Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is a trusted provider of mission-enabling solutions for global security. Our Engineering and Sciences (E&S) organization pushes the boundaries of innovation, redefines engineering capabilities, and drives advances in various sciences. Our team is chartered with providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter. Come be a part of our mission!
Northrop Grumman’s Systems Engineering, Integration & Test (SEIT) organization in Rolling Meadows, IL is seeking a qualified Mission Modeling Manager (Level 2) to lead a functionally diverse and highly technical engineering group supporting Mission Modeling across the Multidomain Sensing, Targeting and Survivability (MSTS) Division.
What You’ll get to Do:
This is a dual-role manager position, balancing the overall functional oversight and management of a group of 15-20 engineers, against performance of productive work on a program or several programs. The candidate will spend ~20% of their time on support of the organization (functional duties) and ~80% of their time on technical program work.
This position will report to the Mission Modeling Department manager as part of the senior staff.
The work performed by the Mission Modeling team supports all business areas represented across the Multidomain Sensing, Targeting and Survivability (MSTS) Division and is located at the Rolling Meadows campus. The successful candidate will clearly demonstrate strong leadership skills and will have a track record as an effective communicator and problem solver. They should have a history of establishing and maintaining good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. This candidate will demonstrate a broad skill set that is balanced between interpersonal, business, and technical capabilities. They should have the ability to operate independently based on strategic objectives, work in a team environment, and collaborate across the organization, Division and Enterprise as required to accomplish goals.
This position will specifically lead the Mission Modeling & Simulation team with the general responsibilities below:
System Engineering leadership:
- Your role as a System Engineering Manager will include a broad range of activities to include: requirements engineering, system architecture and design, interface management, verification, and IPT leadership.
- Day to Day oversight of support to contract programs in all phases of the engineering life cycle to include concept evaluation, development, integration, production and sustainment programs.
- Day to Day oversight of company-internal strategic programs developing modeling capabilities and performing mission engineering analysis.
MBSE Leadership:
- Your role as an MBSE Manager will afford you responsibilities for:
- Planning, developing, integrating, and maintaining: descriptive and mission models
- Supporting integration of mission models with performance models and system architecture models
- Developing a robust modeling and simulation ecosystem through the development of modular interoperable and inspectable models and modeling tools
- Definition and refinement of SEIT Processes for executing programs using a model-based methodology
In addition, you will:
- Oversee a team of engineers working multiple initiatives including follow-on contracts, new business growth opportunities, internal research and development, and capital projects.
- Guide the team in support and adherence to standard SEIT processes and the oversight of cost, schedule, and technical quality for SEIT execution on supported programs, including functional reviews for major milestone events (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, etc.) and proposals as applicable.
- Work on staffing and workload forecast; employee inclusion, engagement, mentoring and career development; employee training and identification, and training of skills required to execute on programs; management and execution of employee performance review processes; and leadership and execution for a multitude of functional management processes.
- Collaborate with our talent acquisition team to meet staffing commitments.
Overall, you will have the opportunity to oversee and mentor junior and senior level engineers while also being a direct contributor to challenging development programs. Our team environment will allow for collaboration across a highly matrixed engineering organization to accomplish team goals. This is an opportunity for someone who can commit to being a champion of change within the organization, to achieve competitive advantage for the business.
This position will be full-time on-site at our Rolling Meadows, IL. location.
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science degree in an engineering / technical discipline with a minimum of 8 years’ experience; OR a Master of Science degree in an engineering / technical discipline with a minimum of 6 years’ experience.
- Demonstrated leadership experience and skills with the ability to work effectively in a team environment.
- High proficiency in technical problem solving, to include decomposition, root cause analysis, solution development, implementation and monitoring.
- Demonstrated success in leading, collaborating and developing cross functional teams of varying experience relating to hardware or software development, system design, or modeling and simulation
- Must possess strong organizational and interpersonal skills to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with all levels of management and individual contributors
- Demonstrated success working with internal and external customers to generate business and funding for projects or initiatives.
- Experience in Systems Engineering concepts of requirements generation and allocation, system design, system integration and validation, and system selloff.
- Experience in model-based systems engineering (MBSE) using languages (SysML) and tools (Rhapsody, Cameo, etc.) to manage requirements and develop analytical and descriptive models and use cases
- Experience with Mission Modeling Tools including AFSIM, Ansys Systems Tool Kit (STK), MATLAB, Simulink
- This position requires the applicant to be a U.S. citizen.
- Active Secret clearance
Preferred Qualifications:
- Master's/PhD degree in a relevant technical area.
- Experience as a Cost Account Manager (CAM) in the Defense industry or equivalent commercial experience with Program Management/Project Management duties, including operating under cost and schedule constraints.
- Experience supporting proposal development activities including SOW development, integrated master schedule (IMS), and Basis of Estimates (BOE)
- Proven record of collaboration across organizations and geographical locations
- Prior experience allocating functionality across hardware, firmware, and software designs
- Ability to use Mission Level Analysis to drive discriminating solutions into System Architecture trades of hardware and software
- Active Top Secret security clearance
Primary Level Salary Range: $153,800.00 - $230,800.00The 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 of Science degree in an engineering or technical discipline with at least 8 years of experience, or Master of Science degree with at least 6 years of experience.
- Demonstrated leadership experience and ability to work effectively in a team environment.
- Strong technical problem-solving skills, including decomposition, root cause analysis, solution development, implementation, and monitoring.
- Experience leading, collaborating with, and developing cross-functional teams involved in hardware or software development, system design, or modeling and simulation.
- Strong organizational, interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
- Experience working with internal and external customers to generate business and funding for projects or initiatives.
- Experience with systems engineering requirements generation and allocation, system design, system integration and validation, and system selloff.
- Experience with model-based systems engineering using SysML and tools such as Rhapsody or Cameo.
- Experience with mission modeling tools including AFSIM, Ansys Systems Tool Kit, MATLAB, and Simulink.
- U.S. citizenship.
- Active Secret security clearance.
- Master's or PhD degree in a relevant technical area.
- Experience as a Cost Account Manager in the defense industry or equivalent program or project management experience under cost and schedule constraints.
- Experience supporting proposal development, including SOW development, integrated master schedules, and Basis of Estimates.
- Proven collaboration across organizations and geographical locations.
- Experience allocating functionality across hardware, firmware, and software designs.
- Ability to use mission-level analysis to drive solutions into hardware and software system architecture trades.
- Active Top Secret security clearance.
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.





