Principal / Sr Principal Engineer Software

Northrop Grumman; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 114,000 - 213,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Retirement plan

Savings plan

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Flexible spending accounts

Bonuses

Job summary

Northrop Grumman seeks Principal/Sr Principal Software Engineer (on site) in Rancho Bernardo or El Segundo, CA. Join the R&A&D Division to develop next-generation technologies and rapidly deploy to end users.

The role requires building enterprise-grade software, collaborating across teams, and delivering mission-critical solutions. Candidates should have strong Java/Spring, microservices, and frontend skills, plus experience with NiFi, dashboards, and security clearances.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline and 5 years of relevant engineering experience, OR Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of relevant engineering experience, OR PhD and 1 year of experience in a related field.
• Ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret clearance.
• Active SCI and SAP clearance (preferred).
• Experience with Java 21+ and microservice development.
• Experience with observability, dashboards (Prometheus, Grafana).
• Experience with Apache NiFi and data pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Engineer enterprise solutions that align with best practices to support mission critical objectives.
• Work on 1-3 mid- to large-scale projects concurrently, assigned from program and internal leadership.
• Participate in regular project design and incremental status meetings.
• Collaborate with different teams across the program to discuss, analyze or resolve usability issues and work on projects.
• Provide effective communication across multi-functional teams, stakeholders and end-users.

Skills

Java 21+

Spring Boot

Microservices

Frontend frameworks

WebSockets/SSE

Prometheus Grafana

Apache NiFi

ActiveMQ

Docker

AWS SDK for Java v2

Protobuf/JAXB/Jackson

Testcontainers

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Master's degree in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

Docker

OCI containers

MongoDB

Elasticsearch

S3 AWS

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available.

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes.

CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret.

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time.

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.

Location

Principal/Sr Principal Engineer Software (on site) in Rancho Bernardo or El Segundo, California.

Accomplish

Join our Research and Advanced Design (R&A&D) Division working on exciting new next generation technologies and their rapid deployment to end users.

Key Responsibilities

• Engineer enterprise solutions that align with best practices to support mission critical objectives.


• Work on 1-3 mid- to large-scale projects concurrently, assigned from program and internal leadership.


• Participate in regular project design and incremental status meetings.


• Collaborate with different teams across the program to discuss, analyze or resolve usability issues and work on projects.


• Provide effective communication across multi-functional teams, stakeholders and end-users.

Succeed

The individual we seek will be self-motivated, proactive, goal-oriented to help us grow our services, become even better at what we do and will possess the following qualifications.

Basic Qualifications

• Principal Software Engineer: Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline and 5 years of relevant engineering experience, OR Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of relevant engineering experience, OR PhD and 1 year of experience in a related field.


• Sr Principal Software Engineer: Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline and 8 years of relevant experience, OR Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 6 years of relevant experience, OR PhD and 4 years of experience in a related field.


• Ability to transfer and maintain a final adjudicated Top Secret clearance (must be in-scope or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation) and any program access(es) required for the position within a reasonable period.


• Ability to obtain Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and Special Program Access (SAP).


• Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIP): Proficiency with Spring Integration or Apache Camel to build robust adapters and message routers.


• Java 21+ proficiency, microservice development and front‑end interfaces.


• Experience with observability technologies, health indicators, and dashboarding including Prometheus and Grafana.


• Experience with Apache NiFi.


• Deep knowledge of data flow technologies and networking, including UDP, TCP, and hybrid protocols.


• Hybrid S3 integration: Ability to develop in Java 21+ using the AWS SDK for Java v2 for scenarios where a standalone microservice is more performant than a NiFi processor.


• Dashboard development:
  
  
  • Backend: Java 21+/Spring Boot service with a time‑series or document‑oriented store (e.g., MongoDB or Elasticsearch) for status history.
  
  
  • Frontend: Proficiency in Angular, React or Vue.js to build the custom web app for status display.
  
  
  • Real‑time updates: Implementation of WebSockets (via Spring WebSocket) or Server‑Sent Events (SSE) to push probed status changes to the dashboard instantly.
  
  
  
  


• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active SCI and SAP security clearance.


• Java 21+ mastery: leverage Virtual Threads (Project Loom) for high‑concurrency probing and file processing tasks.


• Protocol translation: deep experience with Protobuf (Google Protocol Buffers), JAXB/Jackson for XML (UCI) processing, and JSON schema validation.


• Asynchronous messaging: mastery of JMS (Java Message Service) specifically with ActiveMQ Classic. Candidates should understand connection pooling, message persistence, and dead‑letter queue (DLQ) management.


• Resiliency patterns: implementation of Circuit Breakers (e.g., Resilience4j) to handle relay failures without cascading into the main effort.


• Data pipeline orchestration: advanced knowledge of Apache NiFi. Looking for ability to design custom FlowFiles, use ListS3/FetchS3, and implement complex routing logic.


• Containerization: proficiency in Docker/OCI image optimization and deploying standalone Spring Boot apps in resource‑constrained environments.


• Testing: mastery of Testcontainers for local integration testing of S3 (LocalStack) and ActiveMQ brokers.

Thrive with Us

At Northrop Grumman we are invested in the growth and well‑being of all our employees. We offer flexible work arrangements, phenomenal learning opportunities, exposure to a wide variety of projects and customers, and a very friendly team environment.

Our Total Rewards Program offers a comprehensive employee benefits package, including a retirement and savings plan, group medical, dental and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts.

Salary Range

• Primary Level: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00


• Secondary Level: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00

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.

Benefits

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 for vacation and/or personal business.

Legal

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.