Senior Systems Engineer, Defense Systems — Secret Clearance

Northrop Grumman; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 167,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental & Vision

401k

Educational Assistance

Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Li

Paid Time Off

Health & Wellness Resources

Employee Discounts

Job summary

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems seeks a Sr. Staff Systems Engineer (level 6) to join the Sentinel Systems Engineering, Integration & Test team in a multi‑site setting.

You will drive external interface integration, lead bottleneck resolution, and mentor ESI staff while coordinating with customers and stakeholders across the enterprise. The role requires strong systems engineering foundations, practical leadership, and the ability to manage multiple complex test activities within a secure

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM with 14 years of experience; 12 years with a Masters; or 10 years with a PhD.
• U.S. Citizen with active DoD Secret clearance (or higher) and background investigation within past 6 years or Continuous Evaluation.
• Ability to obtain/maintain Special Program Access (SAP/PAR).
• 8–10 years of experience with Product Owner and Product Manager core responsibilities.
• 8–10 years of experience in ICBM (MMIII or Sentinel) or complex aerospace/defense systems.
• 4 years of experience on large scale/complex system development across design, integration and test.
• 1 year of experience with Systems Engineering milestone events (PDR/CDR).
• 1 year of experience working with external customers to meet program expectations.
• 1 year of experience supporting DoD contracts or large supplier management portfolios.

Responsibilities

• Prime Technical Lead/Responsible Engineer for external system threads (facilities, data, networks, SW, HW, flight test readiness).
• Provide technical oversight, review and accountability of ESI content for rigor and quality.
• Offer technical leadership, direction and mentoring to ESI team members.
• Interface with Customer and participate in technical review boards; maintain relationships with Customer Chief Engineers.
• Lead integration activities including test planning, issue identification, event execution and cross-stakeholder coordination.
• Assist in analysis of controls and input data into DOORS, CAMEO, CPLM/TeamCenter tracking tools.
• Demonstrate strong decision-making in a fast-paced environment.
• Coordinate external tests across internal and partner facilities for system integration.
• Support planning, verification, validation, cost/risk considerations and requirements analyses for integrated systems.
• Develop key system engineering artifacts: requirements, interface definitions, integration plans, tests and reports.

Skills

Leadership

Systems engineering

Technical oversight

Mentoring

Stakeholder liaison

Education

B.S. in STEM

M.S. in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

DOORS

CAMEO

TeamCenter

Job description

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems seeks a Sr. Staff Systems Engineer (level 6) to join the Sentinel Systems Engineering, Integration & Test team in a multi‑site setting.

You will drive external interface integration, lead bottleneck resolution, and mentor ESI staff while coordinating with customers and stakeholders across the enterprise. The role requires strong systems engineering foundations, practical leadership, and the ability to manage multiple complex test activities within a secure