Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible. With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.
Northrop Grumman Defense Systems is seeking a Principal Systems Data Architect/Sr. Principal Systems Data Architect in support of the Sentinel program. This opening is in Huntsville, AL, Colorado Springs, CO, Roy, Utah, Manhattan Beach, CA or Bellevue, NE and will support the Sentinel Program. Northrop Grumman supports the Air Force’s sustainment, development, production and deployment of hardware and system modifications for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Ground and Airborne Launch Control Systems, Launch Facilities, and associated infrastructure.
What you will get to do:
Responsibilities include:
- Execute a comprehensive data strategy, aligned with the organization’s goals, and focuses on digital engineering, digital thread, and advanced analytics across weapon system design for initial development through sustainment.
- Oversee the design, implementation, and maintenance of scalable data infrastructure, to include data creation/collection, storage, management, integration and analysis, and data serving.
- Maintain knowledge of current and emerging Industry and DoD trends and technologies in data frameworks, management and analytics and ensure proper utilization where applicable.
General Responsibilities:
- Stakeholder management skills, including presenting solutions to senior leadership.
- Manage data governance, data security, data modeling, and enterprise architecture frameworks.
- Understanding, managing, and integrating business or DoD Program data across a variety of tool sets and data sources.
- Data Architecture development with and understanding of data lakes, warehouses, and/or streaming platforms.
Technical Skills and Core Competencies:
- Data Engineering experience with Architecture frameworks such as FACE, GCIA, EAF, FAF,OCSF
- Data Engineering experience with modeling languages such as AADL, SysML, and UML and tooling modeling environments, processes, and tools such as ACVIP, CAMEO, Rational, OSATE, CAMET, and CVIT.
- Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment experience with CI/CD tools like Git tailored for data pipelines.
- Cloud Expertise experience and/or knowledge in cloud platforms like AWS or Azure.
Basic Qualifications:
- Principal Systems Data Architect – BS degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field with 5 Years of related experience; 3 Years with Masters; 1 Year with PhD
- Sr. Principal Systems Data Architect - BS degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field with 8 Years of related experience; 6 Years with Masters; 4 Year with PhD
- Must be a US Citizen with an active DoD Secret Clearance with an investigation date within the last 6 years
- Must be able to be successfully screened for Enhanced Security Clearances, within a reasonable amount of time as determined by the company to meet its business needs
Preferred Qualifications:
- Active TS/SCI or TS with SCI eligibility at time of application.
- Relevant certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Professional), AWS Certified Data Analytics Specialty, Azure Data Engineer Associate, or Google Professional Data Engineer.
- MLOps, Observability Tools, Data Versioning, and Containerization for deploying data engineering workflows.
- Cloud security best practices, including IAM, encryption, and compliance with frameworks like NIST or FedRAMP.
- Knowledge of advanced networking concepts such as VPC peering, VPNs, and load balancing for data-heavy applications.
As a full-time employee of Northrop Grumman Space Systems, you are eligible for our robust benefits package including:
- Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
- 401k
- Educational Assistance
- Life Insurance
- Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Life Solutions
- Paid Time Off
- Health & Wellness Resources
- Employee Discounts
This position's standard work schedule is 9/80. The 9/80 schedule allows employees who work a nine-hour day Monday through Thursday to take every other Friday off.
#SentinelSystems
Primary Level Salary Range: $110,300.00 - $163,200.00Secondary Level Salary Range: $137,400.00 - $203,600.00The 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
- BS in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (Principal: 5 years experience; MS: 3 years; PhD:1 year)
- BS in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (Sr Principal: 8 years experience; MS: 6 years; PhD:4 years)
- Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active DoD Secret clearance (investigation within last 6 years)
- Ability to be successfully screened for Enhanced Security Clearances
- Data engineering experience with architecture frameworks such as FACE, GCIA, EAF, FAF, OCSF
- Experience with modeling languages AADL, SysML, UML and tools/environments (ACVIP, CAMEO, Rational, OSATE, CAMET, CVIT)
- Experience with CI/CD practices and Git for data pipelines
- Cloud experience with AWS or Azure
- Experience managing data governance, data security, data modeling, and enterprise architecture frameworks
- Stakeholder management and ability to present solutions to senior leadership
- Preferred: Active TS/SCI or Top Secret with SCI eligibility
- Preferred: Certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect Professional, AWS Data Analytics Specialty, Azure Data Engineer Associate, or Google Professional Data Engineer
- Preferred: MLOps, observability tools, data versioning, and containerization for data engineering workflows
- Preferred: Cloud security best practices including IAM, encryption, and compliance with NIST or FedRAMP
- Preferred: Knowledge of advanced networking concepts (VPC peering, VPNs, load balancing) for data-heavy applications
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.








