Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect - Top Secret

Northrop Grumman; Morrisville (NC); On-site; USD 167,000 - 289,000; Full time

Job summary

Northrop Grumman's Space Sector in Morrisville, NC seeks a Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect (Level 6) to provide technical leadership in software planning, architecture, and execution across lifecycles. You will help define capability roadmaps, promote reuse, and drive metrics-driven management with Agile teams.

Requires a STEM degree with extensive software experience and a current Top Secret clearance; location is onsite with some travel; competitive salary and bonus potential offered.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 12+ years of software engineering experience; Master’s with 10+ years; Ph.D. with 8+ years.
• Active U.S. Government Top Secret clearance or ability to obtain; Special Program Access preferred.
• Experience in capability roadmaps, feature decomposition, and measurable success criteria.

Responsibilities

• Lead software reuse strategies and product trade studies to maximize efficiency and maintainability.
• Allocate system requirements into software capabilities; develop and maintain capability roadmaps.
• Review features for alignment with higher-level capabilities and define success criteria.
• Contribute to software framework concepts ensuring scalability across programs.
• Support Basis of Proposal Estimates (BPE) and refine ground software cost estimates.
• Own software metrics reporting; configure dashboards in Jira for visibility and data-driven decisions.

Skills

Roadmapping

Software architecture

Agile methodologies

Data-driven decision making

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in STEM

Master’s degree in STEM

Ph.D. in STEM

Tools

Jira

CAMEO

Job description

Northrop Grumman's Space Sector in Morrisville, NC seeks a Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect (Level 6) to provide technical leadership in software planning, architecture, and execution across lifecycles. You will help define capability roadmaps, promote reuse, and drive metrics-driven management with Agile teams.

Requires a STEM degree with extensive software experience and a current Top Secret clearance; location is onsite with some travel; competitive salary and bonus potential offered.