Northrop Grumman Defense Systems (NGDS) is seeking a DevOps Engineer/ Principal DevOps Engineer at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Successful candidates should have a track record as an effective communicator and problem solver who is able to develop and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. The candidate will be an active part of a Platform Engineering team with expertise in Kubernetes, Cloud, GitLab, and related platform technologies that will be responsible for building, maintaining, and scaling the foundational infrastructure.
Summary of Responsibilities
As a DevOps engineer, you will combine software development and IT operations to create a more streamlined and efficient development process by implementing and managing the DevOps approach within the organization.
This position may be filled at a higher level based on the qualifications below.
Basic Qualifications:
- DevOps Engineer (Level 2): Bachelor's degree in STEM with 2 years’ relevant experience OR a master’s degree with 0 years’ experience
- Principal DevOps Engineer (Level 3): Bachelor's degree in STEM with 5 years’ relevant experience OR a master’s degree with 3 years’ experience
- Active Department of Defense Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance
- Active CompTIA Security+, SecurityX, or CISSP certification
- Minimum of 3 years’ experience in DevOps, software development, or systems administration
- Experience with configuration and maintenance of DevOps Infrastructure as Code tools and CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience with OCI-compliant container technology and tools such as Podman or Docker
- Experience managing and troubleshooting containerized workloads, specifically using Kubernetes or Docker Swarm
- Experience with Linux Operating System and familiarity with core cloud services, including virtual machines, storage, and networking
- Experience with distributed revision control systems such as Git
- Experience with scripting languages such as Python, Bash, and Go to improve platform efficiency
Preferred Qualifications
- Kubernetes related certifications such as CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator), CKAD (Certified Kubernetes Application Developer), or CKS (Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist), KCSP (Kubernetes Certified Service Provider)
- Experience with the configuration and administration of CNCF tools such as Harbor, ArgoCD, Grafana, Prometheus, and Helm
- Experience implementing "security as code," including automated vulnerability scanning and compliance-driven infrastructure (DoD STIGs/RMF).
- Experience designing enterprise-wide automation strategies and establishing golden paths/developer portals for engineering teams to reduce cognitive load.
- Experience working in an Agile environment/working knowledge of Agile principles and practices
- Experience with project/issue tracking software tools like Jira and Confluence
- Demonstrates a clear understanding of Microservice Architectures
Skills Required
- DevOps Engineer (Level 2): Bachelor's degree in STEM with 2 years' relevant experience OR a master's degree with 0 years' experience
- Principal DevOps Engineer (Level 3): Bachelor's degree in STEM with 5 years' relevant experience OR a master's degree with 3 years' experience
- Active Department of Defense Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance
- Active CompTIA Security+, SecurityX, or CISSP certification
- Minimum of 3 years' experience in DevOps, software development, or systems administration
- Experience with configuration and maintenance of DevOps infrastructure as code tools and CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with OCI-compliant container technology and tools such as Podman or Docker
- Experience managing and troubleshooting containerized workloads, specifically using Kubernetes or Docker Swarm
- Experience with Linux operating system and familiarity with core cloud services (virtual machines, storage, networking)
- Experience with distributed revision control systems such as Git
- Experience with scripting languages such as Python, Bash, and Go
- Kubernetes related certifications (CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCSP)
- Experience with CNCF tools such as Harbor, ArgoCD, Grafana, Prometheus, and Helm
- Experience implementing security-as-code, automated vulnerability scanning, and compliance-driven infrastructure (DoD STIGs/RMF)
- Experience designing enterprise-wide automation strategies and golden paths/developer portals
- Experience working in an Agile environment and familiarity with Agile principles
- Experience with project/issue tracking tools like Jira and Confluence
- Clear understanding of Microservice Architectures
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.









