Northrop Grumman’s Aeronautics Systems – Research & Advanced Design (R&AD) transforms breakthrough ideas into mission-ready capabilities through intelligent anticipation. We’re the front-end design engine, defining what comes next. From developing cutting-edge next-generation future aircraft to trailblazing collaborative autonomous platforms, we push the boundaries of technology and forge industry-leading partnerships that set new standards for what’s possible.
Our team owns the full lifecycle of advanced concept creation, from visionary early-stage designs and rapid prototyping to high-impact demonstrations and solving the toughest technical challenges in survivability, autonomy, and battle management. We seek curious, adaptable people who thrive on turning intuition into breakthrough solutions. If you’re driven to invent the future, build what’s next, and shape the landscape of national security, this is where you belong.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Principal OR Senior Principal Navigation Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within our South Bay Research and Advanced Design (R&AD) Vehicle Engineering organization. This position is located at El Segundo, CA.
This is a dynamic organization involved in deploying forward-leaning avionics, guidance, navigation, and control systems for developmental concepts for air vehicles, weapons, and many more platforms. This includes:
- Performing technical planning, system integration, verification and validation, cost and risk analysis, and supportability and effectiveness analyses for total systems.
- Ensuring the logical and systematic conversion of customer or product requirements into total systems solutions that acknowledge technical, schedule, and cost constraints.
- Performing functional analysis, timeline analysis, detailed trade studies, requirements allocation and interface definition studies to translate customer requirements into hardware and software specifications.
General Duties for the Principal/Sr. Principal Navigation Engineer Include:
- Perform lab testing of the navigation subsystem
- Support flight test
- Resolve anomalies
- Facilitate, support, and perform navigation subsystem solution trades
- Interface with various suppliers
- Navigation solution simulation integration.
This position may be filled at either the Principal Navigation Engineer level or the Senior Principal Navigation Engineer level, depending upon the qualifications below.
Basic Qualifications for Principal Navigation Engineer:
- Bachelor's Degree in a relevant Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) discipline and 5 years of related experience; OR a Master's Degree in a relevant STEM with 3 years of related experience; OR a PhD in a relevant STEM discipline with 1 year of related experience
- General understanding of the GPS system and how it works
- General understanding of inertial sensors and how they work
- Ability to obtain and maintain a US Government Secret clearance and Special Program Access.
Basic Qualifications for Senior Principal Navigation Engineer:
- Bachelor's Degree in a relevant Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) discipline and 8 years of related experience; OR a Master's Degree in a relevant STEM with 6 years of related experience; OR a PhD in a relevant STEM discipline with 4 years of related experience
- General understanding of the GPS system and how it works
- General understanding of inertial sensors and how they work
- Ability to obtain and maintain a US Government Secret clearance and Special Program Access.
Preferred Qualifications for both levels:
- A current active in-scope US Government Secret security clearance or higher, with the ability to obtain Special Program Access (SAP).
- Experience with flight test and nav data post flight analysis
- Experience managing suppliers
- Good understanding of the GPS system, the GPS Signal in Space characteristics, DGPS systems, inertial sensors, GPS/INS tightly coupled Kalman filters, GPS receiver design
- Familiarity with navigation solution requirements development
- Experience with requirements verification test development and implementation
- Proficiency with test equipment (oscilloscopes, signal generators, signal analyzers, multi-meters)
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant STEM discipline and 5 years of related experience, or master's degree and 3 years, or PhD and 1 year for Principal level
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant STEM discipline and 8 years of related experience, or master's degree and 6 years, or PhD and 4 years for Senior Principal level
- General understanding of GPS systems
- General understanding of inertial sensors
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret clearance and Special Program Access
- Current active in-scope U.S. Government Secret clearance or higher
- Flight test and navigation data post-flight analysis experience
- Supplier management experience
- Understanding of GPS Signal in Space characteristics, DGPS systems, GPS/INS tightly coupled Kalman filters, and GPS receiver design
- Navigation solution requirements development experience
- Requirements verification test development and implementation experience
- Proficiency with oscilloscopes, signal generators, signal analyzers, and multimeters
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.





