Ground Software Lead Architect - Top Secret Clearance

Northrop Grumman; Dulles Town Center (VA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 289,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Discretionary bonus

Long-Term Incentives

Paid time off

Job summary

Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector is seeking a Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect (Level 6) to join our team and provide technical leadership in software planning, architecture, and execution across multiple sites including Dulles, VA.

The role emphasizes capability roadmapping, reuse, and metrics-driven management, with responsibilities such as leading software reuse strategies, backlogging, and cost estimation support. A TS clearance is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 12+ years of software engineering experience.
• Master’s degree in a STEM discipline with 10+ years of stated experience.
• Ph.D. in a STEM discipline with 8+ years of stated experience.
• Active U.S. Government Top Secret clearance at time of application, with the ability and willingness to obtain Special Program Access.
• Experience with software architecture and design for complex, mission-critical systems.
• Experience working within Agile software development lifecycles, including backlog refinement and iterative delivery.
• Proficiency with Jira for software implementation planning, tracking, and metrics reporting.
• Experience with CAMEO (or similar model-based systems engineering tools).

Responsibilities

• Lead software reuse strategies and product trade studies to maximize efficiency, commonality, and maintainability.
• Allocate system requirements into software capabilities and features; develop and maintain the software buildup plan and capability roadmap.
• Review element- and component-level features to ensure alignment with higher-level capabilities; define, track, and report clear feature success criteria.
• Contribute to the development and refinement of the software framework concept, ensuring scalability and adaptability across programs.
• Support Basis of Proposal Estimates (BPE), including development and refinement of ground software cost estimates.
• Own software metrics reporting and management; configure and maintain dashboards and reports in Jira to support execution, visibility, and data-driven decision making.

Skills

Front-end planning

Software architecture

Agile development

Third-party frameworks

Jira usage

CAMEO

Cost estimation

Product Owner experience

CAM experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline (12+ years)

Master’s degree in a STEM discipline (10+ years)

Ph.D. in a STEM discipline (8+ years)

Tools

Jira

CAMEO

Job description

Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector is seeking a Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect (Level 6) to join our team and provide technical leadership in software planning, architecture, and execution across multiple sites including Dulles, VA.

The role emphasizes capability roadmapping, reuse, and metrics-driven management, with responsibilities such as leading software reuse strategies, backlogging, and cost estimation support. A TS clearance is required.