Defense Tech AI Startup Jobs

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

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

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

Vast is a US-based commercial space company building human-rated artificial-gravity orbital space stations, starting with its single-module Haven-1 station targeted as the world's first commercial space station. Founded by Jed McCaleb and headquartered in Long Beach, California ('Space Beach'), the company designs and manufactures its spacecraft hardware in-house. It is racing to provide a commercial successor to the International Space Station.

Develops autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, and space-based interceptor systems for orbital defense and space superiority capabilities.

Hadrian builds AI-enabled autonomous factories that manufacture precision components and systems for aerospace, defense, shipbuilding, and other industrial customers, combining software, robotics, machining, inspection, and factory operations.

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

Helsing is a European defense AI company building autonomy software and hardware for democratic nations. It develops real-time battlefield decision software, AI-enabled drones, and sensor fusion systems for military applications across NATO allies. Founded in 2021, it has grown to become one of Europe's most valuable defense tech startups with an $18B valuation.

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.

Apex is a defense-grade satellite bus manufacturer producing configurable, productized spacecraft platforms (Aries, Nova, Comet) for LEO, MEO, and GEO orbits. The Los Angeles-based company serves commercial and sovereign government customers at scale with peak annual capacity exceeding 200 units per year. Apex launched Project Shadow, the first commercially-led on-orbit space-based interceptor demonstration.

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.

Varda Space Industries builds orbital manufacturing and reentry platforms that produce materials in the unique microgravity environment of space. The company's W-Series reentry capsules are used to manufacture pharmaceuticals and other products that benefit from weightlessness. Founded in 2021, Varda is establishing the first scaled industrial operations off Earth.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

NODA AI is an AI-native defense company building autonomy orchestration software that enables command and control of mixed autonomous and manned assets across multi-domain military operations. Its platform serves as a vendor-agnostic reasoning layer coordinating heterogeneous autonomous systems for the Department of Defense and allied defense customers.

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

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.

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

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.

BRINC Drones builds public-safety drone systems for 911 rapid response, indoor tactical operations, firefighting, and search and rescue, including the Lemur 2, Responder, and Guardian aircraft plus its LiveOps command-and-control software. Its platform integrates with Motorola Solutions' police radios, 911/CAD, and CommandCentral systems and is used by 900+ public-safety agencies and more than 20% of U.S. SWAT teams. Founded by CEO Blake Resnick and headquartered in Seattle, the company is scaling U.S. manufacturing with a new Queen Anne factory and HQ.

Kepler Communications is a Toronto-based satellite connectivity operator building a global low-Earth orbit constellation for broadband and IoT connectivity. The company deploys optical inter-satellite links and is expanding into orbital AI compute via Nvidia Orin chips. Founded in 2015, Kepler has raised over $177M to connect space-borne and ground assets worldwide.

Corelight provides network detection and response (NDR) software built on the open-source Zeek framework, giving security teams deep network visibility and evidence for threat hunting and incident response. Its platform pairs network traffic analysis with AI-driven detections and integrates with SIEM, XDR, and SOC workflows. Corelight sells to large enterprises and U.S. federal and government agencies.

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.

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

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.

Builds containerized, forward-deployable drone manufacturing units that can 3D-print unmanned aerial systems in under 24 hours at or near the front line.

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.

Quartermaster (legally Quartermaster AI Inc.) builds SmartMast™, a weather-hardened COTS sensor package — HD camera, software-defined radio, and onboard AI — that mounts on commercial and civilian vessels and turns them into nodes of a distributed maritime sensing network. The platform fuses video, radar, RF sensing, and AIS into near-real-time maritime domain awareness for coast guards, navies, insurers, energy operators, and researchers, positioning itself as a replacement for the spoofable, opt-in AIS standard. The company reports 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and over 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS.

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

Legion Intelligence (formerly Yurts) builds governed AI agent-orchestration software for defense, public sector, and enterprise operations. Its platform lets organizations securely deploy, manage, and scale autonomous AI agents across sensitive networks (including IL-4/5/6) for decision support and operational intelligence, with deployments at U.S. Special Operations Command and other DoD environments.

Odin Dynamics is a defense technology company building autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and advanced robotics for undersea warfare, including precision strike, ISR, and mine-warfare missions. Its Dolphin-M and Dolphin-S UUV platforms emphasize high endurance, long range, and modular payloads, with in-house battery/powertrain engineering as a core differentiator. Founded by a former Tesla powertrain engineer and a 23-year Navy EOD officer, the company is headquartered in Los Angeles with a Washington, DC presence.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Third Dimension AI is a 3D generative AI platform that creates high-fidelity, rendering engine-ready environments from text prompts and images. The platform serves professionals in gaming, film, autonomous vehicles, and defense.

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

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

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.

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.

Autonomous Cyber is an AI-native platform for offensive cybersecurity operations, offering FUZZ-E to support the full cyber kill chain from vulnerability discovery and exploit development to penetration testing and operationalization. The platform augments government and commercial security teams, compressing multi-day tasks into minutes. It was founded by former NSA and U.S. Army personnel and targets both defense and private-sector customers.

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

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

Fortastra builds intelligent, maneuverable spacecraft designed to protect government and commercial satellites through remote sensing, autonomous capabilities, and defensive rendezvous and proximity operations. The company targets satellite security, space infrastructure resilience, and operational risk in contested orbital environments. It is headquartered in Torrance, California.

Develops modular command-and-control platforms that integrate commercial sensors, drones, radar, and weapons systems for border security and battlefield operations.

Lynk Global operates a satellite direct-to-device (D2D) network that connects standard, unmodified mobile phones directly to low-Earth-orbit satellites for messaging and planned voice/data. It holds an FCC commercial D2D license and partners with mobile network operators to extend coverage beyond terrestrial cell towers. In early 2025 it raised strategic Series B investment from satellite operators SES and Intelsat; its earlier SPAC merger with Slam Corp was mutually terminated.

Defense technology company building unmanned defense systems and distributed manufacturing.

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.

Phasic Energy combines applied AI with next-generation hardware to build 3D-printed heat exchangers for demanding thermal environments, including data centers, defense, geothermal, and industrial waste-heat recovery applications. The NYC-based startup is a small team of under 10 people that recently closed a $7.5M Venture round.

RaySecur develops terahertz (T-ray) millimeter-wave desktop scanners and AI-powered software for detecting concealed threats and contraband in mail and packages. Its MailSecur imaging systems and 4D-AI threat-detection platform are used by Fortune 500 corporate mailrooms, government agencies, and correctional facilities. The company is expanding into a connected IoT ecosystem for fleet management and threat intelligence.

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.

Watchtower Labs is an AI-native decision and simulation engine built for contested logistics and operational planning in defense missions. Founded in 2024 by national security operators and distributed-systems engineers, it won a Defense Innovation Unit prototype contract to deliver the Joint Sustainment Decision Tool (JSDT) for USINDOPACOM, USNORTHCOM and the Defense Logistics Agency. The team is headquartered in Bellevue, WA with additional sites in Burlingame, Honolulu and the National Capital Region.