Systems Test Engineer - Level 3 or 4 (9048)

Northrop Grumman; Aurora (CO); On-site; USD 104,000 - 194,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Overtime eligibility

Discretionary bonus

Health insurance

Life and disability insurance

Savings plan

Holidays & PTO

Job summary

Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector in Aurora, CO is seeking mid- to senior-level Systems Test Engineers to join an Agile team delivering mission-critical software. You will define test objectives, design and execute manual and automated tests, and collaborate with developers, product owners, and systems engineers to ensure high-quality deliveries.

Level 4 engineers will provide technical leadership, mentorship, and drive test strategy improvements across the program, with opportunities to influence

Qualifications

• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI clearance at time of application.
• Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of relevant experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of relevant experience – OR – PhD with 4 years of relevant experience.
• Experience defining clear, measurable test objectives from test requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical documentation.
• Ability to design detailed test cases, test procedures, and verification steps from technical specifications.
• Proven experience executing functional, regression, and end-to-end testing for developer-delivered software changes.
• Demonstrated skill in isolating, reproducing, troubleshooting, and documenting defects with precision and actionable defect reports.
• Experience with automated testing tools and shell scripting languages such as Python, Bash, or similar.
• Experience testing REST APIs, service interfaces, and data-driven workflows using tools such as Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI, curl, or equivalent.
• Ability to read and interpret application, service, container, and system logs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively.

Responsibilities

• Participate as a core member of an Agile/Scrum team, supporting sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Analyze test requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical documentation to define clear, measurable test objectives.
• Design detailed test cases, test procedures, and verification steps based on technical specifications and interface definitions.
• Execute functional, regression, and end-to-end tests for developer-delivered software changes across web, service, and data layers.
• Isolate, reproduce, troubleshoot, and document defects with clear, actionable defect reports.
• Develop, maintain, and execute automated tests and scripts using tools and languages such as Python, Bash, or similar.
• Test REST APIs, service interfaces, and data-driven workflows using tools such as Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI, Curl, or equivalent.
• Review and interpret application, service, container, and system logs to support troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
• Collaborate closely with developers, product owners, scrum masters, and systems engineers to clarify requirements, improve testability, and drive quality throughout the lifecycle.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of test strategies, tooling, and processes; Level 4 engineers lead and champion these improvements across the program.

Skills

Agile/Scrum experience

Test automation

API testing

Shell scripting

Troubleshooting

Collaboration & communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree + 8 years experience OR Master’s +6 years OR PhD +4 years

Tools

Postman

Swagger/OpenAPI

curl

Jenkins

Docker

Kubernetes

JUnit

Selenium

Playwright

MongoDB

Elasticsearch

SQL

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: SCI

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 Systems Test Engineer to join our team in Aurora, CO.

Role Overview

We are seeking mid- to senior-level Systems Test Engineers (Level 3 and Level 4) to join an Agile development team delivering mission-critical capabilities. In this role, you will define test objectives, design and execute manual and automated tests, and work closely with developers, product owners, and systems engineers to ensure high-quality, reliable software deliveries. Level 4 engineers are also expected to provide technical leadership, mentorship, and contribute to test strategy and process improvements across the team.

Responsibilities

• Participate as a core member of an Agile/Scrum team, supporting sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Analyze test requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical documentation to define clear, measurable test objectives.
• Design detailed test cases, test procedures, and verification steps based on technical specifications and interface definitions.
• Execute functional, regression, and end-to-end tests for developer-delivered software changes across web, service, and data layers.
• Isolate, reproduce, troubleshoot, and document defects with clear, actionable defect reports.
• Develop, maintain, and execute automated tests and scripts using tools and languages such as Python, Bash, or similar.
• Test REST APIs, service interfaces, and data-driven workflows using tools such as Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI, Curl, or equivalent.
• Review and interpret application, service, container, and system logs to support troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
• Collaborate closely with developers, product owners, scrum masters, and systems engineers to clarify requirements, improve testability, and drive quality throughout the lifecycle.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of test strategies, tooling, and processes; Level 4 engineers lead and champion these improvements across the program.

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

This requisition may be filled as either a Level 3 or Level 4.

Basic Qualifications for a level 3

• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI clearance at time of application
• Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of relevant experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of relevant experience – OR – PhD with 4 years of relevant experience. An additional 4 years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Experience defining clear, measurable test objectives from test requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical documentation.
• Ability to design detailed test cases, test procedures, and verification steps from technical specifications.
• Proven experience executing functional, regression, and end-to-end testing for developer-delivered software changes.
• Demonstrated skill in isolating, reproducing, troubleshooting, and documenting defects with precision and actionable defect reports.
• Experience with automated testing tools and shell scripting languages such as Python, Bash, or similar.
• Experience testing REST APIs, service interfaces, and data-driven workflows using tools such as Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI, curl, or equivalent.
• Ability to read and interpret application, service, container, and system logs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively.

Basic Qualifications for a level 4

• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI clearance at time of application
• Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of relevant experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of relevant experience – OR – PhD with 4 years of relevant experience. An additional 4 years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Experience defining clear, measurable test objectives from test requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical documentation.
• Ability to design detailed test cases, test procedures, and verification steps from technical specifications.
• Proven experience executing functional, regression, and end-to-end testing for developer-delivered software changes.
• Demonstrated skill in isolating, reproducing, troubleshooting, and documenting defects with precision and actionable defect reports.
• Experience with automated testing tools and shell scripting languages such as Python, Bash, or similar.
• Experience testing REST APIs, service interfaces, and data-driven workflows using tools such as Postman, Swagger/OpenAPI, curl, or equivalent.
• Ability to read and interpret application, service, container, and system logs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working within an Agile/Scrum development environment.
• Experience working with requirements development, including refining, clarifying, and decomposing requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to implement process improvements, streamline verification activities, and develop efficiencies across the test lifecycle.
• Experience with automated test frameworks such as JUnit, Jest, Vitest, Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, or comparable tools.
• Experience supporting CI/CD-based test execution and pipeline troubleshooting using tools such as Jenkins or similar build and deployment systems.
• Experience validating backend services and modern web applications built with technologies such as Spring Boot and React.
• Experience performing data validation and query-based verification using MongoDB, Elasticsearch, SQL, or related data platforms.
• Experience testing authentication, authorization, and role‑based access controls, including OAuth2, OIDC, Keycloak, or similar identity solutions.
• Experience working in Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, or other containerized deployment environments.
• Ability to challenge requirements and solutions constructively to improve testability, supportability, and overall quality.

#COSpace

#SPEnhancedERAP

Primary Level Salary Range: $103,600.00 - $155,400.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $129,300.00 - $193,900.00

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.