Northrop Grumman Space Systems pushes the boundaries of innovation, redefines engineering capabilities, and drives advances in various sciences. Our team is chartered with providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter. Come be a part of our mission.
As a Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer, you will be developing systems using current technologies and others yet to come. We are seeking team members who have a thirst for knowledge, approach each day with optimism, and have a relentless drive to solve complex problems. Creativity and innovation are imperative for this role, because at Northrop Grumman, many of the problems we work on are impossible… until they’re not.
This position will be based at our Colorado Springs airport facility.
The Engineering organization pushes the boundaries of innovation, redefines engineering capabilities, and drives advances in various sciences. Our team is chartered by providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter. Come be a part of our mission!
What you’ll get to do:
Perform assessment of systems and networks within the environment and identify where those systems and networks deviate from acceptable configurations, enclave policy, or local policy. This is achieved through passive evaluations such as compliance audits using STIG Viewer, SCAP, Evaluate-STIG, STIG Manager, etc.
Author, update, and review security testing documentation including security assessment plans, test cases, and cyber test methodologies. Conduct annual security controls assessment to support continuous monitoring. Provide input for Security Assessment Reports (SAR) and Risk Assessment Reports (RAR). Work with the program’s System Program Office (SPO) contractor and government personnel supporting the RMF Cybersecurity Engineer on updating systems eMASS records
Coordinate, collect, prepare, and maintain RMF body of evidence documentation relevant to operational processes, procedures, and site-specific information.
Prepare and update, artifacts, supporting Assessment and Authorization activities and Plan of Actions and Milestones (POA&M).
Perform assessments of RMF artifacts and identify where those artifacts deviate RMF control requirements
Assist in the implementation of the required government policy (e.g., NISPOM, NIST, DoD, AFI), making recommendations on process tailoring, participating in and documenting process activities
Establish strict program control processes to ensure mitigation of risks and support obtaining assessment and authorization of systems. Includes support of process, analysis, coordination, control certification test, compliance documentation, as well as investigations, software research, hardware introduction and release, emerging technology research, inspections, and periodic audits.
Perform analyses to validate established cybersecurity controls and requirements and to recommend cybersecurity safeguards
Coordinate across the program to address identified deficiencies during RMF assessment activities
Basic Qualifications:
Must have an active U.S. Government Top Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope, with the ability to obtain and maintain SCI approval/access.
Bachelor's degree and 8 years of relevant work experience; 6 years with a Master's; 4 years with a PhD.
Current DoD 8570.01M IAT II certification (Security+ CE, CCNA Security, GSEC, SSCP)
Security engineering skills with a working knowledge of cybersecurity technology and DoD/Federal cybersecurity policy (i.e., DoDI 8500.01, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-115)
Familiarity in the Risk Management Framework (RMF) Cybersecurity Lifecycle to include generating testable requirements, identifying resilient architecture design, providing analysis of vulnerability findings, conducting verification testing of compliance assessments, and configuring, running, and scripting audit tools
Technical documentation and analysis experience; proficient with Microsoft Office tool suite
Experience performing vulnerability and compliance scans utilizing Assured Compliance Assessment Solution (ACAS) / Nessus / tenable.sc
Linux Sys Admin Experience
STIG hardening
Preferred Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 8 years of cybersecurity engineering and/or testing experience; or 7 years’ experience with a master’s degree; or 4 years with PhD. Relevant experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
Active DoD Top Secret clearance
Penetration testing focuses on certification e.g., OSCP, OSCE, GPEN, GWAPT, GXPN
Experience using and/or configuring SIEM & Log Aggregation software
Experience conducting cybersecurity assessments of RHEL environments
Understanding of networking, subnetting, firewalls, NAT, ACL's, vLANs.
Familiarity with STIG/SCAP compliance scanning (SCC) and implementation using Evaluate-STIG, STIG Manager, Xylok, and automation of scanning using Ansible or Python.
Familiarity or experience with Agile development methodologies, i.e., Scrum, Kanban, SAFe
VMWare/Container Experience
eMASS experience and familiarization with ATO
Elastic Stack experience
Cross-Domain Solution (CDS) experience and its authorization, working with Cross-Domain Support Element (CDSE) and the National Cross Domain Strategy & Management Office (NCDSMO)
IAT III Certification (CISSP)
Travel to OCONUS/ CONUS (25%)
Skills Required
- Active U.S. Government Top Secret security clearance at time of application with ability to obtain and maintain SCI approval/access
- Bachelor's degree and 8 years relevant experience (6 years with Master's; 4 years with PhD) or equivalent experience
- Current DoD 8570.01M IAT II certification (Security+ CE, CCNA Security, GSEC, or SSCP)
- Security engineering skills and working knowledge of DoD/Federal cybersecurity policy (DoDI 8500.01, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-115)
- Familiarity with the Risk Management Framework (RMF) cybersecurity lifecycle
- Technical documentation and analysis experience; proficient with Microsoft Office
- Experience performing vulnerability and compliance scans using ACAS / Nessus / tenable.sc
- Linux system administration experience
- STIG hardening experience
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline or equivalent experience (preferred experience thresholds noted)
- Penetration testing certifications (OSCP, OSCE, GPEN, GWAPT, GXPN)
- Experience using and/or configuring SIEM and log aggregation software
- Experience conducting cybersecurity assessments of RHEL environments
- Understanding of networking (subnetting, firewalls, NAT, ACLs, VLANs)
- Familiarity with STIG/SCAP compliance scanning and tools (Evaluate-STIG, STIG Manager, Xylok) and automation using Ansible or Python
- Familiarity or experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
- VMWare and container experience
- eMASS experience and familiarization with ATO processes
- Elastic Stack experience
- Cross-Domain Solution (CDS) experience and authorization knowledge
- IAT III certification (CISSP)
- Willingness to travel CONUS/OCONUS up to ~25%
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.







