Senior Principal Systems Engineer (RF Communications)
Northrop Grumman· Defense· Aug 10, 2026 · 3mo agoPosted 78 days ago
United States-Ohio-Cincinnati
In office
Full-time
Principal
$133K–$210K est.
8+ years exp
Before you apply
Ghost Signal:
Open 78 days.
Job description
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available
CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes
CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret
TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time Description
At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.
This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman.
Join Northrop Grumman – Cincinnati (aka Xetron), part of Mission Systems sector, focused on the development of new capabilities for our military and intelligence customers around the globe. Our Northrop Grumman Cincinnati, Ohio small business culture operates collaboratively within a larger corporation providing the benefits of both. This unique relationship offers employees the ability to know everyone at the site while working on technologies and products that are beyond state-of-the-art. You and your team will wrestle with the next big problems in an atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation, sharing your expertise while learning from the expert next to you. Remember when you were excited about getting to work because of the challenge of the problem, the importance of the solution and the fun you had with your team? It's that kind of place! But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself! See why we receive comments on our YouTube Videos like “This company is insanely advanced” and “Wow. This is mind blowing.” See some of our recent Awards and Recognition and read about some of the reasons to live in Cincinnati .
We are seeking a cleared Senior Principal Systems Engineer for a critical leadership role in our Systems Engineering Group as a key contributor to the successful completion of RF Communications projects. Professionals who want to solve the challenges that make a difference to our nation’s security.
Please be aware that this position will be contingent upon obtaining funding, customer approval and holding final clearances prior to start date. *
This position is perfect for a candidate who can lead design efforts to produce new hardware products at the Xetron facility that support National Defense partners. The products produced at this facility support all domains of intelligence and defense battlespaces including land, sea, air and space. Many of the problem-sets our customers expect us to solve do not have known solutions, so ingenuity is essential.
The senior principal systems engineer has overall technical responsibility for the electrical design, development, integration, and test for the development project and serves as the primary point of contact for the external customer and internal development engineering team. Ideal candidates for this position have substantial breadth and depth of knowledge in all aspects of engineering with a focus on producing deployable hardware products derived from generalized customer mission objectives and goals into traceable requirements. The candidate must have the ability to independently form innovative solutions to difficult problems and lead teams of highly skilled engineers to execute these solutions and act as the link between technical and business goals of the project.
Typical teams are 5-10 people and require our engineers to have diverse skill sets that apply to the entire lifecycle of a program. This position allows the candidate to have direct contact with our end customers and end operators of our products, which allows for pragmatic and early feedback from the user community during the design process. Preferred technical background includes experience with collaborating across engineering teams to resolve and integrate technical/engineering requirements and verify their incorporation into the resulting product.
Candidates for this position should have:
• Substantial breadth and depth of knowledge in all aspects of engineering with a focus on producing deployable RF sensors and collection systems
• Engineering team leadership and direct technical contribution with RF hardware communication and collection design projects
• Experience in extracting derived requirements and generating system architectures from mission-level concept of operations (ConOps)
• Previous direct contact with end customers in the creation and development of project technical reviews and documentation.
• Preferred technical background includes experience with design improvements, requirements management, especially in relationship to reliability, maintainability, and supportability.
Examples of programs and products executed at Xetron include:
• RF communication and collection systems
• RF electronic warfare (EW) systems
• Unique waveform communication products
• Innovative Digital Signal Processing (DSP) solutions
Basic Qualifications for Sr. Principal Systems Engineer Level:
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering, or other STEM degree, plus 8 years of progressive experience OR Master of Science degree plus 6 years of progressive experience, OR PhD plus 3 years of progressive experience
• Recent design experience and a track record of successful RF product designs .
• Experience leading engineering teams from various disciplines in a recent technical development project
• Experience in assessing project status in terms of technical, cost, and schedule execution
• US Citizenship is required
• Active Top-Secret clearance
Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience as an IPT lead, functional lead, or leadership in the military
• Experience with model-based system engineering concepts and platforms, such as Cameo
• Experience with ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, MIL-STD-499, and/or INCOSE system engineering life-cycle processes
• Experience integrating antenna, RF subsystems, and processing hardware/software into a complete system
• RF modeling, simulation, and analysis including link budgets
• MATLAB knowledge and/or experience
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and apply varied technologies
• Ability to perform as liaison to the customer for all engineering efforts
• Ability to collaborate in a team environment.
Primary Level Salary Range: $129,300.00 - $193,900.00
The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.
Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives. In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.
The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.
Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO and pay transparency statement, please visit northropgrumman.com. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.
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