Sr Principal Engineer Software - Embedded and Real Time
Ngc· Defense· Aug 31, 2026 · 2mo ago
San Diego, CA
In office
Full-time
Principal
$142K–$213K
8+ 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.
Please note that this opportunity is contingent on program funding. Start dates are determined after funding confirmation.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is looking to add Sr Principal Embedded & Real Time Software Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within our Software organization. This position will be supported on site in San Diego, CA, El Segundo, CA or Palmdale, CA.
In this role you will design, develop, integrate and test software (SW) for our end-user customers and businesses. You will be responsible for the design, architecture, development, and administration of embedded and real time systems. You will work with multi-disciplinary teams, such as Systems Engineering, Cloud & Application, Test Automation, DevSecOps and Systems Test, in an Agile SW development environment. You will analyze system capabilities to resolve problems on program intent, output requirements, input data acquisition, programming techniques and controls.
Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Work in a fast-paced environment with high expectations, significantly diverse assignments, and collaborative team settings across all levels
• Participate in the full SW development life cycle including requirements, design, implementation, qualification, and delivery of SW products to our customers
• Operate in an embedded technology development environment working with real time operating systems for use in flight and mission critical systems
• Work in Agile Scrum teams to develop SW products for multiple SW baselines
Basic Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 8 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 6 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 4 years of related engineering experience.
• Experience with the full SW Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Experience with the following programming and scripting languages: C, C , and Python
• Experience with developing multi-threaded SW used for one of the following real-time applications: flight critical SW, Safety critical SW, medical SW, or mission critical SW
• Experience with two of the following tools: Jira, Crucible, Bitbucket, Subversion, Bamboo, Jenkins, Sonarqube, Fortify, or Coverity
• Experience with Agile SW development, embedded system programming, SWintegration and testing
• Familiarity with at least two of the data interfaces: 1553, 1394, 422, 429, Serial, CAN, Discrete & Analog I/O, Ethernet/IP, or Fibre Channel
• Excellent communication, interpersonal skills, and the ability to interface with all levels of employees and management
• Recent experience and proficiency in software architecture, design, implementation, integration, and debugging C SW running on Real-Time Operating systems such as: VxWorks, Integrity, AND/OR Real Time Embedded Linux.
• Ability to collaborate with systems engineers, hardware designers and integration/test engineers to develop and maintain complex SW systems
• Your ability to transfer and maintain the final adjudicated U.S. government Top Secret clearance (must be in-scope or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation) and any program access(es) required for the position within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the Company.
• 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. (Of 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:
• Current applicable SAP access
• Basic understanding of PowerPC or ARM assembly
• Able to read assembly and use CPU documentation to understand behaviors
• Can identify moderate execution defects by only reading code
• Understanding of how their embedded SW component will fit into a larger SW system / architecture
• Able to document, capture, and present software architectural components in modeling or diagramming tools
• Familiarity with OS partitions and isolation architectures
• High level understanding of architectural requirements for airworthiness certifications
• Strong understanding of the following:
o layered SW architectures (e.g. Application, System, Device)
o SW hardware interfaces and where they exist in the architecture
o Event driven (Interrupts), polling and synchronous SW architectures
• Recent experience and proficiency with SW change control, change management, static analysis, and CI/CD tools such as: Atlassian tool suite, Jira, GitHub, GitLab, SonarQube, Coverity, AND/OR Jenkins within the last three years.
• Experience with Static & Dynamic Code Analysis
#yellow
Primary Level Salary Range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00
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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Health Insurance
Pto
Paid Time Off