Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Staff Engineer Systems – TRMC Systems Engineering Lead to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals in our Systems Engineering discipline. This position will be located in San Diego, CA.
In this role, you will lead the Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) effort for the TRMC RQ-4 portfolio, holding overall responsibility for SE&I execution across multiple programs and reporting directly to the RQ-4 Enterprise SE&I IPT Lead.
Essential Functions:
- Manage and lead a team of SE&I engineers and managers across R&V, Integration, Specialty, and Integrated Functional Capability disciplines.
- Manage and oversee Systems Engineering execution of the overall cost, schedule, and technical baseline
- Extensive interface and coordination with program management, customer counterparts, and sub-contractors
- Drive first-time quality across TRMC capability design and promote culture of technical rigor within TRMC Systems Engineering team
- Lead and oversee successful milestone reviews (e.g. SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, FCA).
- Lead successful requirements definition, decomposition, allocation, and final verification across a complex system.
- Lead a multidisciplinary team to decompose and define customer CONOPs, Performance Specifications, and Use Cases/OpsCon scenarios into robust, verifiable requirements at the System and Segment Level.
- Perform Risk and Opportunity management
- Lead and prepare proposals and baseline planning for new activities
- Provide technical guidance, leadership and mentorship to multi-disciplinary team across Systems Engineering to ensure success of team members across all levels
Basic Qualifications:
- Must have a Bachelors of Science degree in a STEM field and at least 12 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a Master's Degree in a STEM field and at least 10 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a PhD and at least 8 years of relevant military / professional experience
- Must have experience executing Systems Engineering processes, including full Systems Engineering life cycle and Systems Engineering Technical Reviews (SETR)
- Must have experience briefing or leading technical discussions with outside stakeholders including other IPTs, customer representatives or supplier personnel
- Must have experience leading a team of 10+ individuals in a technical environment
- Must have an active US Government Secret or higher clearance (with a background investigation completed within the last 6 years or currently enrolled into Continuous Evaluation).
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance within a reasonable amount of time as determined by business needs.
Preferred Qualifications:
- MS degree in a STEM Field
- DOORS experience with an emphasis on requirements management and metrics generation.
- Previous Control Account Manager experience on Earned Value programs
- Previous Experience in managing Technical Baselines (Functional and Allocated Baselines)
- Experience with interfaces ICDs
- Experience in developing proposals
- Experience managing suppliers
- Experience in Agile Development
- Experience in implementation of Quick Reaction Capabilities (QRCs) or other similar short development capability implementation
- Experience in Autonomous Systems Programs
- Experience working on US Air Force Programs
- Experience working on FMS or Export controlled Programs
- Active TS/SCI.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM field with 12+ years relevant experience, OR Master's in STEM with 10+ years, OR PhD in STEM with 8+ years
- Experience executing full Systems Engineering lifecycle and Systems Engineering Technical Reviews (SETR)
- Experience briefing or leading technical discussions with outside stakeholders (IPTs, customer representatives, suppliers)
- Experience leading a technical team of 10+ individuals
- Active US Government Secret or higher clearance with background investigation completed within last 6 years or currently enrolled in Continuous Evaluation
- Ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance within a reasonable time
- U.S. Citizenship (required for positions with government 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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.









