Principal/Sr Principal Infrastructure Engineer

Northrop Grumman; Virginia (MN); On-site; USD 125,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Health insurance

Job summary

Northrop Grumman is seeking a Principal/Senior Principal Infrastructure Engineer to join the Product Security Engineering team in Dulles, Virginia. The role centers on secure development and operation of production infrastructure, spanning Windows, Linux, virtualization, and network services, with a focus on automation and security across the lifecycle.

You will design, build, and sustain scalable infrastructure, collaborating with software, DevOps, and cybersecurity engineers to ensure

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship with an active Top Secret clearance and SCI indoctrination at application time.
• Hands-on experience administering Windows Server and Active Directory.
• Experience deploying and troubleshooting Windows/Linux servers in production.
• Experience with TCP/IP networking, DNS, VLANs, routing, switching, firewalls, and network issues.
• Experience with virtualization using VMware vSphere/ESXi or similar.
• Experience with automation/scripting via Ansible, PowerShell, Python, Bash or similar.
• Ability to document configurations, procedures, architecture diagrams, and decisions.
• Strong written and verbal communication across engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Own deployment, operation, maintenance, and lifecycle management of production infrastructure and shared services across Windows, Linux, network, and virtualization environments.
• Collaborate with engineers, ISSOs, and ISSEs to translate security requirements into maintainable solutions and resolve issues.
• Administer Active Directory, DNS, Group Policy, and other core identity services for production systems.
• Deploy, patch, harden, monitor, and troubleshoot Windows and Linux servers per security and performance standards.
• Manage VMware ESXi/vSphere environments including VMs, storage, networking, capacity planning, and lifecycle.
• Configure and maintain Cisco switching/routing and network segmentation.
• Develop automation using Ansible/scripts; apply IaC and GitOps with version control and automated validation.
• Implement monitoring, logging, alerting, backup, and recovery for production infrastructure.
• Perform root-cause analysis for complex infrastructure issues spanning OS, apps, identity, network, and virtualization.

Skills

Windows Server

Active Directory

Networking

VMware

Ansible

PowerShell

Python

Education

Bachelor of Science

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

VMware vSphere

Linux

Cisco IOS

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. We have an opening for a Principal/Senior Principal Infrastructure Engineer to join our Product Security Engineering team supporting the secure development and operation of production infrastructure and software products for space systems. In this role, you will help design, build, automate, secure, and sustain the infrastructure and shared services that enable mission-critical software development and operations. You will work alongside infrastructure, software, DevOps, and cybersecurity engineers to operate reliable platforms, modernize engineering workflows, and ensure our systems remain secure, resilient, and maintainable throughout their lifecycle. This position is 100% on-site in Dulles, Virginia.

Job Responsibilities

• Own the deployment, operation, maintenance, and lifecycle management of production infrastructure and shared platform services across Windows, Linux, network, and virtualized environments.
• Work as part of an integrated infrastructure team, collaborating with fellow engineers, ISSOs, and ISSEs to translate operational and security requirements into maintainable solutions and resolve vulnerabilities, configuration findings, and production issues.
• Administer Microsoft Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, RADIUS, and other core identity and network services supporting production systems.
• Deploy, configure, patch, harden, monitor, and troubleshoot Windows and Linux servers in accordance with organizational security, availability, and performance requirements.
• Administer VMware ESXi/vSphere environments, including virtual machines, storage, networking, capacity planning, availability, upgrades, and lifecycle management.
• Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot Cisco network infrastructure, including switching, routing, VLANs, segmentation, access controls, and connectivity between systems and services.
• Develop and maintain Ansible playbooks, scripts, and reusable automation to standardize provisioning, configuration management, system administration, and other recurring tasks.
• Apply Infrastructure-as-Code and GitOps practices using version control, peer review, automated validation, configuration baselines, and controlled deployment of infrastructure changes.
• Implement and maintain monitoring, logging, alerting, backup, recovery, and operational health capabilities for production infrastructure services.
• Troubleshoot complex infrastructure issues across compute, virtualization, networking, storage, authentication, and application dependencies, including root-cause analysis and corrective action.
• Maintain infrastructure architecture, configuration standards, runbooks, and as-built documentation while driving automation, modernization, reliability, security, and reduction of technical debt.

Basic Qualifications

• Principal: 5 Years with Bachelors in Science; 3 Years with Masters; 1 Year with PhD. 4 year additional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Sr Principal: 8 Years with Bachelors in Science; 6 Years with Masters; 4 Years with PhD. 4 year additional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Must have U.S. Citizenship with an active Top Secret security clearance with an active SCI indoctrination at the time of application.
• Hands‑on experience administering Windows Server environments and Microsoft Active Directory, including users and groups, Group Policy, domain services, permissions, authentication, and DNS.
• Experience deploying, configuring, patching, maintaining, and troubleshooting Windows and/or Linux servers in production or operational environments.
• Hands‑on experience with TCP/IP networking, including DNS, VLANs, routing, switching, firewalls, and troubleshooting network connectivity issues.
• Experience administering virtualized infrastructure using VMware vSphere/ESXi or a comparable enterprise virtualization platform.
• Experience using automation, scripting, or configuration‑management technologies such as Ansible, PowerShell, Python, Bash, or similar tools.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex infrastructure issues spanning operating systems, applications, identity services, networking, and virtualization; perform root‑cause analysis; and drive technical problems through resolution.
• Ability to create and maintain clear technical documentation, including system configurations, operational procedures, architecture diagrams, and technical decisions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across functional engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated technical curiosity and continuous learning through personal projects, home labs, open‑source contributions, or similar hands‑on efforts that reflect a strong interest in building, understanding, and improving complex systems.
• Experience configurating and troubleshooting Cisco network infrastructure, including switches, VLANs, trunks, Layer 2/Layer 3 networking, access controls, and network segmentation.
• Experience administering VMware vSphere environments, including vCenter, ESXi hosts, virtual networking, templates, storage integration, high availability, and platform lifecycle management.
• Experience developing infrastructure automation or internal tooling using Ansible, PowerShell, Python, Bash, Go, or similar technologies.
• Experience building or maintaining CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins or GitLab CI.
• Experience applying Infrastructure-as-Code, Policy-as-Code, Configuration-as-Code, GitOps, or related automated infrastructure‑management practices.
• Experience with security hardening, vulnerability remediation, patch management, access control, and secure system administration.
• Experience implementing infrastructure monitoring, centralized logging, configuration‑drift detection, automated validation, and remediation capabilities.
• Familiarity with DISA STIGs, SCAP, RMF, NIST security controls, or comparable cybersecurity requirements applicable to regulated environments.
• Experience supporting air‑gapped, isolated, laboratory, manufacturing, or other highly controlled environments.
• Relevant infrastructure, operating system, virtualization, networking, or cybersecurity certifications from organizations such as Microsoft, Red Hat, VMware, Cisco, or CompTIA.

Primary Level Salary Range: $125,300.00 - $187,900.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $156,400.00 - $234,600.00

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.