Staff Aeronautical Engineer

Northrop Grumman Corp. (JP); Palmdale (CA); On-site; USD 177,000 - 265,600; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance coverage

Life and disability insurance

Paid time off (PTO)

Job summary

Northrop Grumman Corp. (JP) seeks a Staff Aeronautics Engineer in Palmdale, CA. This role involves leading vehicle management system development and providing technical oversight. Candidates must have a STEM degree with extensive experience in aeronautics and hold a Top Secret SCI clearance. Responsibilities include managing integration and verification activities, mentoring teams, and ensuring compliance with requirements. A full-time onsite role at Northrop Grumman, offering a competitive salary range from $177,000 to $265,600.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in STEM and 12+ years of related engineering experience.
• Experience with vehicle management systems (VMS) development and design.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Top Secret SCI clearance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Responsible Engineer for VMS and Navigation subsystems.
• Guide software development and mentor engineers.
• Lead integration and verification activities for systems.

Skills

Technical communication

Algorithm development

Stakeholder management

Electrical signal processing

Education

Bachelor's Degree in a STEM discipline

Master’s degree in a STEM discipline

PhD in a STEM discipline

Tools

CATIA

Matlab

Microsoft Visio

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: SCI

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.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is looking to a Staff Aeronautics Engineer – Responsible RE to join our team either in Palmdale, CA . The candidate should be a self‑starter with familiarity working in an Integrated Product Team construct.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Serve as the Responsible Engineer for Vehicle Management System (VMS), Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC), and Navigation subsystems across design, integration, verification, and sustainment phases.
• Provide technical oversight and guidance to the multiple software development and test teams to include software architecture and design. Also provide technical solutions to the team’s software needs and mentor other engineers on proper embedded software development techniques.
• Produce and maintain engineering artifacts: architecture diagrams, interface control documents (ICDs), requirements specifications, design descriptions, verification reports, and certification evidence.
• Lead integration and verification activities: produce test plans, execute/oversee simulation, HIL, bench, and flight tests, analyze results, and close verification artifacts to demonstrate compliance with requirements.
• Develop and maintain high‑fidelity modeling and simulation environments algorithm development, Monte Carlo analysis, hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL), and software‑in‑the‑loop (SIL) verification.
• Coordinate across systems engineering, test, software, mechanical, and supplier teams; provide technical leadership, mentor engineers, and present technical status and risk to program leadership.
• Lead technical point of contact for their system and will be required to develop technical solutions to a wide range of complex problems that come up.
• Perform functional analysis, conduct detailed trade studies and interface definition studies in order to translate customer requirements into hardware and software specifications.

The selected candidate will be required to work full‑time, on‑site at our facility. There is no remote / hybrid / telework available for this position. Travel up to 25% may be required.

Basic Qualifications

• Staff Engineer: Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM discipline and 12 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 10 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 8 years of related engineering experience.
• Experience with development, design, sustainment of vehicle management systems (VMS)
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and verifying VMS functions (including algorithm development and closed‑loop control).
• Excellent technical communication and stakeholder skills, with experience producing requirements, ICDs, verification artifacts, and supporting test or certification activities.
• U.S Government Top Secret SCI 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.
• Experience as a supplier management team technical lead, or experience in program management or systems engineering.
• Extensive experience presenting technical content to upper management.
• Experience with test lab Instrumentation and execution.
• Experience with electrical signal processing – 1553 analyzers, RS‑232, RS‑485, 1394.
• Proficient in CATIA, Matlab, Microsoft Visio.
• Experience training junior engineers.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and verifying GNC and navigation.

Primary Level Salary Range: $177,000.00 - $265,600.00

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.

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.

Job Category: Engineering