Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Aeronautical Engineer or Principal Aeronautical Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within the Integrated Production organization. This role will be located in either Rancho Bernardo, CA or Palmdale, CA.
Roles and Responsibilities will include:
- Apply engineering principles to investigate, analyze, plan, design, test, and evaluate systems
- Perform trade studies, engineering and technical analyses, reports, change proposals, and other technical documentation
- Actively participate in the efforts associated with Agile development, including release planning, sprint planning, scrum and retrospective.
- Work in an integrated team environment with other systems, software (SW), and specialty engineers to develop solutions.
- Prepare technical presentations for management and stakeholders and communicate clearly and effectively the technical approaches and findings
- Review Test Plans and Procedures for requirements verification and support system integration and test of complex systems. This includes evaluating integration and test anomalies and assisting disposition and correction of issues
- Address interface and functionality problems between SW components and/or hardware (HW)
- Work with the SW and infrastructure teams to correct or improve capabilities
- Develop requirements for the subsystem and SRS/HRS specifications through use of MBSE tools & DOORS
- Develop architecture and designs of complex HW and SW systems, including requirements traceability and implementation assessment
- Contribute to an implementation that includes the ability to analyze high-level needs and define a structured and logical approach to refine the capability into an integrated set of requirements that led to a fielded product.
- Support the development and review of interface documents (ICDs), requirements, Verification Cross Reference Matrix (VCRM), architectural documentation, system engineering estimates, and author and perform formal and informal engineering reviews.
The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility. There is no remote / hybrid / telework available for this position. Travel up to 25% may be required.
**Position may be filled at either level 2 or level 3 depending on qualifications below**
Basic Qualifications for level 2:
- T02 Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 2 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline.
Basic Qualifications for level 3:
- T03 Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM discipline and 5 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 1 year of related engineering experience.
Basic Qualifications for both level 2 and level 3:
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance (with a background investigation within the past 5 years or enrolled into Continuous Evaluation).
- Ability to obtain and maintain initial Special Program Access (SAP/PAR). This SAP/PAR must be obtained prior to commencement of employment and must be obtained within a reasonable amount of time as determined by the company to meet its business needs.
- Note: SAP/PAR will be upgraded once selected candidate is in role. Therefore, candidate must also be able to obtain and maintain upgraded SAP/PAR.)
Preferred Qualifications
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance SCI
- Current applicable Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.
- Security+ certification
- Experience with Ansible Engine
- Experience with IBM Rational tool suite (DOORS and ClearQuest)
- Experience with Atlassian tool suite (JIRA, Git, Confluence)
- Experience using SW test automation tools/frameworks
- Experience with Java, C++, or Python
- Experience working within an Agile development environment
- Experience with MBSE, Architecture development, system design and analysis, and development of metrics
- Experience as a Product Owner
- Experience with SW products running in a virtual environment (e.g. VMware, Openshift, Kubernetes)
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline and 2 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master's degree in a STEM discipline (Level 2)
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline and 5 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master's degree and 3 years experience; OR a PhD and 1 year experience (Level 3)
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance (background investigation within past 5 years or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation)
- Ability to obtain and maintain initial Special Program Access (SAP/PAR) prior to employment and obtain upgraded SAP/PAR thereafter
- U.S. Citizenship (required for positions with a government clearance)
- Work full-time on-site at company facility (no remote/hybrid)
- Active DoD Top Secret SCI
- Current applicable Special Access Program (SAP) clearance
- Security+ certification
- Experience with Ansible Engine
- Experience with IBM Rational tool suite (DOORS and ClearQuest)
- Experience with Atlassian tool suite (JIRA, Git, Confluence)
- Experience using SW test automation tools/frameworks
- Experience with Java, C++, or Python
- Experience working within an Agile development environment
- Experience with MBSE, architecture development, system design and analysis, and metrics development
- Experience as a Product Owner
- Experience with SW products running in virtual environments (VMware, OpenShift, Kubernetes)
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.





