Principal AI Engineer Software

0090 CORP-Corporate Office; United States; On-site; USD 138,000 - 207,000; Full time

Job summary

Northrop Grumman is seeking a Principal AI Software Engineer to support the development, integration, and deployment of AI-enabled software within the SEIT department. You will collaborate with physicists, design engineers, and superconducting foundry engineers to bring technologies to life on-site at Spectrum Center in San Diego.

The ideal candidate has strong AI/ML experience, security-focused coding practices, and the ability to mentor engineers while influencing technical direction across

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Software Eng or related STEM with 5+ years of experience; or 3 years with Master’s; or 1 year with PhD.
• Current DoD 8570 IAT Level II Certification (Security+) or higher.
• Must be a US Citizen with active DoD Secret clearance.
• Experience translating technical concepts to others.
• Experience leading technical efforts across multiple engineering disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, integrate, and sustain AI-enabled software products and supporting systems across cloud and on-prem environments.
• Translate mission, customer, and business needs into secure, scalable technical solutions.
• Identify gaps and develop improvements to increase performance, reliability, security, or efficiency.
• Secure and harden full-stack solutions including infrastructure, platforms, applications, data flows, and pipelines.
• Evaluate open-source technologies to accelerate delivery while maintaining security standards.
• Experience developing or integrating AI/ML-enabled applications into operational environments.
• Mentor engineers and support team technical development.

Skills

Security+ certification

Translate technical concepts

Lead cross-disciplinary teams

Mentor engineers

Communicate to leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related STEM

Tools

DoD 8570 IAT Level II Certification

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

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.

Northrop Grumman is seeking a Principal AI Software Engineer to support the development, integration, and deployment of advanced AI-enabled software solutions to support our Systems Engineering Integration & Test (SEIT) department. As a member of the SEIT department you’ll work in a fast-paced team environment alongside physicists, design engineers, and superconducting foundry engineers to make our technologies a reality. This position will serve on-site at Spectrum Center, San Diego.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, integrate, and sustain AI-enabled software products and supporting systems across cloud and local/on-premises environments.


• Translate mission, customer, and business needs into secure, scalable, and maintainable technical solutions.


• Identify system, workflow, or architecture gaps and independently develop improvements that increase performance, reliability, security, or efficiency.


• Secure and harden full-stack solutions, including infrastructure, platforms, applications, data flows, and development pipelines.


• Evaluate, adapt, and securely leverage open-source technologies to accelerate delivery while maintaining engineering rigor and security standards.


• Experience developing or integrating AI/ML-enabled applications into operational or production environments.


• Experience securing end-to-end systems spanning infrastructure, applications, data, interfaces, and deployment pipelines.


• Working knowledge across adjacent domains such as cyber security, networking, DevOps, systems engineering, or platform engineering.


• Experience evaluating and incorporating open-source frameworks, models, or tooling in a secure and supportable manner.


• Familiarity with modern software delivery practices including CI/CD, containerization, automation, and infrastructure/platform operations.


• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction, present to senior leadership, and work effectively across organizations.


• Experience mentoring engineers and supporting team technical development.


• Track record of delivering measurable business or mission value through cost savings, productivity improvements, force multiplication, or new capability delivery.


• Work across software, cyber, networking, DevOps, and systems engineering disciplines to implement end-to-end solutions.


• Perform technical trade studies, solution analysis, and architectural assessments to support sound engineering decisions.


• Communicate technical approaches, risks, status, and results to leadership, stakeholders, and cross-organizational teams.


• Incorporate emerging research, tools, and engineering practices into practical solutions where they provide measurable value.


• Mentor other engineers, contribute to technical growth across the team, and help drive execution toward program and business objectives.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or related STEM discipline with 5 years of relevant experience; or 3 years with a Master’s degree; or 1 year with a PhD.


• Current DoD 8570 IAT Level II Certification (Security+) or higher.


• Candidate must be a US Citizen.


• Experience translating technical concepts and program information to others.


• Clearance: A current/active DoD Secret clearance.


• Experience developing or deploying AI/ML-enabled applications for practical or operational use cases.


• Experience leading technical efforts across multiple engineering disciplines and guiding teams through implementation.


• Experience identifying when AI is not the right solution and proposing a better engineering alternative.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing or integrating AI/ML-enabled applications into operational or production environments.


• Experience securing end-to-end systems spanning infrastructure, applications, data, interfaces, and deployment pipelines.


• Experience assessing AI/ML approaches against data quality, data volume, compute limitations, security requirements, and deployment constraints.


• Working knowledge across adjacent domains such as cyber security, networking, DevOps, systems engineering, or platform engineering.


• Experience evaluating and incorporating open-source frameworks, models, or tooling in a secure and supportable manner.


• Familiarity with modern software delivery practices including CI/CD, containerization, automation, and infrastructure/platform operations.


• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction, present to senior leadership, and work effectively across organizations.


• Experience mentoring engineers and supporting team technical development.


• Experience with GPU optimization, distributed inference, or deployment in constrained compute environments.


• Integration of AI into larger end-to-end systems.


• Experience integrating AI into secure or regulated environments.


• Track record of delivering measurable business or mission value through cost savings, productivity improvements, force multiplication, or new capability delivery.

Primary Level Salary Range: $137,800.00 - $206,800.00 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.

We are a pioneering company. With careers across all areas: air, cyber, land, sea and space – our 90,000 employees work as one to defend and define the future. Northrop Grumman careers and internships are as varied as your interests, with a lifetime of potential that will give you every opportunity to do your best work. Working together with people from many backgrounds, personal passions and disciplines, we share a drive to push the boundaries of science, technology and engineering to meet the ever evolving needs of our customers worldwide.