Northrop Grumman is currently seeking a Staff Systems Engineer – Level 5 to join our team at our Palm Beach Gardens, Florida or Elkton, Maryland locations to support the Propulsion Systems and Controls (PS&C) business unit.
In this role you will be working to support our Propulsion Systems & Controls Business Unit in developing the systems architecture to develop propulsion hardware such as valves, solid rocket motors, scramjets, ramjets, and thrusters for launch vehicles, missile systems, and space missions.
Our programs offer a unique experience to Systems Engineers, as you will get to experience the full Lifecyle development process from preliminary design to final test and delivery. We work with many customers from the Navy to the Air Force, as well as multiple private industry partners. The job will require the blending of Systems Engineering Principles and their application to hardware development programs at the subsystem level.
Job Responsibilities
Provide technical leadership and coordination between engineering disciplines, program management, and external stakeholders to ensure an integrated solution.
Own the system technical baseline and ensure alignment across requirements, architecture, interfaces, verification, and program execution.
Plan and own systems engineering tasks required for project planning and execution, communicate milestones and need dates to program leads.
Produce and maintain key systems engineering artifacts (Requirements specifications, ICDs, V&V matrices, logical/physical/functional architecture, and verification technical reports) in a model-based systems engineering environment (CAMEO).
Define and plan, testing activities in conjunction with propulsion engineering, including propulsion tests at the Elkton campus, Ronkonkoma campus, or external ranges.
Define and maintain a requirements decomposition strategy across subsystems and disciplines.
Lead requirements and architecture reviews (PDR, CDR-level artifacts) to ensure completeness, consistency, feasibility, and testability.
Lead Risk and Opportunity meetings on behalf of technical and programmatic team.
Provide mentorship in Systems Engineering initiatives to other SE’s and Propulsion Engineers.
Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong social skills, and ability to build consensus among peers while building solid relationships with team members.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a STEM‑related discipline with at least 12 years of relevant experience, or master’s degree in engineering with at least 10 years of experience, or PhD in engineering with at least 8 years of experience.
- Demonstrated technical leadership (technical lead, IPT lead, SEIT Lead, deputy chief engineer, Lead Systems Engineer, or equivalent) on complex aerospace or weapon system programs.
- Experience with requirements development and management, including writing clear, testable requirements and maintaining a requirements baseline.
- Experience establishing and maintaining full requirements traceability (e.g., between stakeholder needs, system requirements, functional/physical architecture, lower-level requirements, and verification).
- Familiarity working in and directing scope in an MBSE environment (SysML preferred) using tools such as Cameo/MagicDraw, Rhapsody, or similar, and integrating models with requirements (e.g., DOORS).
- Experience leading technical reviews (e.g., SRR, PDR, CDR) or equivalent design/requirements reviews.
- Experience developing verification and validation (V&V) plans, including mapping requirements to verification methods (test, analysis, inspection, demonstration).
- Experience leading system integration and formal product qualification.
- Demonstrated ability to work across multi-disciplinary engineering teams to resolve requirements and design issues.
- Experience with at least one requirements management tool (e.g., DOORS, Jama, JIRA, or similar).
- Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical skills, including ability to identify risks/issues and propose mitigations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly document technical information and present to stakeholders.
- Must be able to obtain a secret clearance, US citizenship is a pre-requisite
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with mechanical design of propulsion components or fluid or electrical systems (Solid rocket motors, valves, manifolds, ducts, thermal management hardware).
- Experience acting as a 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.
- Experience with hands-on manufacturing (Elkton Only) .
- 4 + years of experience developing MBSE models (preferably with SysML).
- Direct experience interacting with DoD or International customers.
- Experience developing and executing subsystem-level verification and validation plans, including test requirements, test procedures, data review, and FMEAs.
- Active secret or higher clearance
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or a STEM-related discipline with at least 12 years of relevant experience
- Master's degree in engineering with at least 10 years of experience, or PhD in engineering with at least 8 years of experience
- Technical leadership experience on complex aerospace or weapon system programs
- Experience developing and managing requirements, including writing clear, testable requirements and maintaining a requirements baseline
- Experience establishing and maintaining full requirements traceability
- Experience working in and directing scope in an MBSE environment; SysML preferred
- Experience using Cameo/MagicDraw, Rhapsody, or similar systems engineering tools
- Experience integrating systems engineering models with requirements tools such as DOORS
- Experience leading technical, design, or requirements reviews such as SRR, PDR, or CDR
- Experience developing verification and validation plans and mapping requirements to verification methods
- Experience leading system integration and formal product qualification
- Ability to work across multidisciplinary engineering teams to resolve requirements and design issues
- Experience with at least one requirements management tool such as DOORS, Jama, JIRA, or similar
- Problem-solving and analytical skills, including identifying risks and proposing mitigations
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to obtain a Secret clearance
- U.S. citizenship
- Mechanical design experience with propulsion components or fluid or electrical systems
- Control Account Manager experience, including Earned Value performance reporting
- Hands-on manufacturing experience
- At least 4 years of experience developing MBSE models, preferably with SysML
- Direct experience interacting with Department of Defense or international customers
- Experience developing and executing subsystem-level verification and validation plans, including test requirements, procedures, data review, and FMEAs
- Active Secret or higher clearance
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.






