Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems Sector is seeking Principal Engineer Software or Sr. Principal Engineer Software to support the Global Surveillance Division supporting the team of qualified, diverse individuals. The program technologies include the full software lifecycle and advanced missions support in tactical applications for the warfighter. This position will be located in Melbourne, Florida.
At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems in air and space that impact people’s lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our work preserves freedom and democracy and advances human discovery and our understanding of the universe. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage, and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future and have a lot of 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.
Responsibilities will include deploying, automating, maintaining, troubleshooting, and improving the systems and software infrastructure running smoothly. This role requires you to have hands-on technical experience and a can-do approach towards environment automation and management along with continuous improvements. You will be a team member working in agile development process. You will be responsible for the design and implementation of application builds, releases, deployment along with configuration activities. The selected candidates’ responsibilities will also include working with internal business partners to gather requirements, prototyping, and architecting complex solutions supporting the building and test plan execution, performing quality reviews, and triaging and fixing operational issues. The candidate will assist with the integration, troubleshooting and testing of implemented software changes.
The Software Engineer will develop, modify, and maintain customized or standardized applications using software engineering best practices and standards, and participate in the full life cycle of software development, to include requirements development, modeling and design, application development, unit to CSCI testing, integration, formal system testing, release, installation, and maintenance.
The ideal candidate will have the ability to take ownership of hard problems and drive to a solution, while working in a team environment and provide leadership for its implementation. It is critical that you understand the software development life cycle and have an in-depth knowledge of automated testing to facilitate and analyze large data sets. The Software Engineer will participate in the full life cycle of software development, to include requirements development, modeling and design, application development, unit to CSCI testing, integration, formal system testing, release, installation, and maintenance. The Software Engineer will apply technical expertise in solving complex integrations problems. The Software Engineer will interact with Program Management, external suppliers, and/or government customers. Therefore, excellent verbal, written and interpersonal skills are required. A solid experience in bash scripting, C/C++, or other OOP languages, in a Linux environment is required. Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD secret security clearance and Special Program Access is required.
Essential Functions:
- Full lifecycle design, implementation, and unit testing of software
- Work with various team members to integrate functionality with other software components.
- Supporting the gathering and reporting software metrics.
- Follow program software best practices.
- Develop software products within all phases of the software lifecycle.
Basic Qualifications:
- (Principal Engineer Software) bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) discipline from an accredited university and 5+ years of experience in software engineering.
- (Sr. Principal Engineer Software) bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) discipline from an accredited university and 8+ years of experience in software engineering.
- 5+ years’ (Principal) or 8+ years’ (Sr.) experience in developing with C/C++ or other OOP languages.
- 5+ years’ (Principal) or 8+ years’ (Sr.) experience within the software life cycle in a Linux (Red Hat (RHEL), Ubuntu or other distribution) or Windows environment.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills and Strong interpersonal skills.
- Must be a US citizen with ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret level security clearance. Interim DoD secret required to start.
- Ability to obtain and maintain special program access.
Preferred Qualifications:
- 8+ years’ experience developing software, software tests within the Linux environment.
- Familiarity with the Atlassian tool suite with add-ons like Git and Confluence.
- Familiarity with the Agile software development process.
- Full software development life cycle experience.
- Experience with formal software test and Weapon System evaluations.
- A US citizen with a current in scope DoD secret or higher clearance.
- Currently the holder of a special program access.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline
- 5+ years (Principal) or 8+ years (Sr. Principal) of software engineering experience
- 5+ years (Principal) or 8+ years (Sr.) developing with C/C++ or other OOP languages
- 5+ years (Principal) or 8+ years (Sr.) experience with software lifecycle in Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu) or Windows environments
- Solid experience in bash scripting
- Excellent oral and written communication and strong interpersonal skills
- Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret security clearance (interim Secret required to start)
- Ability to obtain and maintain special program access
- Experience deploying, automating, maintaining, and troubleshooting software infrastructure; design and implementation of builds/releases/deployment
- Participate in full software development lifecycle, unit to system testing, integration, and maintenance
- Familiarity with automated testing and analyzing large data sets
- (Preferred) 8+ years developing software and software tests within Linux environment
- (Preferred) Familiarity with Atlassian tool suite, Git, and Confluence
- (Preferred) Familiarity with Agile software development processes
- (Preferred) Experience with formal software test and Weapon System evaluations
- (Preferred) Current in-scope DoD Secret or higher clearance
- (Preferred) Current holder of special program access
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.





