The Role
Develop and maintain software quality standards, processes, and procedures. Conduct inspections, testing, verification, and validation; ensure requirements traceability, testability, documentation compliance, and adherence to contractual standards. Collaborate with software, systems, and DevOps engineering teams, support quality planning and audits, track anomalies and corrective actions, and verify software qualification and system acceptance testing.
Summary Generated by Built In
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance availableCLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: NoCLEARANCE TYPE: SecretTRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the TimeDescriptionAt Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is looking for a Principal Engineer Software Quality to join our team located in Woodland Hills, CA.
What you will get to do:
- Develops, modifies, applies, and maintains standards for software quality operating methods, processes, systems and procedures.
- Conducts software inspection, testing, verification and validation. Implements software development and maintenance processes and methods.
- Ensures measures meet acceptable reliability standards.
- Develops overall operating criteria to ensure implementation of the software quality program according to project, process and contract requirements and objectives.
- Ensures that project and process control documentation are compliant with requirements, objectives and/or contract.
- Reviews software design, change specifications, and plans against contractual and/or process requirements.
- Reviews include applicable specifications, materials, tools, techniques, and methodologies.
- Performs or directs verification of software requirement allocations, traceability, and testability.
The ideal candidate must be able to collaborate with software engineering and systems engineering functions to ensure quality standards are in place and followed, demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills, and work effectively with developers, DevOps, and systems engineers,
Basic Qualifications for the Principal Engineer Software Quality:
- Bachelor's Degree in a Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or STEM related field with 5 years of experience. Master's Degree with 3 years of experience.
- Experience with software engineering principles, practices, and theories
- Experience with software problem tracking tools such as DOORs, Jira, Confluence.
- Experience with prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines.
- Ensure corrective measures meet acceptable quality standards, and that documentation is compliant with requirements
- Experience in implementing Software Quality Assurance plans
- Experience verifying software qualification and system acceptance tests to ensure tests are executed in accordance with approved test procedures, requirements are fully verified, and that all test procedure and software anomalies are documented and tracked to closure.
- US Citizenship Required.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with waterfall, spiral, or Agile life cycles.
- Experience in developing and using metrics for process health and/or performance monitoring
- Experience with program and engineering management on program quality planning and the establishment of program quality objectives
- Experience in performing audits of software development processes to ensure compliance with established policies, procedures, work instructions, and program specific plans
- Experience being a liaison between local personnel, suppliers, and/or customers
- Experience in evaluation, tracing, and analysis of requirements.
- Experience with audits, program/IPT meetings, and configuration control board meetings.
- Experience with CMMI and AS9100 audit activities and audits quality systems for non-conformance identification and corrective action.
- Evaluation of software suppliers to execute and deliver procured software
- Experience assisting Software Engineering in collecting and reporting metrics.
- Experience defining test plans, test cases, and establish traceability back to requirements and design.
- Experience with code reviews, test automation efforts, and continuous. improvement of development and integration practices
- Experience supporting individual scrum/sprint teams.
- Experience ensuring software is in compliance with industry guidelines and contractual requirements for development of systems (DO-178).
- Experience applying and maintaining quality evaluation plans to assist program activities for processing software and materials into partially finished or finished products.
#MPR
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Primary Level Salary Range: $103,600.00 - $155,400.00The 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 degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a STEM-related field with 5 years of experience; or a master’s degree with 3 years of experience.
- Experience with software engineering principles, practices, and theories.
- Experience with software problem-tracking tools such as DOORS, Jira, or Confluence.
- Experience prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines.
- Experience implementing Software Quality Assurance plans.
- Experience verifying software qualification and system acceptance tests, including test execution, requirements verification, and anomaly tracking.
- U.S. citizenship.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret clearance.
- Experience with Waterfall, Spiral, or Agile life cycles.
- Experience developing and using process health or performance metrics.
- Experience with program quality planning and quality objectives.
- Experience auditing software development processes and quality systems.
- Experience serving as a liaison among personnel, suppliers, and customers.
- Experience evaluating, tracing, and analyzing requirements.
- Experience with audits, IPT meetings, and configuration control board meetings.
- Experience with CMMI and AS9100 audit activities.
- Experience evaluating software suppliers and procured software.
- Experience defining test plans, test cases, and traceability to requirements and design.
- Experience with code reviews, test automation, and continuous improvement of development and integration practices.
- Experience supporting Scrum or sprint teams.
- Experience ensuring software compliance with industry guidelines and contractual requirements such as DO-178.
- Experience maintaining quality evaluation plans for software and materials processing.
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.
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The Company
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.
