Defense tech companies and startups in San Diego hiring now

Shield AI

San Diego, US · Series G

Shield AI is a defense technology company that develops AI pilots for aircraft, drones, ships, and satellites. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.

158 open roles5% remote

Firestorm

San Diego, US · Series A

Firestorm develops modular, open-system unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for the defense sector. Its core product is the Tempest, a 55-pound unmanned aircraft that can carry 10 pounds of military payloads.

45 open roles4% remote

Saronic Technologies

Austin, US · Series C

Saronic Technologies designs, manufactures, and operates AI-enabled autonomous surface vessels. It also provides Echelon, a unified command-and-control platform for planning, simulating, monitoring, and controlling autonomous fleets.

10 open roles0% remote

HavocAI

Providence, US · Series A

HavocAI's software-defined hardware approach powers military and commercial-grade autonomous systems across sea, air, and land to sense, decide, and act together in complex and contested environments. The company manufactures small uncrewed surface vessels with modular design and AI-enabled services to optimize maritime and land autonomous operations.

3 open roles52% remote

Applied Intuition

Sunnyvale, US · Series F

Applied Intuition delivers the toolchain, Vehicle OS, and autonomy stacks to help customers build intelligent vehicles and shorten time to market. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy.

3 open roles1% remote

AMERICAN SYSTEMS

McLean, US

AMERICAN SYSTEMS is an employee-owned federal government contractor that delivers IT and engineering solutions to national priority programs. The company provides strategic solutions in Information Technology, Test & Evaluation, Engineering & Analysis, and Training. Its focus within the government sector is on Defense, Federal Law Enforcement, and Federal Healthcare.

1 open roles19% remote

Deepnight

San Francisco, US · Seed · YC W24

Building The Next Generation of Night Vision Devices

1 open roles

Rivet

Seed

Rivet is an American company building integrated task systems — fusing hardened hardware with software, sensors, AI, and networking — for industrial workforces and defense personnel.

1 open roles0% remote

Chaos

Los Angeles, US · Series D

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats. Its flagship platform, HYDRA, harnesses the CDN framework to deliver software-defined multi-domain capabilities across land, sea, and air environments while integrating with existing infrastructure under constrained conditions.

1 open roles2% remote

Vannevar Labs

Palo Alto, US · Series C

Vannevar builds defense software for 21st-century conflict, delivering information dominance and decision advantage. Its agentic AI platform is powered by one petabyte of rare adversarial data and operates at the tactical edge.

1 open roles81% remote

Agile Defense

McLean, US · Private Equity

Agile Defense delivers advanced capabilities and solutions tailored to the most critical national security and civilian missions.

1 open roles10% remote

Ultra

London, GB · Private Equity

Ultra I&C Mission Solutions is a defense technology business that develops mission-critical software, edge-compute, and encryption products. Its Cyber business unit provides advanced cryptographic and key management solutions for customers operating at tactical and strategic echelons.

1 open roles0% remote

Booz Allen Hamilton

McLean, US · Post Ipo

Booz Allen builds technology products and solutions for government and business. It builds secure AI solutions for mission-critical environments.

54 open roles0% remote

BAE Systems

London, GB · Post Ipo

BAE Systems is a leading contractor and provider of defense, aerospace, and security solutions. The company develops, engineers, manufactures, and supports products and systems that deliver military capability and protect national security.

27 open roles4% remote

Voyager Space

Denver, US · Post Ipo

Voyager Technologies is a defense technology and space solutions company operating at the convergence of national security, space infrastructure and advanced capability development. The company delivers advanced electronics and space technologies, providing radiation-hardened and flight-proven systems for demanding missions in orbit and beyond.

18 open roles27% remote

Bowhead

Springfield, US

Bowhead's S&IT Business Line provides a wide range of services supporting engineering, cyber operations, training, instruction, mission assurance, healthcare support, and overall mission readiness throughout the entire life cycle of military programs.

2 open roles21% remote