Northrop Grumman Defense Systems is seeking a functional Section Manager - Systems Engineering Manager 2 within the Aerospace Vehicle and Systems Integration (AVSI) directorate's Systems Integration department. The successful candidate will lead a systems engineering functional section within the Strategic Deterrent Systems (SDS) Division consisting of employees on the Weapons System Integration (WSI) team.
The selected candidate will clearly demonstrate strong management skills and will have a track record as a motivated leader, an effective communicator, and problem solver who is able to develop and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. The candidate will demonstrate a commitment to ethics and integrity, and the capability to innovate while challenging traditional ways of doing business. Demonstrated abilities to build diverse and inclusive teams with high levels of engagement, including mentoring and coaching, are a must. They will have an ability to operate in a team environment and collaborate across the directorate business areas as required to accomplish team and department goals.
This is a dual-role manager position, involving balancing both the overall functional oversight and management of a Systems Engineering group of ~8-12 engineers. The selected candidate will spend ~20% of their time in support of the organization’s Functional Homeroom responsibilities and ~80% of their time on technical assignment on an SDS project or IPT. This particular role is looking to fill the 20% functional support only, the candidate will come with the 80% technical program work scope already established. The management side involves organizational administrative activities and helping their employees’ performance and career development through guidance and training. This position may be located in Huntsville, AL Manhattan Beach, CA or Roy, UT and will support the Sentinel (GBSD) program.
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 positions standard work schedule is a 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.
You’ll Bring These Qualifications:
- A Bachelors Science degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) with 8 years of related experience or a Master’s degree with 6 years of related experience
- Active US Government Secret Clearance with an investigation date within the last 6 years
- Ability to obtain Special Access Programs (SAP) clearance.
- Experience with Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test processes
- 3+ years experience in ICBMs (MMIII or Sentinel)
- 5+ years of electrical and systems engineering experience
- 2+ years experience Electrical Design Integration (EDI) and/or Interface Control Model (ICM) development experience
- 2+ years experience leading teams in a functional, programmatic, or technical capacity
- Experience contributing towards various phases of the Systems Engineering “V” lifecycle
Preferred Qualifications
- Active DOD Top Secret clearance, SAP, and/or SCI access
- Experience with Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test processes on the Sentinel Program
- At least 1 year experience leading a project and/or driving performance against schedule
- Experience working across program organizations to find solutions
- Excellent decision making and communication (written and oral) skills
- Experience with team leadership/management
- Strong verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills
- 4+ years of experience in a multi-disciplined engineering environment
- Earned Value Management experience
- Experience with Agile, Confluence, and Jira
- Risk Management experience
- Mechanical Design Integration (MDI) experience
- Experience with technical development programs (e.g. Pathways, FTL, SEA)
- 2+ years experience on large scale / complex aerospace/defense system development across multiple lifecycle phases: preliminary design, detailed design, integration and test, verification and sell off, transition to production
- 2+ year(s) Direct development experience of interface products (Interface Requirements Specification (IRS), Interface Design Description (IDD), Interface Control Document (ICD)) and requirement specifications
- 1+ years experience in developing and executing Systems Engineering process governance documentation in a DoD Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase &/or Risk Management
- 3+ years of experience with managing/scheduling complex technical efforts
- Experience with Systems Engineering program milestone events (e.g., PDR, CDR)
Skills Required
- STEM Bachelor's degree with 8 years experience or STEM Master's degree with 6 years experience
- Active US Government Secret clearance with investigation within the last 6 years
- Ability to obtain Special Access Programs (SAP) clearance
- Experience with Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test processes
- 3+ years experience in ICBMs (MMIII or Sentinel)
- 5+ years of electrical and systems engineering experience
- 2+ years experience in Electrical Design Integration (EDI) and/or Interface Control Model (ICM) development
- 2+ years experience leading teams in a functional, programmatic, or technical capacity
- Experience contributing towards various phases of the Systems Engineering V lifecycle
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance, SAP, and/or SCI access
- Experience with Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test processes on the Sentinel Program
- At least 1 year experience leading a project and/or driving performance against schedule
- Experience working across program organizations to find solutions
- Earned Value Management experience
- Experience with Agile, Confluence, and Jira
- Risk Management experience
- Mechanical Design Integration (MDI) experience
- Experience with technical development programs (e.g., Pathways, FTL, SEA)
- 2+ years experience on large scale/complex aerospace/defense system development across multiple lifecycle phases
- Direct development experience of interface products (IRS, IDD, ICD) and requirement specifications
- Experience developing and executing Systems Engineering process governance documentation in DoD EMD phase and/or Risk Management
- 3+ years of experience managing/scheduling complex technical efforts
- Experience with Systems Engineering program milestone events (e.g., PDR, CDR)
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.







