Ready to pull off one of the slickest heists in Borderlands 4? “The Kairos Job” is a story-driven side mission packed with humor, explosions, hacking, and a prize that’s not what anyone expects. This walkthrough covers every major step — from meeting your new partners to cracking the final safe and making your daring escape.

Mission Overview

The Kairos Job is a multi-phase mission led by a new character named Shim, a smooth-talking rogue who claims to have the perfect plan for a high-stakes robbery. But like everything on Pandora, nothing goes as planned. You’ll team up with three eccentric specialists — Kilo, Glitch, and yourself, the “muscle” — to infiltrate a heavily guarded Order contraband facility and score a mysterious treasure.

The mission is packed with dialogue, unique mechanics, and a heavy dose of Borderlands-style chaos.

Step 1: The Offer You Can’t Refuse

It begins when Shim recruits you with his trademark charm: “Interested in a job of questionable legality?” Naturally, your Vault Hunter agrees — a “big score with minimal risk” sounds like paradise.

Shim explains that his old muscle met an unfortunate, explosive end, so he’s counting on you to fill the role. Before the job begins, he sends you to meet the rest of the crew.

Step 2: Meet the Team

Kilo – The Explosives Expert

Your first stop is with Kilo, the team’s demolition specialist. She’s brash, confident, and definitely not patient. Kilo puts you through a quick hands-on test to see if you can follow instructions under pressure.

She orders you through a sequence of switches, levers, panels, and melee buttons — essentially a bomb-defusal mini-game. Fail too many times, and she won’t hesitate to remind you what happened to the last recruit. Pass the test, and she welcomes you aboard with a mix of sarcasm and reluctant respect.

“Hardly impressive, but it’s good enough. Welcome aboard, rookie.”

Glitch – The Tech Genius

Next up is Glitch, the hacker of the group. He’s smug, hyperactive, and suspicious of you at first. To earn his trust, you’ll help him restore power relays and bypass Order security defenses.

It’s a quick hacking segment — simple but stylish — ending with Glitch declaring, “Say it: I’m in.” Once you do, he officially joins the team. Expect a lot of banter between him and Kilo throughout the mission.

Step 3: The Briefing

Once everyone’s on board, Shim lays out the plan in his “office” — a cluttered garage complete with scale models of the target.

The crew is targeting the Order’s Contraband Storage Facility, which used to be heavily guarded but is now undermanned due to “Vault Hunter problems” elsewhere. Inside is a secure vault rumored to hold priceless loot.

Objectives:

Disable the alarm boosters on the roof.

Crack open the security doors.

Infiltrate the vault.

Escape with the prize.

Step 4: Reaching the Roof

You’ll start solo, scaling the facility to reach the rooftop. Shim builds you a makeshift ramp to help with access — “Classy yet flashy,” he says. Once on the roof, Glitch hands you electrocharges to plant on three signal boosters.

Place them quickly to avoid triggering alarms. When all boosters are fried, your team moves to breach the main door.

Kilo takes charge again: she walks you through another timed switch-and-lever puzzle to override the security locks. Once it’s done, she quips, “We’re in like mom jeans — comfy and timeless.”

Step 5: The Alarm and Shootout

Just as the crew starts celebrating, the Order’s automated systems detect the intrusion. Sirens blare, drones flood the corridors, and the area turns into a full-blown firefight.

Shim calls out, “Flash, do the thing with the bullets and the puncher!” — meaning it’s your time to shine. Hold your ground as waves of enemies pour in. Focus on clearing the drones quickly so Glitch can keep working on the systems.

Once the last enemy drops, Shim invites you back to “the office” for phase two — the actual vault breach.

Step 6: The Breach

Back at the vault, Kilo has planted breaching charges. But instead of taking the honors herself, she lets you detonate them. Hit the detonator when prompted, and enjoy one of the game’s most cinematic explosions.

Shim cheers, “You sure know how to make an entrance!” The team descends into the vault chamber to find the massive safe. Unfortunately, it’s not just big — it’s reinforced like a tank.

Step 7: Cracking the Safe

This section mixes melee and puzzle mechanics. You’ll need to hit weak points on the safe’s structure while Kilo pinpoints where to use her thermal lance. After a few hits, she begins cutting through the casing — only for more security bots to spawn.

Defend her until she finishes. Glitch hacks the internal systems while joking about “flippy switchies” and “light go night night.”

Just as you open the safe, the Order deploys an anti-fire drone squad — because apparently, fire safety now involves bullets. Defeat them to trigger the final phase.

Step 8: The Escape Plan

With alarms screaming, Shim improvises a ridiculous but brilliant escape plan: strap rockets to the safe and launch it out of the facility.

“Explosions, flying, and getting rich — my three favorite things!”

Collect dropped rockets from drones and attach them to the safe. Once they’re all in place, Glitch synchronizes their guidance systems. Then, hit the button for one of the wildest sequences in the game — the safe blasts off into the sky as the facility crumbles around you.

Step 9: The Loot

After the dust settles, you regroup with the team to open the safe. Everyone’s expecting gold, Eridium, or legendary cheap Borderlands 4 Weapons. Instead, they find... hair care products.

Yes — the ultimate treasure is a collection of ultra-rare Order-brand conditioner, supposedly the stuff of legends. Shim nearly cries with joy.

“At last, I can die happy… and well-groomed.”

You do, however, get a large loot chest nearby filled with actual rewards — weapons, cosmetics, and Borderlands-grade nonsense.

Step 10: Wrap-Up

Shim congratulates you for pulling off the impossible, even if the “treasure” wasn’t what anyone expected. Kilo cracks a few jokes, Glitch mocks the sentimental moment, and the mission ends with Shim promising “no more imitation hair products for life.”

As the screen fades, the music swells, and Shim delivers one last pun:

“Didn’t I say this score would blow your hair back?”

Rewards:

Epic-tier Borderlands 4 Weapons and cosmetics

Vault Hunter XP

Unique achievement: “A Good Hair Day”

That’s the full breakdown of The Kairos Job — a chaotic, hilarious, and explosively satisfying mission that captures everything fans love about Borderlands 4.