Defense Tech AI Startup Jobs

Defense technology company building autonomous systems and AI-powered defense capabilities to transform military and border security operations.

General Matter is rebuilding domestic uranium enrichment capacity in the U.S., developing low-enriched and high-assay low-enriched uranium to support advanced nuclear power and American energy security.

Autonomous drone manufacturer building AI-powered drones for defense, public safety, and enterprise inspection.

Defense AI company building autonomous aircraft and AI pilot technology for military applications.

Defense technology company building unmanned defense systems and distributed manufacturing.

Defense technology company building AI-powered software for national security missions.

Nominal provides the connected hardware test stack used to capture telemetry, validate systems, and ship complex hardware faster. Its software supports aerospace, defense, and industrial teams running mission-critical test and operations workflows.

Defense technology company providing software platform for military logistics and field operations optimization.

Develops factory-fabricated modular nuclear microreactors designed for AI data centers and industrial applications. The Aalo Pod is a 50 MWe power plant purpose-built for data centers.

Airbound builds the world's most efficient delivery drones, developing advanced autonomous aircraft using blended-wing-body designs for ultra-low-cost logistics. Founded by 20-year-old Naman Pushp, the Bengaluru-based company aims to achieve one-cent drone deliveries at scale, serving medical, defense, and industrial applications.

Antares is developing mass-producible, inherently safe nuclear microreactors for terrestrial, underwater, and space-based applications, producing between 100 kilowatts and 1 megawatt of electricity. The company has a 145,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Torrance, California and is on track to achieve first reactor criticality by mid-2026. Founded by alumni of SpaceX, MIT, and Los Alamos National Lab, Antares is backed by over $130 million in venture capital and government funding.

Apex manufactures productized satellite bus platforms for constellation-scale missions, aiming to remove the satellite production bottleneck. The company focuses on standardized spacecraft, fast lead times, and high-rate manufacturing for commercial and defense customers.

Array Labs builds high-power, low-cost space radar systems and a formation-flying radar constellation for large-scale 3D Earth imaging and persistent monitoring.

AstroForge is a deep-space mining company focused on extracting valuable metals from asteroids, particularly platinum group metals (PGMs) and critical minerals. The company develops technology to locate, reach, and mine asteroids to provide sustainable resources for Earth and space industries.

Fusion energy startup developing modular micro-fusion reactors for compact, scalable clean power and propulsion applications.

Privacy-first mobile carrier redesigning telecommunications from the ground up. Cape owns and operates its own mobile core and SIMs, providing ultra-private and secure connectivity for enterprises, government, and consumers.

A venture-backed defense tech company building mass-producible hypersonic weapons systems using modern hardware development and manufacturing processes.

Catalyx Space builds orbital logistics infrastructure, combining spacecraft, software, and operations to move experiments and manufactured payloads to orbit and back. The company focuses on reusable capsules and faster, more predictable in-space deployment and downmass services.

CesiumAstro builds communications systems and phased-array hardware/software for space, air, and ground missions, supporting satellite and defense connectivity use cases.

A defense technology company specializing in counter-drone radar and other defense solutions.

Electronic warfare company building AI-driven software and hardware—incl. SIGINT payloads and autonomous drones—for spectrum dominance.

AI-driven manufacturing platform that automates the creation and management of model-based work instructions from CAD files. BuildOS generates 3D animations of assembly steps, reducing documentation time from weeks to hours.

Efficient Computer builds the world's most energy-efficient general-purpose processor, the Electron E1, offering up to 100x greater efficiency than traditional CPUs. Spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, their Fabric architecture minimizes data movement, enabling applications in AI, edge computing, space, defense, and consumer devices.

Grid Aero builds autonomous cargo aircraft for long-range, high-payload logistics solutions serving both military and commercial applications with rapid development cycles.

Hadrian is a manufacturing startup using AI and robotics to automate the production of defense and aerospace components:contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14}.

Inversion Space is turning space into a transportation layer for Earth by building autonomous re-entry vehicles that enable precision delivery of cargo to anywhere on the planet in under an hour, creating an on-demand logistics network in Low-Earth Orbit.

Digital engineering platform focused on digital twins and secure collaboration for modeling and simulation of complex systems.

Machina Labs develops AI-powered robotic manufacturing systems for sheet metal forming and industrial production, reducing the need for traditional tooling.

MatrixSpace develops AI-enabled 4D radar sensing and edge-to-cloud situational awareness software for defense, security, and critical infrastructure applications.

Builds autonomous systems and AI-native infrastructure for U.S. industrial supply chains focused on defense manufacturing.

Northwood Space designs and manufactures electronically steered phased-array ground stations that enable scalable, rapidly deployable satellite communication and tracking infrastructure. The company serves commercial and government customers including a $50M U.S. Space Force contract to modernize the Satellite Control Network.

Overland AI develops autonomous ground vehicle software and systems for off-road and contested environments, with defense-focused robotics deployments.

Pacific Fusion is building a high-gain pulsed magnetic fusion system designed to achieve net facility gain, delivering more fusion energy output than all stored energy input. The company develops affordable, modular fusion technology using common materials to provide abundant, clean energy for a prosperous planet.

Radiant is pioneering mass-produced portable nuclear microreactors, with its flagship Kaleidos reactor delivering 1 MW of clean, zero-emission power in a shipping container-sized form factor. Valued at $1.8 billion, the company is building its factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

AI biosecurity company developing AI-powered defenses against biological threats and bioweapons. Spun out from mRNA therapeutics company Helix Nano, partners with frontier AI labs to identify emerging bio-risks and design countermeasures using advanced models, lab automation, and reinforcement learning to scale biological defenses at the same rate as AI capabilities grow.

Provides AI-powered mapping tools like Farsight to help defense teams generate 3D terrain and plan missions.

Stoke Space Technologies develops the fully and rapidly reusable Nova rocket designed to operate with aircraft-like frequency. Founded by former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees, raised over $1.3B.

Substrate is America's next-generation semiconductor foundry, developing advanced X-ray lithography technology to challenge industry giants like ASML and TSMC. Founded by brothers James and Oliver Proud, the company uses compact particle accelerators to enable more cost-effective and rapid chip manufacturing in the United States. Backed by Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and In-Q-Tel, Substrate aims to restore American leadership in semiconductor production.

The Nuclear Company operates as America's deployment platform for nuclear power, constructing a series of nuclear power plants using a design-once, build-many approach with proven and licensed technology to deliver safe and reliable electricity at the lowest cost.

Valthos is an applied biological intelligence company developing AI and software to detect biological threats and design medical countermeasures in real time.