.

Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built.

Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen.

If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.

THE ROLE

Hadrian's infrastructure is not just software backbone. It is the nervous system of a physical factory. Our infrastructure teams are responsible for operating the software systems that run our manufacturing operations, from Kubernetes-based compute platforms to the systems that keep our factory floor running reliably at scale.

As Director of Engineering, Infrastructure, you will own the platform that everything else runs on. You will lead a team of 12-15 engineers spanning Kubernetes and compute platform engineering, site reliability engineering, and core infrastructure (networking, storage). You will report to the VP of Engineering and work closely with our DevOps, Product Engineering, and Security teams to ensure our systems are fast, reliable, and ready to scale globally.

This is a leadership role for someone who has done this before at scale, who is hands-on enough to make the right technical calls, and who can build and retain a high-performing team in a demanding environment.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Define and execute Hadrian's infrastructure strategy across compute, networking, and storage

- Architect and scale Kubernetes platforms for multi-region, high-availability workloads

- Own the reliability and performance of core infrastructure systems, establishing SLOs/SLIs and incident response standards

- Drive infrastructure cost optimization and efficiency across cloud and on-prem environments

- Lead and grow a team of 12-15 engineers across platform, SRE, and infrastructure disciplines

- Partner closely with DevOps and Developer Experience teams without owning those functions directly

- Establish clear ownership boundaries between infrastructure and adjacent teams

- Ensure our infrastructure is secure and compliant with relevant regulations

- Drive multi-region and high-availability architecture strategy as we expand to new factory locations

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

- 10-15+ years in infrastructure or platform engineering, including 5+ years in engineering leadership

- Deep, hands-on expertise in Kubernetes: cluster architecture, scheduling, scaling, and day-2 operations

- Strong foundation in compute, networking, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure (AWS and/or GCP)

- Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform or equivalent)

- Proven track record designing for reliability, redundancy, and failure recovery

- Ability to set technical direction at the company level and operate autonomously

- Experience building and scaling high-performing engineering teams

- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent hands-on experience

WHAT WILL SET YOU APART

- Deep knowledge of Kubernetes internals, including the control plane and scheduler

- Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd)

- Multi-cluster and multi-region orchestration experience

- Strong understanding of infrastructure security best practices

- Background operating at high scale: multi-region deployments, high-QPS systems, or similarly demanding environments

GROWTH & TRAJECTORY

This role has a clear path as Hadrian expands its factory footprint globally, the scope of this function grows with it. The trajectory from this role leads toward VP of Infrastructure, with expanding ownership over global infrastructure strategy and potential oversight of the SRE organization.

COMPENSATION

For this role, the target salary range is $320,000 - $380,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).

This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee's pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

BENEFITS FOR FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES

- Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees

- 401k

- Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

- Flexible vacation policy

- Equity

ITAR REQUIREMENTS

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987.

USE OF AI IN HIRING

Hadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our Privacy Policy https://www.hadrian.co/privacy-policy.

HADRIAN IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.