Staff RF Systems Engineering Integration & Test Lead

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 Mission Systems is a trusted provider of mission-enabling solutions for global security.  Our Engineering and Sciences (E&S) organization pushes the boundaries of innovation, redefines engineering capabilities, and drives advances in various sciences. Our team is chartered with providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter.  Come be a part of our mission!

We are looking for you to join our team as a Systems Engineering Integration and Test (SEIT) Lead Engineer in the Mission Systems, Radio Frequency (RF) Department based out of Rolling Meadows, IL. As a SEIT Lead at Northrop Grumman, you will have a challenging and rewarding opportunity to be a part of our Enterprise-wide digital transformation. The opportunities range from our Emerging Capabilities Development group where we work on new technologies enhancing our product portfolio to working on initial production programs turning concepts and capabilities into producible systems.   

What You’ll get to Do:

Be part of the RF SEIT Lead team. As an RF SEIT Lead, you will part of a highly skilled cross functional engineering team working on complex RFEW systems that provide war fighter protection as well as situational awareness. Our team supports programs within the Electronic Warfare Systems (EWS) Division and Emerging Capabilities Division (ECD). On RF programs, the SEIT lead is the overall lead for the technical effort working with the customer, the program office, the system architects, chief engineers as well as all engineering and manufacturing functions to ensure that a high-quality system is produced and delivered. The SEIT lead is responsible for the overall technical leadership of the program which includes technical, cost, and schedule execution.  

In addition, you will also:

• Perform as the technical spokesperson for the system to our customer as well as senior company leadership.

• Perform technical planning, system integration, verification and validation, cost and risk analysis, and supportability and effectiveness analyses for total systems. Analyses are performed at all levels of total system product to include: concept, design, fabrication, test, installation, operation, maintenance and disposal.

• Remove roadblocks for the engineering team and ensure the team is moving towards the defined program goals.

• Ensure the logical and systematic conversion of customer or product requirements into total systems solutions that acknowledge technical, schedule, and cost constraints.

• Lead functional analysis, timeline analysis, detail trade studies, requirements allocation and interface definition studies to translate customer requirements into hardware and software specifications.

• Apply leadership and expertise in RF system design and analysis, digital signal processing, and/or system modeling and simulation to turn customer wants and needs into rapid proof of concept solutions.

• Define design and technology maturity constraints of the system in accordance with customer specifications.

• Develop thorough definition of system external interfaces.

• Define system implementation approach and operational concept.

Basic Qualifications:

• BS degree in Electrical, System Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or related technical degree with at least 14 years of related experience required, or 12 years with Master’s, and 9 years with a PhD.

• Must have leadership experience working with customers to define system level requirements and experience leading an integrated product team or other technical teams.

• Strong technical background in leading the development of RF systems.

• Experience performing optimum system function allocation to hardware and software requirements.

• Demonstrated experience in developing test plans that prove the system satisfies requirements through verification and validation testing.

• U.S. citizen and must be able to obtain Interim Secret security clearance prior to start. Once started, must have the ability to obtain and maintain Secret Security Clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in architecting Electronic Warfare RF systems with real-time digital signal processing and threat scenario analysis.

• Experience in  RF propagation modeling, computational electromagnetics, wave theory, antenna design, and/or RF chain analysis.

• Experience developing digital signal processing algorithms used to build state-of-the-art high sensitivity wideband digital receivers.

• Experience utilizing digital signal processing algorithms in FPGAs and ASICs

• Prior experience designing hardware, firmware, and/or programming software to best allocate functions for each product.

• Ability to monitor hardware and software design teams with critical insight to know when the teams are not on path to successful implementation and then be able help steer the team to a successful solution.

• Experience working on Department of Defense contracts.

• Active Secret or Top-Secret security clearance

Salary Range: $153,600 USD - $230,400 USD

Employees may be eligible for 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 health and safety of our employees and their families is a top priority. The company encourages employees to remain up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations. U.S. Northrop Grumman employees may be required, in the future, to be vaccinated or have an approved disability/medical or religious accommodation, pursuant to future court decisions and/or government action on the currently stayed federal contractor vaccine mandate under Executive Order 14042 https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/contractors/.

Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action 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/AA and Pay Transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for most positions.