Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector is seeking a Chief Engineer – Propulsion Tanks - Level 5 to join our team in Commerce, CA.
This is a highly visible, hands-on role for a technical leader who wants to own a product line end-to-end—stabilizing performance, lifting team capability, and shaping the technology roadmap. You will have direct influence with customers, site leadership, and business leadership across the company, working on hardware that directly affects mission success.
The ideal candidate is a seasoned technical leader with deep propulsion tank experience, strong metallurgy and manufacturing expertise, and a proven track record of building teams, navigating challenges, and positively influencing culture in demanding environments. We value diverse perspectives and inclusive leadership, and we’re looking for a chief engineer who can bring out the best in a broad range of engineers and partners.
What You’ll Get to Do
Serve as Chief Engineer for the Commerce Propulsion Tank Product Line, owning the technical baseline and guiding design, development, integration, test, and production support.
Act as the primary technical interface to customers, Commerce site leadership, and key functional and business partners.
Lead root cause and corrective action (RCCA) and nonconformance resolution, driving closure of complex technical issues that impact performance, yield, and schedule.
Apply deep expertise in metallurgy and materials, GD&T, precision machining, and production tooling to improve producibility and manufacturing robustness.
Partner closely with Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, Tooling, and Quality to address manufacturability, variability, and cost drivers.
Build and mentor a high performing engineering team in a small, growing organization: coach engineers, set clear technical standards, and raise the level of technical rigor.
Take on a high impact build and transform charter: strengthen a small team, improve technical discipline, and help shape the culture of the Commerce propulsion tank organization.
Champion a positive, inclusive culture by modeling Northrop Grumman’s leadership behaviors: setting a vision, taking ownership, leading with courage, responding with resilience, and acting with speed.
Maintain strong awareness of the propulsion tank market and architectures, including PMD designs, COPV tanks, diaphragm tanks, and titanium forging constraints.
Support new business and proposals with technical strategy, risk assessment, and requirements compliance, clearly articulating our technical value to customers.
Lead development of technical roadmaps, including evaluating emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing and defining transitions away from forging constrained approaches to meet higher demand under tighter timelines.
Work closely with site leadership, Operating Unit and Business Unit leaders, and enterprise functional leadership, providing a strong platform for future technical and organizational leadership opportunities.
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) field with 12 years of technical experience in aerospace, space, or closely related propulsion/pressure vessel domains.
Experience in propulsion tank design and manufacturing (e.g., pressure vessels, PMDs, COPVs, diaphragm tanks).
Deep technical proficiency in metallurgy and materials (including titanium and high performance alloys).
Experience with GD&T, precision machining, and production tooling for complex hardware.
Demonstrated experience with additive manufacturing or other advanced manufacturing methods for structural/pressure vessel hardware, and the ability to incorporate these into technical and technology roadmap decisions.
Demonstrated success leading RCCA/non-conformance resolution and closing persistent technical issues that impact cost, schedule, and performance.
Experience leading and influencing cross-functional technical teams and effectively interfacing with customers and senior leadership.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to explain complex technical topics to diverse stakeholders.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s degree in a STEM discipline (Aerospace, Mechanical, or Materials Engineering preferred).
Broad familiarity with propulsion tank architectures, customer expectations, and market trends, including PMD designs, COPV and diaphragm tanks, and forging supply chain constraints.
Experience developing technology transition plans that leverage additive and other advanced processes to mitigate forging/supply constraints and support higher demand.
Prior experience as a Chief Engineer, IPT Lead, or equivalent senior technical leadership role on mission-critical hardware.
Active TS and/or SCI clearances
Curious about all the exciting developments with the Northrop Grumman Space Sector? Click the link below:
https://www.northropgrumman.com/space
Working at Northrop Grumman is more than just a paycheck. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards and benefits package designed to help you thrive at work and in life. For more information on our Total Rewards package, please visit our Total Rewards site.
Northrop Grumman Total Rewards
Primary Level Salary Range: $177,000.00 - $265,600.00The 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 http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM field with 12 years of technical experience in aerospace, space, or related propulsion/pressure vessel domains.
- Experience in propulsion tank design and manufacturing (pressure vessels, PMDs, COPVs, diaphragm tanks).
- Deep technical proficiency in metallurgy and materials, including titanium and high performance alloys.
- Experience with GD&T, precision machining, and production tooling for complex hardware.
- Demonstrated experience with additive manufacturing or other advanced manufacturing methods for structural/pressure vessel hardware.
- Demonstrated success leading RCCA and non-conformance resolution for complex technical issues.
- Experience leading and influencing cross-functional technical teams and interfacing with customers and senior leadership.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to explain complex technical topics to diverse stakeholders.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
- Master's degree in a STEM discipline (Aerospace, Mechanical, or Materials Engineering preferred).
- Broad familiarity with propulsion tank architectures, customer expectations, and market trends.
- Experience developing technology transition plans leveraging additive and advanced processes to mitigate forging/supply constraints.
- Prior experience as a Chief Engineer, IPT Lead, or equivalent senior technical leadership role on mission-critical hardware.
- Active Top Secret and/or SCI clearances.
Northrop Grumman Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Northrop Grumman and has not been reviewed or approved by Northrop Grumman.
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Retirement Support — 401(k) matching is considered strong, with additional defined-benefit coverage for certain cohorts and options like catch-up contributions. Retirement programs are repeatedly highlighted as a core strength of the total rewards.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — PTO, company-paid holidays, and compressed work schedules (such as 9/80) provide meaningful time away and flexibility. These scheduling options are cited as a major quality-of-life benefit across many locations.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave alongside caregiver leave, adoption assistance, and back-up care supports a range of family needs. These programs have been expanded recently, signaling continued investment in family support.
Northrop Grumman Insights
What We Do
We are a close-knit community of big thinkers collaborating to keep the world safe. Our passion, creativity and expertise bring next-level technology solutions to life in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, space, and logistics and modernization for our customers around the globe. On the Northrop Grumman team, you’ll join our pursuit of excellence immersed in a dynamic culture of innovation and respect. Your unique perspective will help achieve our shared vision for the future of global security. Every step of the way, you'll be supported by world-class training, employee resource groups and a comprehensive benefits package that enables greater health and happiness for you and your family. Worldwide and across disciplines, we’re challenging what’s possible for technology to protect people and places from undersea to outer space and into cyberspace. And we see the impact of our performance every day. We are Northrop Grumman, and we work on what matters—now, you too can make a difference. Explore opportunities in engineering, IT, manufacturing, business management, cybersecurity and more with us. Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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