Please note that this opportunity is contingent on program funding. Start dates are determined after funding confirmation.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is seeking a Sr. Principal Systems Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within our Systems Engineering organization. This role is located in either Oklahoma City, OK, OR Rancho Bernardo, CA.
This Senior Principal Systems Engineer position is for an individual contributor who will own the responsibility for managing and leading a team of multi-disciplinary engineers to deliver requirements and deliverables on schedule and within cost. This role has the authority to make engineering project management decisions and recommendations that have an impact on new business, program performance, design, development, and mission operations. The selected candidate will collaborate across the engineering disciplines and technology areas to integrate and communicate technical capabilities and analyses with internal stakeholders and external customers across multiple simultaneous Modernization and Sustainment efforts.
Job Responsibilities:
- Perform requirements development, allocation, verification/validation planning and manage interface definition efforts.
- Write complex specifications, interface control documents, and engineering reports.
- Support interface/communication with program, functional and subsystem leads.
- Maintain Systems Engineering artifacts following proper configuration management procedures.
- Coordinate with key stakeholders to ensure proper verification and validation of Systems Engineering artifacts.
- Possess strong interpersonal and leadership skills with excellent communications skills to support coordination across IPTs and with external customers.
- Solicit input from various stakeholders and team members to synthesize data and communicate findings and recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Manage Control Accounts as the Control Account Manager (CAM) for scope assigned, delivering all team deliverables on time and within cost, while meeting contractual programmatic and technical requirements and stakeholder expectations, and measure and report Earned Value (EV) performance.
- Ensure technical quality, performance, cost and schedule for product team content on the program, in alignment with Engineering and Division processes, program policies, and industry best standards.
- Adhere to the IPT Statement of Work (SOW) and perform rigorous change management in coordination with program leadership.
- Identification of resources, including staffing, required to complete product team deliverables, and communicate the need in a timely manner to enable onboarding of the resources early enough to meet program objectives. Coordinate with Functional Management to staff the IPT.
- Coordinate technical, cost, and schedule integration across NG programs and other inter-program groups.
- Conduct thorough risk & opportunity management practices including identification, mitigation and realization.
- Identify and proactively address organizational and program impacts through a systematic, proactive, approach to issue and problem resolution that identifies, communicates, monitors, and promptly resolves conflicts across all levels of the organization.
- Manage communications with stakeholders through organized processes to ensure that department and program information is defined, collected, shared, understood, stored and retrieved in a manner that effectively meets stakeholder needs.
- Identify, orchestrate, coordinate and control the management activities and processes that integrate program interdependencies throughout their life cycle to achieve successful program completion.
We offer a 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off, phenomenal learning opportunities, and a very friendly team environment. We are looking for self-motivated, proactive, and goal-oriented people to help us grow our services and become even better at what we do.
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) discipline with 8 years of related experience OR Master of Science degree in a STEM discipline with 6 years of related experience OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 4 years of related experience
- Your ability to transfer and maintain the final adjudicated government Secret clearance (DoD must be in-scope or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation) and any program access(es) required for the position within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the Company.
- Experience in requirements and verification management in DOORS.
- Experience with requirement decomposition and traceability from System to Unit/Supplier Specifications.
- Experience with managing suppliers with technical requirements and verification expectations.
- Experience with software development.
- Experience with HW/SW integration testing.
- Experience with Agile execution and leading Scrum teams.
- Experience with Python or other scripting language.
- Experience managing EVMS Control Accounts as a Control Account Manager (CAM).
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in Weapons Certification.
- Experience in Cameo and traceability between architecture elements and requirements.
- Experience with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment software development for Aircraft Sustainment efforts.
- Experience with the full lifecycle of aircraft development, build, and operations.
- Risk & Opportunity Management experience and change control experience.
- Experience leading cross-functional technical teams.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's in STEM with 8 years OR Master's in STEM with 6 years OR PhD in STEM with 4 years of related experience
- Ability to transfer and maintain a final adjudicated government Secret clearance (DoD in-scope or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation) and required program access
- Experience in requirements and verification management in DOORS
- Experience with requirement decomposition and traceability from System to Unit/Supplier Specifications
- Experience managing suppliers with technical requirements and verification expectations
- Experience with software development
- Experience with HW/SW integration testing
- Experience with Agile execution and leading Scrum teams
- Experience with Python or other scripting language
- Experience managing EVMS Control Accounts as a Control Account Manager (CAM)
- Experience in Weapons Certification
- Experience in Cameo and traceability between architecture elements and requirements
- Experience with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) for aircraft sustainment
- Experience with full lifecycle of aircraft development, build, and operations
- Risk & Opportunity Management and change control experience
- Experience leading cross-functional technical teams
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.






