Northrop Grumman is currently seeking a Sr. Principal Propulsion Engineer to join our team at our Elkton, Maryland location to support the Propulsion Systems and Controls (PS&C) business unit.
Northrop Grumman Propulsion Systems and Controls (PS&C) facility in Elkton, Maryland began solid-propellant rocket operations in 1948. Today, the Elkton PS&C facility designs, develops, and produces solid-propellant propulsion and ordnance systems in programs professionally managed for a wide variety of Government and commercial customers. The facility also serves as the hub for offsite engineering and test facilities in Ronkonkoma, NY and Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
Elkton, Maryland is located on the Upper Chesapeake Bay, midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Discover charming small towns, parks with miles of trails, specialty and antique shops, award winning restaurants, and inns. You can hike, bike, camp, bird watch, ride horseback, or drop a fishing line. Five rivers, Chesapeake Bay and the C&D Canal can be explored by boat or by land. Experience panoramic views from Turkey Point Lighthouse on a bluff overlooking the Bay, or from the banks of the C&D Canal where ships from around the globe cruise. https://www.ccgov.org/government/tourism
The Northrop Grumman PS&C business unit is based in Elkton, Maryland and began solid-propellant rocket operations in 1948. Today, the Elkton PS&C facility designs, develops, and produces solid-propellant propulsion and ordnance systems in programs professionally managed for a wide variety of Government and commercial customers.
Job Responsibilities
- Perform mechanical design of moderately complex advanced propulsion components and functional systems with limited supervision
- Apply theoretical knowledge, engineering techniques, and test data to the solution of more complex components, structures, and sub-assemblies
- Develop original ideas on preliminary design concepts with other technical groups and make modifications necessary to optimize designs
- Establish requirements for materials, structural components, and functional systems
- Determine engineering tasks required for project planning and execution, communicate milestones and need dates to program leads
- Document results of design activities and release results after review from other engineers
- Make recommendations for improving own work and/or group’s work
- Support test program under project team direction for design, fabrication, integration, and verification
- Support generation and execution of presentation materials for various reviews required throughout the design process
- Work with procurement to ensure hardware and expendables are delivered to enable project execution
Basic Qualifications:
- Requires Bachelors in Engineering and years of experience or Master’s Degree in Engineering and 6 years of experience or a PhD and 4 years of experience
- Ability to obtain a Secret Clearance which requires US Citizenship as a pre-requisite
- Ability and willingness to travel
Preferred Qualifications
- Ability to lead a multi-disciplinary team through various efforts required to design, fabricate and install multiple subsystems
- Experience with solid propellant propulsion systems
- Current active Security Clearance
- Proficiency with Siemens NX
- Proficiency with Siemens Teamcenter United Architecture
- Ability to interpret and apply Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
- Knowledgeable in systems engineering approach to ensure program requirements are met
- Experience as a Cost Account Manager (CAM) maintaining budgetary and schedule compliance, while ensuring technical quality
- Familiar with proactive risk management techniques, such as risk registers and failure modes, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA)
Skills Required
- Bachelor's in Engineering (or Master's with 6 years' experience or PhD with 4 years' experience)
- Ability to obtain a Secret clearance (US Citizenship prerequisite)
- U.S. Citizenship
- Ability and willingness to travel (approximately 25%)
- Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams through design, fabrication, and installation efforts
- Experience with solid propellant propulsion systems
- Current active security clearance
- Proficiency with Siemens NX
- Proficiency with Siemens Teamcenter United Architecture
- Ability to interpret and apply Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)
- Knowledge of systems engineering approaches to meet program requirements
- Experience as a Cost Account Manager (CAM) maintaining budgetary and schedule compliance
- Familiarity with proactive risk management techniques (risk registers, FMECA)
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.







