Ground Mission Architect

Northrop Grumman; Virginia (MN); On-site; USD 177,000 - 266,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Health insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Savings plan

Company paid holidays

PTO

Job summary

Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Dulles, VA seeks an experienced mission architect to lead ground design and to interface with customers on space security missions. The role emphasizes architecture, strategy, and cross-domain collaboration across security levels and with external partners.

Theposition requires a Top Secret clearance, on-site work, and the ability to align missions with broader campaigns while shaping feasibility with business development teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or STEM required; 12+ years in related field with Bachelor’s, 10+ with Master’s, 7+ with PhD.
• Active DoD Top-Secret clearance required and SCI eligibility.
• Strong systems engineering fundamentals and briefing to senior leaders.
• Experience with ground design, security frameworks, and national security systems.

Responsibilities

• Interface with customers and stakeholders for mission ground systems.
• Articulate a vision of common grounds across security levels.
• Mentor mission architects and systems engineers in ground design and software.
• Direct efforts to reduce risk, mature systems, and grow the business area.
• Support system architecture establishment and CONOPs development.
• Translate complex technical data for non-experts across domains.
• Drive product development from end-to-end with initiative.
• Lead technical meetings for senior leaders in the space community.

Skills

Systems engineering

Executive briefings

Ground design

Cyber security

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or STEM

Master’s degree in Engineering or STEM

PhD in Engineering or STEM

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret

TRAVEL: No

Description

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Dulles, VA, is looking for an experienced mission architect who can be the subject matter expert and key customer interface for space security missions, focused on Ground Design and integration. This Architect will lead technical efforts supporting capture and strategy, aligning missions across security constructs, use common software, and integrating with services around the globe. This candidate will closely work with business development, business directors, external customers, and external subject matter experts to shape the feasibility of new ground architectures.

This position requires up to 100% on-site work due security constraints and an ability to pass an enhanced security review.

You Will Be Responsible For

• Interface and drive engagement with customers and stakeholders for mission ground systems
• Promulgate a clear vision of common grounds and how to use them for disparate missions at multiple security levels
• Mentor mission architects and systems engineers in ground design, mission specific software within the ground framework, and enabling SV behavior to achieve the end to end mission
• Direct developmental and analytical efforts to reduce risk, mature the system, ensure mission success, and grow the business area.
• Support the family of programs with system architecture establishment/evolution and CONOPs development.
• Ability to capture core concepts and instructional needs from a large amount of technical data (ground and space hardware) and communicate technical concepts to an audience of non-subject matter experts with varying levels of domain experience
• Be self-directed and able to envision the end state of the product and take initiative to drive product development to closure
• Educate leads, customers, and engineers on mission capability, analysis, and CONOPS
• Perform system-of-system trades, modeling, simulation and analysis to assess space mission architecture alternatives for delivering a customer mission effect, data or capability as it fits within a broader campaign
• Support capture activities, including RFI/RFP preparation, customer presentations and demonstrations, and competitor analysis
• Brief and lead technical meetings for senior leaders across the space community

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or other STEM related degree with 12+ years of experience in a related engineering field such as mechanical, electrical, aerospace and/or operations; 10 years with a Master's; 7 years with a PhD
• Requires an active U.S. Government DoD Top-Secret security clearance at time of application current and within scope with the ability to obtain and maintain SCI approval/access
• Understanding of Systems Engineering principles and practices
• Experience with developing and presenting briefing slides to senior leaders and executive level personnel
• Ground design implementation, architectural design, and knowledge of cyber security frameworks for national security systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in mission design, satellite ground software, satellite hardware, and distributed modeling & simulation
• Understanding of system of system architecture designs the interplay between various national security customers and products
• Prior aerospace-related work experience for a U.S Government Agency or Contractor
• Previous experience with flight hardware on operational system
• Previous experience with Class C / demonstration programs

This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman.

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Primary Level Salary Range: $177,000.00 - $265,600.00

The 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.