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 GNC Engineer – Level 4 or 5 located in Chandler, AZ, 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 position, you will contribute to the development and evaluation of guidance, navigation, and control systems for advanced aerospace applications, including aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, and launch vehicles. Your work will involve applying mathematical models, control theories, and algorithm development to achieve precision in navigation and control performance. You will also play a key role in analyzing system behavior, designing solutions, and integrating hardware and software components to ensure system reliability and mission success.
This position will work a 9/80 schedule, with every other Friday off.
Your mission, should you choose to accept:
- Design, develop, implement, verify, and test high-quality software and simulation toolchains
- Work on a 6 degree of freedom (6DOF) simulation to design and test missile flight code
- Work with 6DoF simulation models to evaluate system performance
- Work with flight dynamics, autopilot and guidance design, and implementation into flight code
- Work with various trajectory optimization software and tools
- Other duties as assigned
If this job description reads like it was written specifically for you, consider joining our team!
This position is contingent upon having a final clearance and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company.
Basic Qualifications for Level 4:
- Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of professional experience.
- Must have existing U.S. Government security clearance at Secret or Top Secret
- Two (8) years of Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) related experience with a Bachelor's degree - OR - six (6) years of GNC experience with a Master's degree.
- Competence in C++ development in a Linux environment
- Competence in MATLAB and Python toolchains
Basic Qualifications for Level 5:
- Bachelor’s degree with 12 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 10 years of professional experience.
- Must have existing U.S. Government security clearance at Secret or Top Secret
- Twelve (12) years of Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) related experience with a Bachelor's degree - OR - ten (10) years of GNC experience with a Master's degree.
- Proficiency in C++ development in a Linux environment
- Proficiency in MATLAB and Python toolchains
Preferred Qualifications:
- Master’s or PhD in a relevant engineering discipline.
- Control systems theory and flight dynamics expertise
- Expertise in creating and maintaining analysis tools in C++, MATLAB and Python
- Expertise in C++ development in a Linux environment
- Expertise in MATLAB and Python toolchains
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree with 8 years professional experience or Master's with 6 years (Level 4) or Bachelor's with 12 years or Master's with 10 years (Level 5)
- Existing U.S. Government security clearance at Secret or Top Secret
- Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) related experience (specified years per level)
- Proficiency/competence in C++ development in a Linux environment
- Proficiency/competence in MATLAB and Python toolchains
- U.S. Citizenship (required for positions with government clearance)
- Position is 100% onsite (Chandler, AZ)
- Master's or PhD in relevant engineering discipline
- Control systems theory and flight dynamics expertise
- Experience creating and maintaining analysis tools in C++, MATLAB, and Python
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.









