Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems (NGAS) has an opening for a Principal Data Engineer or Sr. Principal Data Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. The position requires on-site support located in Palmdale, CA and can also be filled in El Segundo CA where technology and teamwork come together. The selected candidate will become part of Northrop Grumman’s Data Science Engineering Team working in a collaborative environment while promoting a positive and proactive teamwork environment.
Data Engineering job duties involve the following:
- Establish repositories, data models, and integration patterns for manufacturing data and the technical context required to support digitized processes
- Define the architecture, processes, and interfaces through which engineering and manufacturing teams provide, validate, relate, and maintain contextual data
- Align adjacent and independently managed data structures through authoritative sources, shared identifiers, mappings, semantics, relationships, and traceability
- Design resilient pipelines and data services that integrate manufacturing measurement, equipment, sensor, process, product-location, quality, engineering, and enterprise-system data
- Set technical direction for greenfield manufacturing-data solutions and communicate strategy, alternatives, risks, dependencies, and outcomes to senior leaders and technical stakeholders
Basic Qualifications for: Principal Data Engineer:
- Bachelor’s degree with 4 years of technical and/or engineering experience, or a Master’s degree with 3 years of engineering experience, or PhD with 0 years of experience
- Ability to work 1st shift "5am-3:30pm" or 2nd shift "4:12pm-2:42am" and/or any work schedule (times may vary)
- Advanced experience using SQL, programming or automation, and relational data modeling to deliver production data products, applications, or platforms
- Experience defining and owning data architecture, including repositories, schemas, interfaces, integration patterns, metadata, lineage, data quality, and maintainability
- Demonstrated success delivering greenfield data solutions where platforms, standards, requirements, data contracts, or system endpoints were incomplete or did not exist
- Experience designing pipelines and integration approaches for complex data from multiple independently managed sources
- Experience establishing technical direction for ambiguous data problems and driving alignment across technical and operational stakeholders
- Ability to communicate architecture, performance, risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs to senior managers and technical stakeholders
- This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret or Top-Secret Clearance as well as Program Special access within a reasonable period, as determined by the company to meet its business needs
- Ability to work for extended periods of time at a workstation on a computer or similar device for up to 10 hours / duration of shift. Occasional extended periods of standing, bending, kneeling
- Ability to travel at least 10%
Basic Qualifications for: Sr. Principal Data Engineer:
- Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of engineering experience, or a Master’s degree with 6 years of engineering experience, or PhD with 4 years of engineering experience
- Ability to work 1st shift "5am-3:30pm" or 2nd shift "4:12pm-2:42am" and/or any work schedule (times may vary)
- Advanced experience using SQL, programming or automation, and relational data modeling to deliver production data products, applications, or platforms
- Experience defining and owning data architecture, including repositories, schemas, interfaces, integration patterns, metadata, lineage, data quality, and maintainability
- Demonstrated success delivering greenfield data solutions where platforms, standards, requirements, data contracts, or system endpoints were incomplete or did not exist
- Experience designing pipelines and integration approaches for complex data from multiple independently managed sources
- Experience establishing technical direction for ambiguous data problems and driving alignment across technical and operational stakeholders
- Ability to communicate architecture, performance, risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs to senior managers and technical stakeholders
- This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret or Top-Secret Clearance as well as Program Special access within a reasonable period, as determined by the company to meet its business needs
- Ability to work for extended periods of time at a workstation on a computer or similar device for up to 10 hours / duration of shift. Occasional extended periods of standing, bending, kneeling
- Ability to travel at least 10%
Preferred Qualifications:
- STEM degree in a related field
- Experience establishing data architecture across manufacturing measurement, equipment, sensor, process, product, quality, engineering, program, and enterprise-system domains
- Experience aligning independently managed structures through authoritative sources, shared identifiers, mappings, semantic models, relationships, stewardship, and traceability
- Experience designing scalable approaches for high-volume, high-frequency, time-dependent, spatial, or otherwise complex technical data
- Experience developing data services, APIs, or application interfaces that allow domain teams to provide and maintain contextual data
- Experience with Python, Microsoft SQL Server, Apache Airflow, Git-based development, automated testing, CI/CD, monitoring, or production operations. Python and Airflow are preferred because they align with the current team and infrastructure, but comparable programming and orchestration experience is acceptable
- Experience incorporating relevant information from engineering documents, work instructions, or other unstructured technical sources without making document parsing the primary solution focus.
- Experience leading architecture reviews, mentoring technical contributors, and raising data-engineering maturity across an organization
- Experience partnering with enterprise organizations while independently defining and advancing local manufacturing-data needs when enterprise support or platforms are immature
- Active U.S. Government Secret or higher security clearance
Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree with 4 years of technical or engineering experience, or Master’s degree with 3 years, or PhD with 0 years for Principal level
- Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of engineering experience, or Master’s degree with 6 years, or PhD with 4 years for Sr. Principal level
- Ability to work first shift, second shift, or other required work schedules
- Advanced experience with SQL, programming or automation, and relational data modeling
- Experience defining and owning data architecture, repositories, schemas, interfaces, integration patterns, metadata, lineage, data quality, and maintainability
- Experience delivering greenfield data solutions with incomplete platforms, standards, requirements, data contracts, or system endpoints
- Experience designing pipelines and integration approaches for complex data from multiple independently managed sources
- Experience establishing technical direction for ambiguous data problems and aligning technical and operational stakeholders
- Ability to communicate architecture, performance, risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs to senior managers and technical stakeholders
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret or Top Secret clearance and Program Special access
- Ability to work at a workstation for up to 10 hours per shift, with occasional standing, bending, and kneeling
- Ability to travel at least 10%
- STEM degree in a related field
- Experience with manufacturing, sensor, equipment, process, quality, engineering, program, and enterprise-system data architecture
- Experience with Python, Microsoft SQL Server, Apache Airflow, Git-based development, automated testing, CI/CD, monitoring, or production operations
- Experience developing data services, APIs, or application interfaces
- Experience leading architecture reviews, mentoring technical contributors, and improving data-engineering maturity
- Active U.S. Government Secret or higher 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.







