Sr. Principal Design Engineer

Northrop Grumman; United States; On-site; USD 142,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Travel

Job summary

Northrop Grumman is seeking a Sr. Principal Design Engineer to join our IPTs in Palmdale or El Segundo, CA. You will design avionics, control surfaces, and propulsion interfaces, converting system requirements into detailed subsystem specs and drawings.

The role demands active USG Secret clearance, strong CAD skills (CATIA/NX/SolidWorks), MBSE experience, and proven capability with engineering analyses and simulations.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Engineering (Aerospace/Mechanical/Civil) with relevant experience or a PhD with 4+ years in STEM.
• Proficiency with CAD and drafting tools and creation of drawings and BOMs.
• Strong requirements development and management knowledge.
• Experience with subsystem test planning, execution, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Familiarity with producibility, maintainability, and configuration management.
• Active USG Secret clearance or higher with PAR access.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop subsystem components meeting performance, weight, and reliability targets.
• Translate system requirements into detailed specs, interfaces, and drawings.
• Conduct trade studies, analyses, and simulations to validate concepts.
• Create and maintain schematics, BOMs, test plans, and verification matrices.
• Support integration with other engineering disciplines to ensure compatibility.
• Plan and analyze tests (bench, hardware-in-the-loop, environmental) and address deficiencies.

Skills

CAD tools

CATIA NX

Engineering drawings

MBSE & simulation

Structural analysis

US clearance

Education

BS in Engineering (Aerospace/Mechanical/Civil)

MS in Engineering (Aerospace/Mechanical/Civil)

PhD in STEM with experience

Tools

Nastran

Ansys

MATLAB/Simulink

Teamcenter

CPLM

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: 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.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautic Systems has an opening for a Sr. Principal Design Engineer to join our team of qualified diverse individuals. This position will be located in Palmdale or El Segundo, CA . The candidate should be a self-starter with familiarity working in an Integrated Product Team (IPT) construct.

Essential Functions:

• Design and develop subsystem components (avionics, control surfaces, propulsion interfaces, environmental systems) meeting performance, weight, and reliability requirements.
• Translate system-level requirements into detailed subsystem specifications, interfaces, and engineering drawings.
• Perform trade studies, engineering analyses, and simulations (stress, aeroelasticity, thermal, vibration) to validate subsystem concepts and support design decisions.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, including schematics, bills of materials, test plans, and verification matrices.
• Support integration and interface activities with other engineering disciplines to ensure subsystem compatibility and compliance.
• Plan, execute, and analyze subsystem-level tests (bench, hardware-in-the-loop, environmental) and resolve design deficiencies through corrective actions.
• Contribute to configuration management, design reviews, risk assessments, and continuous improvement activities to ensure producible, maintainable subsystem designs.

Basic Qualifications:

• BS degree in Engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, or Civil) and a minimum of 8 years of experience in Aerospace structural analysis or MS degree in Engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, or Civil) with 6 years of experience OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 4 years of related engineering experience..
• Proficiency with CAD and drafting tools (e.g., CATIA, NX, SolidWorks) and creation of engineering drawings and BOMs.
• Strong knowledge of requirements development and management practices and tools
• Experience with subsystem test planning, execution, troubleshooting, and hardware-in-the-loop or bench testing.
• Familiarity with manufacturing/ producibility considerations, design for maintainability, and configuration management processes.
• Active USG Secret clearance (with a background investigation within the past 5 years or enrolled into Continuous Evaluation).
• Ability to obtain and maintain initial Special Access Program (SAP) access via a Program Access Request (PAR). This SAP/PAR must be obtained prior to commencement of employment and must be obtained within a reasonable amount of time as determined by the company to meet its business needs.
• Ability to obtain and maintain subsequent SAP PARs following commencement of employment to be able to completely support statement of work.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Current applicable Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.
• Active USG Top Secret clearance or higher (with a background investigation within the past 5 years or enrolled into Continuous Evaluation).
• Experience integrating avionics, flight control electronics, sensors, or actuators.
• Proficiency with MBSE and simulation
• Familiarity with certification processes
• Experience performing engineering analyses and simulations (structural, thermal, vibration, aeroelastic) using tools such as Nastran, Ansys, MATLAB/Simulink.
• Have some proficiency in 3-dimensional, constraint based, design systems, CATIA or NX.
• Have some familiarity with configuration management tools such as Teamcenter or CPLM
• Experience with EVMS, CAM certification
• Previous Team Leadership - IPT, Project Management, etc

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

The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman conside