Northrop Grumman Space Systems, Multi-Domain Operations, and Missile Defense Integration Business Unit (BU) has an exciting career opportunity for a Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 3 or a Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 4 to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. Our domain provides rewarding work that contributes to the latest advancements being made in the industry. The position is located on-site at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO.
Position Overview:
As a DevOps Engineer – Level 3 or 4, you will plan and evolve processes and infrastructure that support rapid maturation and deployment of capabilities while sustaining a stable security posture and incorporating ongoing stakeholder feedback. You will work in lab and development environments composed of virtual, containerized, and bare-metal systems, focusing on build and deployment workflows, automation, and robust operating system practices.
You will integrate development pipelines leveraging automation with test-driven development tools and continuous integration/test frameworks. You will implement provisioning and deployment techniques via packaging, automation scripts, or manual distribution. You will function with agile principles to execute efficiently in an environment of continuous feedback. In this role, you will collaborate closely with software developers, production operations, and other engineering teams to support build environments, development workflows, and OS-related issues, while enabling quick and efficient software development and delivery using tools like Kubernetes, SonarQube, Podman, and related DevOps toolchains.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
- Plan, design, and maintain build, integration, test, and deployment environments to enable rapid, reliable software delivery while ensuring security and stability.
- Implement and support repeatable, scalable provisioning and deployment techniques (e.g., packaging, componentization, containerization, and cloud-based distribution) with effective configuration management, versioning, and traceability.
- Monitor and improve software quality by implementing code quality and coverage metrics, integrating automated test suites, and enforcing quality controls across environments.
- Collaborate closely with development, production operations, and other engineering teams to optimize workflows, resolve environment issues, and communicate/prioritize planned and unplanned work to minimize disruption.
- Administer and support containerized, virtualized, and lab environments (e.g., Kubernetes, OpenShift, Podman, Docker), including rapid incident response, patching, system checkout, and restoration of critical services.
- Perform system administration and hardware support duties, including troubleshooting OS, network, and hardware problems; coordinating repair or replacement; and documenting configurations, procedures, changes, and infrastructure inventories.
Seeking candidates who find satisfaction in working on challenging and diverse assignments in collaborative settings across all levels.
This requisition may be filled at a higher grade based on qualifications listed below.
This requisition may be filled at either a Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 3 or a Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 4.
Basic Qualifications – Principal DevOps Engineer – Level 3:
- Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline preferred from an accredited university and 5 years of related work experience, or a Master’s Degree in STEM and 3 years of related work experience, or 1 year of related work experience with a PhD in STEM. A high school diploma and 9 years of related work experience in lieu of a degree may be considered.
- Applicants must have a current, active in-scope U.S. Government issued Secret security clearance at the time of application, which is required to start
- Ability and flexibility to work alternate shifts if required to support business needs.
- Ability and willingness to travel 10% to support business needs
- Strong understanding of Linux-based environments (Red Hat or similar enterprise distributions) in lab, development, or production settings, particularly as they relate to build, integration, and deployment workflows
- Experience with scripting (e.g., Bash, Python, or similar) to automate configuration, deployment, and maintenance tasks
- Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and configuration automation (e.g., Ansible, Terraform, or similar)
- Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with engineers and technical leads on schedule-driven programs, including adherence to lockdown windows and configuration baselines
- Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline preferred from an accredited university and 8 years of related experience, or a Master’s Degree in a STEM discipline and 6 years of experience, or a PhD and 4 years of experience. A high school diploma and 12 years of related work experience in lieu of a degree may be considered.
- Ability and flexibility to work alternate shifts if required to support business needs.
- Applicants must have a current, active in-scope U.S. Government issued Secret security clearance at the time of application, which is required to start
- Ability and willingness to travel 10% to support business needs
- Advanced experience designing, implementing, and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, including integration of automated testing, code quality, and security scanning tools
- Strong background in Linux-based development and test environments, with an emphasis on supporting scalable, automated build and deployment workflows
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with CI/CD concepts and tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or similar), including pipeline configuration, build automation, and artifact management
- Experience with virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware) and applying security updates to virtualized and containerized environments
- Experience with vulnerability scanning and security compliance tools, including application of OS/security patches and managing patch repositories in support of secure DevOps practices
- Experience supporting build and deployment environments, including maintaining build scripts, installation media, and environment configuration for development and integration labs
- Experience with or desire to learn the application, deployment, and sustainment of containerized environments
- Experience with OpenShift, Podman, Docker, and Kubernetes
- Experience with SCM tools (e.g., Git, Bitbucket, or similar), including branching strategies and release management
- Experience integrating code quality and coverage tools (e.g., SonarQube) into CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with IDM/IPA and RSA for authentication and access control in development and lab environments
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Primary Level Salary Range: $103,600.00 - $155,400.00Secondary Level Salary Range: $129,300.00 - $193,900.00The 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 STEM and 5 years of related experience for Level 3; alternatively, a master’s degree with 3 years, PhD with 1 year, or high school diploma with 9 years
- Bachelor’s degree in STEM and 8 years of related experience for Level 4; alternatively, a master’s degree with 6 years, PhD with 4 years, or high school diploma with 12 years
- Current, active, in-scope U.S. Government-issued Secret security clearance
- Ability to work alternate shifts when required
- Willingness to travel 10%
- Strong understanding of Linux-based environments, including Red Hat or similar enterprise distributions
- Scripting experience with Bash, Python, or similar
- Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and configuration automation using Ansible, Terraform, or similar
- Ability to collaborate with engineers and technical leads on schedule-driven programs, lockdown windows, and configuration baselines
- Advanced experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with automated testing, code quality, and security scanning tools for Level 4
- Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions
- Experience with virtualization platforms such as VMware
- Experience with vulnerability scanning, security compliance tools, OS patches, and patch repositories
- Experience supporting build and deployment environments, build scripts, installation media, and lab configuration
- Experience with OpenShift, Podman, Docker, and Kubernetes
- Experience with Git, Bitbucket, branching strategies, and release management
- Experience integrating SonarQube or similar code quality and coverage tools into CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with IDM/IPA and RSA for authentication and access control
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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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage offers multiple medical plan options by region alongside dental, vision, mental‑health resources, and wellness programs. Recent materials also highlight added family‑building support, including a dedicated fertility benefit.
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Retirement Support — The 401(k) savings plan is positioned as competitive with a company match, auto‑escalation features, and access to an employee stock fund/ESPP. Official filings and benefits guides emphasize retirement as a core element of the Total Rewards package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Many sites offer a 9/80 schedule, generous PTO, paid holidays, and flexible/telework options where program needs allow. Paid parental and caregiver leave are prominently featured, with recent enhancements for the delivering parent.
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.
