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 Staff Systems Engineer to join our team. This position will be located at Huntsville, AL to support Special Programs & Futures in the Strategic Deterrent Systems (SDS) Division.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Provide systems engineering support across the TMRR phase, guiding requirements development, functional analysis, interface definition, and verification and validation for cruise missile subsystems.
- Decompose and allocate complex system and customer requirements into detailed hardware and software specifications, maintaining rigorous end to end traceability and ensuring compliance with technical, schedule, and cost constraints.
- Develop and oversee functional architectures, concepts of operations (CONOPS), and use cases using MBSE tools such as CAMEO and DOORS, and drive adoption of advanced systems engineering practices across the program.
- Support planning and execution of hardware in the loop, developmental flight, and operational test integration, overseeing verification and validation strategies for software and hardware components and resolving unusually complex technical issues.
- Create, own, and manage technical maturation roadmaps and integration plans for the TMRR phase, identifying, analyzing, and mitigating technical and program risks and advising management on risk posture and trade decisions.
- Support or lead cross functional working groups and model capability reviews, ensuring adherence to systems engineering standards, processes, and quality expectations, and driving consensus on key technical decisions.
- Produce and guide the development of key systems engineering deliverables such as design reviews, trade studies, interface control documents (ICDs), requirements baselines, and supportability and effectiveness analyses.
- Perform and direct advanced trade studies and timeline analyses across concept, design, test, and integration to optimize system solutions and influence program strategy and critical organizational objectives.
- Support systems engineering contributions to proposal development, RFP/RFS responses, and Bases of Estimate for TMRR efforts, developing advanced technological ideas and guiding their maturation into executable plans.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelors degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) discipline from an accredited university and 12 years of relevant experience; or a Masters degree and 10 years of relevant experience; or a PhD and 8 years of relevant experience.
- Must be a US Citizen with an active US Government Secret Clearance, at time of application, current and within scope, with an investigation date within the last 6 years.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret Clearance and Special Access Program (SAP) approval within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the company to meet its business needs.
- Requires experience on a Systems Engineering team executing or managing System Engineering tasks such as architecture development, requirements development, interface definition, specialty engineering, or integration.
- Requires experience working on unusually complex technical problems, applying advanced systems engineering principles and leading multidisciplinary teams to highly innovative and robust solutions.
Preferred Qualifications
- Active DoD Top Secret Clearance.
- CompTIA Security+ certification.
- Experience with DoD weapon system conceptual and preliminary design, particularly for test and integration of cruise missile or unmanned aircraft flight systems, including flight systems architecture development.
- Flight test planning experience and development of test procedures for cruise missile systems, including recent requirements development and decomposition experience deriving requirements for supplier specifications and leading System Requirements Reviews.
- Familiarity with Agile methodologies and Atlassian toolset (Jira, Confluence) for software development and integration, and experience guiding teams in the application of these tools to complex systems engineering efforts.
- A team player; but also, a strong independent contributor with strong leadership skills
- Demonstrated problem-solving skills, excellent communication skills, as well as interpersonal and organizational skills and a proactive, detail-oriented approach.
Position Benefits
As a full-time employee of Northrop Grumman Defense 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. This role may offer a competitive relocation assistance package.
Primary Level Salary Range: $169,000.00 - $253,600.00The 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
- Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline and 12 years of relevant experience, or a master’s degree and 10 years, or a PhD and 8 years
- U.S. citizenship
- Active U.S. Government Secret clearance at application, current and within scope, with an investigation date within the last six years
- Ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret clearance and Special Access Program approval
- Experience executing or managing systems engineering tasks, including architecture, requirements, interface definition, specialty engineering, or integration
- Experience solving unusually complex technical problems using advanced systems engineering principles and leading multidisciplinary teams
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance
- CompTIA Security+ certification
- Experience with DoD weapon system conceptual and preliminary design, especially cruise missile or unmanned aircraft flight systems
- Flight test planning and test procedure development experience for cruise missile systems
- Experience deriving supplier requirements and leading System Requirements Reviews
- Familiarity with Agile methodologies and the Atlassian toolset, including Jira and Confluence
- Strong teamwork, independent contribution, leadership, problem-solving, communication, interpersonal, organizational, and attention-to-detail skills
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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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage offers multiple medical plan options by region alongside dental, vision, mental‑health resources, and wellness programs. Recent materials also highlight added family‑building support, including a dedicated fertility benefit.
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Retirement Support — The 401(k) savings plan is positioned as competitive with a company match, auto‑escalation features, and access to an employee stock fund/ESPP. Official filings and benefits guides emphasize retirement as a core element of the Total Rewards package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Many sites offer a 9/80 schedule, generous PTO, paid holidays, and flexible/telework options where program needs allow. Paid parental and caregiver leave are prominently featured, with recent enhancements for the delivering parent.
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.
