Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems MQ-4 Triton Program seeks a Principal or Sr. Principal Engineer Electrical to support the Vehicle Management Subsystem's Hardware Avionics team in Rancho Bernardo, CA.
The Hardware Avionics group is seeking a Computer Hardware Engineer to support the production, repair, and development of the Vehicle Management Computer (Flight Computer).
The role is dynamic as members of the team handle a broad range of activities across multiple phases of the program to include development, production, and operational support. Some of those responsibilities are:
Integrate flight computer hardware, accounting for capabilities/limitations, defining interfaces, and incorporating required redundancy.
Conduct investigations, system testing, and flight testing in lab environments.
Provide remote and on-site troubleshooting for Production and Field issues.
Support proposal development, technical planning, verification & validation, cost & risk analysis, and trade studies.
Ensure the logical and systematic conversion of customer or product requirements into total system solutions that balance technical, schedule, and cost constraints.
This position can be filled at either the Principal Engineer or Senior Principal Engineer level.
Basic Qualifications:
Basic qualifications for a Principal Engineer Electrical include a Bachelor's in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) and at least 5 years of experience, a Master's Degree in STEM with 3 years of experience, or a PhD Degree with no experience.
Basic qualifications for a Sr. Principal Engineer Electrical include a Bachelor's in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) and at least 8 years of experience, a Master's Degree in STEM with 6 years of experience, or a PhD Degree with 3 years of experience.
Ability to obtain a DOD Secret clearance
Experience with the following SW Tools: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Project, Visio), Matlab
Experience with computer hardware and embedded operating systems
Familiarity with software architecture
Preferred Qualifications:
Degree type: Electrical or Computer Engineering
Active DoD Secret security clearance or higher
Comprehensive knowledge of computer hardware and embedded operating systems
Experience with system redundancy and associated safety analysis
Familiarity with databuses and related protocols, such as MIL-STD-1553, RS-485, ARINC-429
Experience performing system-level design/troubleshooting
Experience with test equipment (oscilloscopes, signal generators, signal analyzers, multimeters)
Flight Test experience: Some experience
Supplier management: Some experience
Requirements development: Some experience
Requirements verification testing: Some experience
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in STEM with at least 5 years experience (Principal) or 8 years (Sr Principal).
- Master's degree in STEM with at least 3 years experience (Principal) or 6 years (Sr Principal).
- PhD in STEM with 0 years experience (Principal) or 3 years (Sr Principal).
- Ability to obtain a DoD Secret clearance.
- Experience with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Project, Visio) and Matlab.
- Experience with computer hardware and embedded operating systems.
- Familiarity with software architecture.
- Degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering.
- Active DoD Secret security clearance or higher.
- Comprehensive knowledge of computer hardware and embedded operating systems.
- Experience with system redundancy and associated safety analysis.
- Familiarity with databuses/protocols (MIL-STD-1553, RS-485, ARINC-429).
- Experience performing system-level design and troubleshooting.
- Experience with test equipment (oscilloscopes, signal generators, signal analyzers, multimeters).
- Flight test experience.
- Supplier management experience.
- Requirements development experience.
- Requirements verification testing experience.
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.






