Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is seeking a Senior Human Resources (HR) Director in Palmdale, California, El Segundo, California or Melbourne, Florida to provide leadership in support of our sector functions (Business Management, Global Supply Chain, Mission Assurance/Quality, Security, Strategy and Growth, and Communications). This role will report to the Aeronautics Systems Human Resources Vice President and serve as a member of the sector’s HR senior leadership team, leading a geographically dispersed team of HR managers and HR business partners. Northrop Grumman was recently recognized on HRO Today’s Top 100 HR Teams which spotlights companies with the most exemplary Human Resources departments.
The Senior HR Director serves as a strategic business partner providing day-to-day partnership and support to the sector functions Executive Vice Presidents, as well as their senior leadership teams in the accomplishment of business objectives. The primary function of the role is to be a strategic partner and consultant to the functional organizations and develop and execute a human capital strategy designed to attract, engage, develop, and retain the talent necessary to meet current and future state strategic goals, to include significant organizational scaling and evolution.
The selected candidate will lead a team of HR Business Partners responsible for development and implementation of HR strategy and will lead human capital programs and core processes across the functions including but not limited to talent assessment and development, performance management, employee relations, total rewards, succession planning and talent pipeline development, organization design, change management, organization effectiveness and leadership development.
Leadership responsibilities for this role will include:
Act as a trusted advisor to functional senior leadership – influence to optimize collaboration and ownership of functional and sector objectives
Strategic thought leadership, organizational and project management skills in a high paced environment
Leverage data and analytics to drive business outcomes
Make sound decisions with urgency that require evaluation of alternatives. These decisions may be made under conditions of uncertainty or where little precedent exists
Interpret, execute, and recommend modifications to processes, policies, and practices
Key responsibilities for this role will include:
Implement HR strategies and initiatives aligned to programmatic and functional business objectives
Provide strategic leadership and oversight to design and orchestrate strategies to support significant scaling and evolution of these functions; spanning culture work, organization design and effectiveness, talent acquisition and leadership development
Leverage data insights and trends to identify functional business challenges; proactively partnering with/influencing leadership to strategize on business solutions; developing and leading planning, design, implementation, communication, and delivery of high impact HR initiatives across the functions and in partnership with peer HR Business Leaders
Strengthen capabilities, empowerment, and accountability among the functional HR team to provide best-in-class HR partnership and thought leadership
Partner with leadership to:
Create organization design structures and operating models to enable optimal functional support, driving the success of the business and maximizing employee performance and engagement
Develop talent management, succession planning, and talent review strategies / cadence to bolster technical / functional leadership talent capability and strengthen the talent pipeline
Identify strategies to drive employee performance, engagement & retention, leveraging total rewards, company mission and values, best-in-class culture, career development and employee flexibility
Our Leaders at Northrop Grumman live our values daily and encourage our teams to do the same. We do the right thing: upholding the highest ethical standards and facilitating a safe and respectful environment that attracts, retains, and inspires a diverse and engaged team. We do what we promise: holding yourself and others accountable to meet predictable and balanced results. We commit to shared success: operating as OneNG and removing barriers for our teams. Finally, We pioneer: setting a vision that shapes the future and inspires others.
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree with at least 12 years of HR or related experience – OR – a Master's degree with at least 10 years of HR or related experience
Experience managing and leading teams; strong people leader and manager with a focus on inspiring/enabling an inclusive, development-focused, and high-performance culture
Strong collaborator and relationship-builder; keen ability to influence, coach, and consult with multiple senior executives concurrently
Experience and focus on proactively identifying trends, risks, and opportunities, regularly advocating for improvements
Excellent business acumen; leveraging HR processes, tools and data/data analytics to accelerate business results, enhancing business and employee growth, and the employee experience
Strong change management experience, problem solving skills, and the ability to be flexible and adaptable
Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional projects to completion
Executive level verbal and written communication skills
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret security clearance and program special access as a condition of continued employment
Preferred Qualifications:
Current U.S. Government Secret security clearance or higher
Previous experience in Aerospace & Defense and/or government contracting
Experience leading a team as a Human Resources Director responsible for multiple HR disciplines
Proficiency with HRIS platforms and technology (e.g. Workday)
Experience working in a matrix environment
Previous experience developing and implementing organization effectiveness strategies and approaches, implementing large-scale organization design and/or organization transformations
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree with at least 12 years of HR or related experience OR Master's degree with at least 10 years of HR or related experience
- Experience managing and leading teams, including inspiring and enabling an inclusive, development-focused, high-performance culture
- Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional projects to completion
- Strong collaborator and relationship-builder with ability to influence, coach, and consult multiple senior executives
- Experience leveraging HR processes, tools and data/data analytics to drive business results
- Strong change management experience, problem solving skills, and adaptability
- Executive-level verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret security clearance and program special access as a condition of continued employment
- Ability and willingness to travel up to 50% of the time
- Current U.S. Government Secret security clearance or higher
- Previous experience in Aerospace & Defense and/or government contracting
- Experience leading HR teams responsible for multiple HR disciplines
- Proficiency with HRIS platforms and technology (e.g., Workday)
- Experience working in a matrix environment
- Experience developing and implementing organization effectiveness strategies, large-scale organization design or transformation
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
.png)







