Expand your horizons, advance your career, and contribute to a secure future for generations. Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector invites you to bring your pioneering spirit to our collaborative teams. As a FPGA/ASIC Electrical Engineer – Level 3 or Level 4 located in Dulles, VA, you’ll be a linchpin in missions of paramount importance, defining the art of the possible from day one. This position is 100% onsite and cannot accommodate telecommute work.
In this role, you will be responsible for research, requirements analysis and systems architecture, design, coding, test bench design, verification, synthesis and place, & route for our Command and Data Handling (CD&H) products.
The qualified applicant will join the Electrical Engineering Avionics department that specializes in FPGA/ASIC for space applications.
This position will work a 9/80 schedule, with every other Friday off.
If this job description reads like it was written specifically for you, consider joining our team!
This position is contingent upon the candidate obtaining final clearances and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company.
This position can be filled at either a Level 3 or Level 4.
Basic Qualifications for Level 3:
- Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 3 years of professional experience – OR – PhD with 1 year of professional experience.
- Requires an active Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance at time of application
- Experience with VHDL design or Advanced /verification for FPGA’s
- Must have hands on experience with VHDL within the past 3 years
- Well versed in VHDL design for an aerospace environment or space application
- Proficient in FPGA design flow including items such as RTL/gate level simulation, synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, and power analysis
- Experience with translating system requirements into programmable logic requirements, design documents, and test specifications
- Proven experience defining architectures or team leadership
Basic Qualifications for Level 4:
- Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of professional experience – OR – PhD with 4 years of professional experience.
- Requires an active Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance at time of application
- Experience with VHDL design or Advanced /verification for FPGA’s
- Must have hands on experience with VHDL within the past 3 years
- Well versed in VHDL design for an aerospace environment or space application
- Proficient in FPGA design flow including items such as RTL/gate level simulation, synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, and power analysis
- Experience with translating system requirements into programmable logic requirements, design documents, and test specifications
- Proven experience defining architectures or team leadership
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with DSP, MATLAB, and SimuLink
- Experience with VHDL and/or SystemVerilog design
- Experience with Xilinx and Microchip (RTG4) devices.
- Experience with Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Tools: Vivado, Quartus, QuestaSim.
- Knowledgeable in FPGA physical constraints and achieving timing closure.
- Experience with board or system level debug using test equipment such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
- Generation of Test Benches and support of formal VHDL Verification
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: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00Secondary Level Salary Range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00The 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/Master's/PhD with required years of experience per Level 3/4 (Level 3: Bachelors+5 yrs or Masters+3 yrs or PhD+1 yr; Level 4: Bachelors+8 yrs or Masters+6 yrs or PhD+4 yrs)
- Active Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance at time of application
- Experience with VHDL design or advanced verification for FPGAs
- Hands-on experience with VHDL within the past 3 years
- Well-versed in VHDL design for aerospace or space applications
- Proficient in FPGA design flow including RTL/gate-level simulation, synthesis, place and route, static timing analysis, and power analysis
- Experience translating system requirements into programmable logic requirements, design documents, and test specifications
- Proven experience defining architectures or providing team leadership
- Experience with DSP, MATLAB, and Simulink
- Experience with VHDL and/or SystemVerilog design
- Experience with Xilinx and Microchip (RTG4) devices
- Experience with EDA tools such as Vivado, Quartus, QuestaSim
- Knowledge of FPGA physical constraints and achieving timing closure
- Experience with board or system-level debug using oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
- Generation of test benches and support of formal VHDL verification
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.







