Software Engineer Level 2 or 3 (AHT)

0090 CORP-Corporate Office; United States; On-site; USD 92,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental & Vision

401k

Educational Assistance

Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Li

Paid Time Off

Flexible Schedules

Job summary

Northrop Grumman is seeking a Software Engineer (Level 2 or 3) to join the Space Sector in Redondo Beach, CA. The role requires building and maintaining containerized software for space mission planning, integrating with Kafka streams, and delivering robust microservices in a Linux environment.

The position emphasizes agile development, cross-functional collaboration, and strong emphasis on testing, code reviews, and cloud-based services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 2+ years of software engineering experience, or a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline with 0+ years of experience.
• Ability and willingness to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret clearance and SCI clearance within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company.
• Strong programming skills in at least one of: Java, Python, or C++; ability to read and debug the others is a plus.
• Prior work experience integrating applications with Apache Kafka or other distributed messaging/streaming platforms (producers, consumers, topics, partitions, consumer groups).
• Experience building RESTful APIs and/or microservices that integrate with backend data sources.

Responsibilities

• Work in an agile or iterative development environment and collaborate with cross-functional teams (systems engineers, DevOps, test, data engineers).
• Design, implement, and integrate containerized software components for a space mission planning system.
• Integrate mission planning services with Kafka-based backend data streams, ensuring reliability and scalability.
• Collaborate with systems engineers to understand mission planning requirements and translate them into robust software solutions.
• Implement and maintain cloud-deployed services, including monitoring, logging, and alerting.
• Participate in code reviews, test automation efforts, and continuous improvement of development and integration practices.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues across application, container, and cloud layers.
• Maintain a strong focus on software quality, including unit testing, integration testing, code reviews, and use of test frameworks.

Skills

Java

Python

C++

Kafka

REST API

Linux

Docker

CMake

Git

Education

Bachelor’s degree in STEM

Master’s degree in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

Maven

Gradle

CMake

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Git

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’s Space Sector is seeking a Software Engineer (Level 2 or 3) to join our team of highly qualified, diverse professionals within the Western Region Software Engineering directorate. This position is located onsite in Redondo Beach, CA.

*Please be aware that this position is contingent upon capturing program award(s) and obtaining and maintaining associated business and/or customer funding. Furthermore, this position is contingent upon the candidate obtaining final clearances and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company. Continued employment thereafter will be subject to maintenance at the level of clearance and program access required for the position in the future.

Job responsibilities of the Software Engineer include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Work in an agile or iterative development environment and collaborate with cross-functional teams (systems engineers, DevOps, test, data engineers).
• Design, implement, and integrate containerized software components for a space mission planning system.
• Integrate mission planning services with Kafka-based backend data streams, ensuring reliability and scalability.
• Collaborate with systems engineers to understand mission planning requirements and translate them into robust software solutions.
• Implement and maintain cloud-deployed services, including monitoring, logging, and alerting.
• Participate in code reviews, test automation efforts, and continuous improvement of development and integration practices.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues across application, container, and cloud layers.
• Maintain a strong focus on software quality, including unit testing, integration testing, code reviews, and use of test frameworks (e.g., JUnit, pytest, GoogleTest, TestComplete).
• Demonstrate strong problem-solving, debugging, and communication skills.

This requisition may be filled at a higher grade based on qualifications listed below.

Basic Qualifications – Software Engineer (Level 2):

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 2+ years of software engineering experience, or a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline with 0+ years of experience.
• Ability and willingness to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret clearance and SCI clearance within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company. Continued employment thereafter is contingent upon the candidate maintaining the required level of clearance and program access for the position.
• Strong programming skills in at least one of: Java, Python, or C++; ability to read and debug the others is a plus.
• Prior work experience integrating applications with Apache Kafka or other distributed messaging/streaming platforms (producers, consumers, topics, partitions, consumer groups).
• Experience building RESTful APIs and/or microservices that integrate with backend data sources.
• Proficiency with Linux environments and shell scripting.
• Experience with build tools (e.g., Maven/Gradle for Java, CMake for C++, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with source control and branching strategies (Git, Git workflows).

Basic Qualifications – Software Engineer (Level 3):

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 5+ years of software engineering experience, or a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline with 3+ years of stated experience, or a Ph.D. in a STEM discipline with 1+ years of stated experience.
• Ability and willingness to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret clearance and SCI clearance within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company. Continued employment thereafter is contingent upon the candidate maintaining the required level of clearance and program access for the position.
• Strong programming skills in at least one of: Java, Python, or C++; ability to read and debug the others is a plus.
• Prior work experience integrating applications with Apache Kafka or other distributed messaging/streaming platforms (producers, consumers, topics, partitions, consumer groups).
• Experience building RESTful APIs and/or microservices that integrate with backend data sources.
• Proficiency with Linux environments and shell scripting.
• Experience with build tools (e.g., Maven/Gradle for Java, CMake for C++, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with source control and branching strategies (Git, Git workflows).

Preferred Qualifications

• Active U.S. Government Top Secret clearance.
• Experience with mission-critical or real-time systems, ideally in space mission planning domains.
• Experience designing event-driven architectures using Kafka (schema design, message contracts, error handling, replay patterns, stream processing).
• Background in microservices architecture and patterns (service discovery, configuration management, circuit breakers, API gateways).
• Knowledge of software design patterns and modern architectural practices.
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary engineering teams supporting large system integrations.
• Experience developing clean, secure code (e.g., Sonar scans, unit tests, code coverage, Fortify).
• Hands‑on experience designing and developing containerized applications (e.g., Docker) for deployment to a private cloud environment.
• Experience with container orchestration platforms (preferably Kubernetes, OpenShift, or similar).
• Solid understanding of distributed systems concepts, including scalability, resiliency, fault tolerance, and observability.

*Please be aware that this position is contingent upon capturing program award(s) and obtaining and maintaining associated business and/or customer funding. Furthermore, this position is contingent upon the candidate obtaining final clearances and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company. Continued employment thereafter will be subject to maintenance at the level of clearance and program access required for the position in the future.

Benefits

Working at Northrop Grumman is more than just a paycheck. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards and benefits package designed to help you thrive at work and in life. For more information on our Total Rewards package, please visit our Total Rewards site: Northrop Grumman Total Rewards.

• Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
• 401k
• Educational Assistance
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Life Solutions
• Paid Time Off
• Health & Wellness Resources
• Employee Discounts
• Flexible Schedules: for example, the ability to work a 9/80 work schedule, which allows an employee to work a nine-hour day Monday through Thursday and take every other Friday off of work.

#LosAngelesSpace #LI-DB1

Salary Range

Primary Level Salary Range: $91,800.00 - $137,600.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00

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.

Equal Opportunity Employment

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.

Existing Applicants

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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.