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.
Job Description:
Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible. With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.
At the heart of Defining Possible is our commitment to missions. In rapidly changing global security environments, Northrop Grumman brings informed insights and software-secure technology to enable strategic planning. We’re looking for innovators who can help us keep building on our wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies that fuel those missions. By joining in our shared mission, we’ll support you with expanding your personal network and developing skills, whether you are new to the field, or an industry thought leader. At Northrop Grumman, you’ll have the resources, support, and team to do some of the best work of your career.
We are looking for you to join our team as a Cyber Systems Engineer / Principal Cyber Systems Engineer to join our cross functional Northern Virginia Engineering Discipline Team!
This position will be located at a Mission Systems Sector site in Northern Virginia.
As a Cyber Systems Engineer / Principal Cyber Systems Engineer, you will have the following responsibilities:
- Provide Engineering and Administrative support onsite for a team of system engineers, often deviating from industry standard procedures to meet mission needs but maintaining system security standards.
- Develop, implement, and support solutions for systems that support mission critical and mission essential infrastructure.
- Analyze existing systems & networks and make proactive recommendations to drive change and create efficiencies.
- Support all aspects with the integration of new or existing network systems.
- Collaborate with system engineers to create and deploy solutions in support of customer mission needs.
- Maintain, evaluate, test, and apply STIG configurations for network devices.
- Respond to security findings and Break Fix events across the infrastructure.
- Create and maintain system network documentation including but not limited to Standard Operating Procedures and VISIO diagrams.
Basic Qualifications for a Cyber Systems Engineer:
- Active TS/SCI with Polygraph is required to be considered and required prior to start.
- Bachelor's degree with 2 years of relevant experience, a Master’s degree with 0 years of relevant experience, a PhD with 0 year of relevant experience, or 7 years of relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to articulate and document defects in a timely manner and collaborate with the team and management to prioritize issues until resolution.
- Familiar with designing and maintaining LAN & WAN based network.
- Familiar with working in Linux environments and capable of acting as a systems administrator.
- Familiar with IPv4 network design, including IP subnetting and protocols.
- Familiar with network device configuration and troubleshooting.
- Familiar with network management protocols, like SNMP, SSH, and syslog.
- Capacity to understand and perform like both a Network Architect and System Administrator.
Basic Qualifications for a Principal Cyber Systems Engineer:
- Active TS/SCI with Polygraph is required to be considered and required prior to start.
- Bachelor's degree with 5 years of relevant experience, a Master’s degree with 3 years of relevant experience, a PhD with 1 year of relevant experience, or 9 years of relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to articulate and document defects in a timely manner and collaborate with the team and management to prioritize issues until resolution.
- Experience with designing and maintaining LAN & WAN based network.
- Experience working in Linux environments and capable of acting as a systems administrator.
- Expertise with IPv4 network design, including IP subnetting and protocols.
- Experience with network device configuration and troubleshooting.
- Familiar with network management protocols, like SNMP, SSH, and syslog.
- Capacity to understand and perform like both a Network Architect and System Administrator.
- Experience managing a small team of technically diverse individuals.
Preferred Qualifications for both levels:
The ideal candidate will have experience with one or more of the following technologies and software applications:
- FreeIPA
- GestioIP
- Puppet
- Splunk
- Bitwarden
- Vaultwarden
- NAGIOS
- CLAM-AV
- DHCP
- DNS
- LDAP
- Intermapper
- WhatsupGold
- Server turnup, configuration, and maintenance
- VM setup and configuration
- Expert on OWT, key to project
- Network Engineering experience/knowledge
Skills Required
- Active TS/SCI with Polygraph required prior to start
- Bachelor's degree (or Master's/PhD with reduced experience) or equivalent years of relevant experience as specified
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to articulate and document defects and collaborate to resolution
- Designing and maintaining LAN and WAN networks
- Linux systems administration experience
- Expertise with IPv4 network design, IP subnetting and protocols
- Network device configuration and troubleshooting
- Familiarity with network management protocols (SNMP, SSH, syslog)
- Ability to function as both Network Architect and System Administrator
- Experience managing a small team of technically diverse individuals (Principal level)
- Familiarity with applying and testing STIG configurations for network devices
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.







