Engineer / Principal Engineer Aeronautical
Northrop Grumman· Defense· Sep 29, 2026 · 29d ago
United States-California-San Diego · United States-California-Palmdale
In office
Full-time
Principal
$168K–$230K est.
2+ years exp
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.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Aeronautical Engineer or Principal Aeronautical Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within the Integrated Production organization. This role will be located in either Rancho Bernardo, CA or Palmdale, CA.
Roles and Responsibilities will include:
• Apply engineering principles to investigate, analyze, plan, design, test, and evaluate systems
• Perform trade studies, engineering and technical analyses, reports, change proposals, and other technical documentation
• Actively participate in the efforts associated with Agile development, including release planning, sprint planning, scrum and retrospective.
• Work in an integrated team environment with other systems, software (SW), and specialty engineers to develop solutions.
• Prepare technical presentations for management and stakeholders and communicate clearly and effectively the technical approaches and findings
• Review Test Plans and Procedures for requirements verification and support system integration and test of complex systems. This includes evaluating integration and test anomalies and assisting disposition and correction of issues
• Address interface and functionality problems between SW components and/or hardware (HW)
• Work with the SW and infrastructure teams to correct or improve capabilities
• Develop requirements for the subsystem and SRS/HRS specifications through use of MBSE tools & DOORS
• Develop architecture and designs of complex HW and SW systems, including requirements traceability and implementation assessment
• Contribute to an implementation that includes the ability to analyze high-level needs and define a structured and logical approach to refine the capability into an integrated set of requirements that led to a fielded product.
• Support the development and review of interface documents (ICDs), requirements, Verification Cross Reference Matrix (VCRM), architectural documentation, system engineering estimates, and author and perform formal and informal engineering reviews.
The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility. There is no remote / hybrid / telework available for this position. Travel up to 25% may be required.
**Position may be filled at either level 2 or level 3 depending on qualifications below**
Basic Qualifications for level 2:
• T02 Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 2 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline.
Basic Qualifications for level 3:
• T03 Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM discipline and 5 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 1 year of related engineering experience.
Basic Qualifications for both level 2 and level 3:
• Active DoD Top Secret clearance (with a background investigation within the past 5 years or enrolled into Continuous Evaluation).
• Ability to obtain and maintain initial Special Program Access (SAP/PAR). This SAP/PAR must be obtained prior to commencement of employment and must be obtained within a reasonable amount of time as determined by the company to meet its business needs.
• Note: SAP/PAR will be upgraded once selected candidate is in role. Therefore, candidate must also be able to obtain and maintain upgraded SAP/PAR.)
Preferred Qualifications
• Active DoD Top Secret clearance SCI
• Current applicable Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.
• Security+ certification
• Experience with Ansible Engine
• Experience with IBM Rational tool suite (DOORS and ClearQuest)
• Experience with Atlassian tool suite (JIRA, Git, Confluence)
• Experience using SW test automation tools/frameworks
• Experience with Java, C++, or Python
• Experience working within an Agile development environment
• Experience with MBSE, Architecture development, system design and analysis, and development of metrics
• Experience as a Product Owner
• Experience with SW products running in a virtual environment (e.g. VMware, Openshift, Kubernetes)
Primary Level Salary Range: $91,800.00 - $137,600.00
Secondary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00
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.
Application prep
Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.
Keywords to mirror
agilescrumjirajavapythonkubernetes
- Platform
- eightfold
- Effort
- medium
Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Health Insurance
Pto
Paid Time Off