Senior Principal Aeronautical Engineer - Hardware Avionics

Northrop Grumman Corp.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 142,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life and disability insurance

Savings plan

Holidays and PTO

Job summary

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems in Rancho Bernardo, CA, seeks a Senior Principal Aeronautical Engineer to join the Air Vehicle Hardware Avionics team. You will manage subsystems like RadAlt, ADS, and FCAS, conducting flight/lab tests, anomaly resolution, and supplier coordination.

Relocation assistance may be available. The role requires a strong background in avionics, systems engineering, and fault analysis, with opportunities to contribute across development, production, and operations.

Qualifications

• BS in STEM with 8+ years avionics experience, or MS in STEM with 6+ years, or PhD with 4+ years of experience.
• Ability to obtain DoD Secret clearance in a reasonable time.
• Experience with MS Office and MATLAB for analysis and reporting.
• Experience with test equipment (oscilloscopes, signal generators, signal analyzers, multimeters).

Responsibilities

• Integrate avionics hardware, defining interfaces and redundancy.
• Conduct system investigations, testing and flight tests in lab environments.
• Provide remote and on-site troubleshooting for Production and Field issues.
• Support proposals, technical planning, verification & validation, and risk analysis.

Skills

DoD Secret clearance

Avionics systems knowledge

Flight testing support

Education

BS in STEM

MS in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

MS Office

MATLAB

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No

CLEARANCE TYPE: None

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.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Senior Principal Aeronautical Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within our Air Vehicle Hardware Avionics team. This role is located in Rancho Bernardo, CA.

The Air Vehicle Hardware Avionics team is responsible for vehicle flight control and safety. In this role, you will contribute to the team for management of the following subsystems: Radar Altimeter (RadAlt), Air Data System (ADS), and electro-mechanical flight control actuation system. You can expect to work independently and collaborate across multiple teams to deliver quality solutions. General duties will include flight/lab testing, Production/Field Support, anomaly resolution, and supplier management.

The role is dynamic as members of the team handle a broad range of activities across multiple phases of the program to include development, production, and operational support. Some of those responsibilities are:

• Integrate avionics hardware, accounting for hardware capabilities/limitations, defining interfaces, and incorporating required redundancy.
• Conduct investigations, system testing, and flight testing in lab environments.
• Provide remote and on-site troubleshooting for Production and Field issues.
• Support proposal development, technical planning, verification & validation, cost & risk analysis, and trade studies.
• Ensure the logical and systematic conversion of customer or product requirements into total system solutions that balance technical, schedule, and cost constraints.

Basic Qualifications

• Must have a Bachelor's in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) field and at least 8 years of relevant professional / military avionics experience, or a Master's Degree in STEM and at least 6 years of relevant professional / military experience, or a PhD Degree with at least 4 years of relevant professional / military experience
• Must have the ability to maintain and obtain a DoD Secret clearance within a reasonable time as determined by business needs
• Must have experience with the following SW Tools: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Project, Visio), Matlab
• Must have experience with test equipment (oscilloscopes, signal generators, signal analyzers, multi-meters)

Preferred Qualifications

• Active DoD Secret security clearance or higher
• Comprehensive knowledge of avionics components, including RadAlt, Air Data, and FCAS
• Experience with system redundancy and associated safety analysis
• Familiarity with databuses and related protocols, such as MIL-STD-1553, RS-485, ARINC-429
• Experience performing system-level design/troubleshooting
• Flight Test experience: Some experience
• Supplier management: Some experience
• Requirements verification testing: Some experience
• Prior experience as a military, civil, or commercial avionics technician

Salary and Benefits

Primary Level Salary Range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00

• 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.