Sr. Staff Software Engineer (Full Stack Software Discipline Lead)

Northrop Grumman; Palmdale (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Travel 25%

Secret clearance

Job summary

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Sector (NGAS) is seeking a Sr. Staff Engineer Software to lead the Full Stack Software Discipline.

You will shape technical priorities, guide tools, processes, and training across programs, and drive modernization of the software factory in an environment governed by DoD standards. The role requires extensive experience in front-end and back-end systems, cloud platforms, and security governance, with a focus on interoperability and scalable engineering practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM with 14+ years of software engineering experience OR Master’s degree with 12+ years OR PhD with 9+ years.
• Subject matter expert in frontend, backend, API design, databases, networking, and cloud platforms.
• Experience leading software discipline strategies and cross-program collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and define strategic vision for software discipline within NGAS.
• Interface with discipline leads to identify program needs and close engineering gaps.
• Lead development, deployment, and sustainment of sector-wide tools and processes.
• Build a strong Software Community of Practice across programs.

Skills

Cloud computing

Geospatial engineering

Software construction

Human factors engineering

Interoperability standards

Cybersecurity governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Master's degree in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Jenkins

GitLab

Azure DevOps

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 25% 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.

The Northrop Grumman AeronauticsSector (NGAS) Software Engineering Center of Technical Excellence (CoTE) is creating an Everything‑as‑Code (XaC) ecosystem powered by an AI‑augmented workforce and a resilient software factory. Our mission is to deliver mission effects at the speed of relevance by continuously evolving the tools, processes, training, and metrics that make the software‑engineering ecosystem efficient, measurable, and future‑ready. As a leader in the CoTE team you will be at the heart of this transformation, driving relentless improvement and ensuring our software capabilities not only meet but anticipate emerging challenges - and turn them into strategic opportunities.

The Software Engineering CoTE organization is seeking a Sr. Staff Engineer Software to lead the Full Stack Software Discipline area. This key leadership role reports to the Aeronautics Systems (AS) Software Systems Capabilities Director in the Software Engineering CoTE organization.

Core Responsibilities Include

• Provide leadership and define strategic vision for technical priorities within Software discipline, aligned to long-term sector strategy.
• Regularly interface with EI&E discipline leads to identify program needs and close gaps in engineering tools, processes, digital solutions, and technical training.
• Lead the development, deployment, and sustainment of sector-wide engineering tools, standardized processes, digital solutions, and technical training-- ensuring they are relevant, scalable, and interoperable across programs.
• Build and sustain a strong Software Community of Practice (CoP), ensuring alignment of sub-CoPs, strategies, and priorities while fostering collaboration across programs and sub-disciplines.
• Act as a trusted advisor to help resolve technical performance shortfalls through root cause analysis, corrective action planning, long-term verification of improvement.
• Capture, share, and embed lessons learned and best practices across programs to continuously raise the bar for technical performance.

Core Technical Competencies

• Cloud & Distributed Computing: Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, OpenStack), containerization (Docker, OCI), Kubernetes, service‑mesh (Istio), CI/CD (Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps), IaC (Ansible).
• Geospatial Engineering: GIS data formats (DTED, GeoTIFF, OGC standards), CesiumJS, Web‑GL, map‑tiling services, spatial‑database (PostGIS), coordinate‑system transformations, terrain‑rendering pipelines.
• Engineering Foundations: Human-Machine interface, Human Factors Engineering, and CI-integrated security scanning.
• Software Construction: Java, Web Frameworks, UI/UX Standards.
• Human Factors Engineering (HFE): MIL‑STD‑1472, task‑analysis methodologies, workload‑assessment tools, usability testing frameworks (Selenium, Cypress), cognitive‑load metrics, UI‑design systems, accessibility (WCAG).
• Interoperability Standards: Universal Command Interface (UCI), STANAG4586, NATO/DoD message protocols, API design, and data‑format standards.
• Cross-Domain Governance: Ground systems often sit at the boundary between networks at different classification and compartment boundaries. This discipline lead drives the process for Cross-Domain Solutions (CDS), ensuring data flows securely between security enclaves without spillage.
• Cybersecurity Governance: RMF/NIST 800‑53: Common software and infrastructure reuse opportunities; automated security‑control assessment tools; continuous monitoring pipelines.
• Open Systems Architectures: Proficiency in OMS, Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI), and other GRA standards; ability to define and integrate interoperable service‑oriented components.

What You’ll Achieve

• Accelerate the process of delivering Full Stack software based subsystems, such as Ground Systems & C2 Software, Training Systems, Mission Planning, etc. by>15% through a unified, governed tool‑process‑training ecosystem that enables early validation on high‑fidelity digital twins.
• Raise software‑engineering productivity and safety metrics across NGAS programs – by measurable via KPIs such as defect density, test‑coverage %, mean‑time‑to‑detect, and tool‑uptime.
• Create a vibrant, cross‑program Community of Practice for your discipline area that spreads best practices and lessons learned across programs, fosters increased software reuse, and improves the disciplines overall capabilities.
• Champion the tools, processes, training, and metrics for all subsystems that are primarily using full stack software technologies, , ensuring they remain state‑of‑the‑art, secure, and fully aligned with DoD strategic objectives (JADC2, Anywhere C2, multi‑vehicle swarm).

Our Leaders at Northrop Grumman live our values daily and encourage our teams to do the same. We do the right thing: upholding the highest ethical standards and facilitating a safe and respectful environment that attracts, retains, and inspires a diverse and engaged team. We do what we promise: holding yourself and others accountable to meet predictable and balanced results. We commit to shared success: operating as OneNG and removing barriers for our teams. Finally, We pioneer: setting a vision that shapes the future and inspires others.

Basic Qualifications

• Must have a Bachelor’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) discipline and 14 or more years of experience in software engineering OR a Master’s degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) discipline and 12 or more years of experience in software engineering OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 9 years of software engineering experience
• Subject Matter Expert in one or more technology areas:
  • Front end client‑side languages/frameworks such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React or TypeScript
  • Back‑end server‑side programming languages such as Python, Java, Node.js
  • API design experience such as REST, GraphQL or gRPC
  • Database knowledge in either SQL, NoSQL or MongoDB
  • Networking basics, such as HTTP or websockets
  • Cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure and containerization
• Subject Matter Expert in one or more Core Technical Competency areas:
  • Geospatial Engineering
  • Human Factors Engineering (HFE)
  • Interoperability Standards
  • Cross‑Domain Governance
  • Cybersecurity Governance
  • Open Systems Architectures
• Must have an active U.S. government Secret clearance that is in-scope (gr