Principal Engineer Software Mission Assurance (Space/Satellite Systems)

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.

Software Mission Assurance is a unique function within the Tactical Space Systems, working on spacecraft programs, highly interactive with multiple subsystems, and knowledgeable of the overall spacecraft software development life-cycle process related to software planning, design, implementation, verification, validation, acceptance and delivery. To be successful in this role, you should have a strong understanding of the Agile software life cycle, software and firmware industry process, product compliance audits and non-conformance system, and a detail oriented approach to identify and capture noncompliance and risks throughout the software’s development life cycle and maintenance. Excellent people and technical skills are required to coordinate with various subsystems, conduct compliance analysis and audits, implement corrective actions, and interact with management, customers and subcontractors.

Note: This is not a software tester position.

In this role you will:

- Participate in bid and proposal efforts to provide cost estimates

- Derive software assurance requirements from standards, contract requirements, statement of work, processes and program plans. Develop Software Mission Assurance Plan, and implement tasks per the plan
- Participate in agile life cycle, product line development supporting a wide variety of Class A to Class D customer
- Participate in sprint planning and backlog refinement ensuring team's acceptance criteria for stories and tasks is appropriate and being met as planned
- Ensure build and verification testing of new features being added every sprint, as well as full regression testing for all previously implemented functionality in every sprint is performed per plans
- Be a member of the Software Configuration Control Boards, review software changes and approved implementation using related software problem tracking tools (e.g. TRAC, Razor, Jira, etc.)
- Witness software verification testing, software patches and software qualification to ensure compliance to requirements and procedures
- Participate in product peer review and approved product for configuration control and release before products are made available for internal or external customers
- Assist in collecting status reports and metrics. Provide weekly and monthly status to the management
- Perform process and product audits ensuring compliance to established standards
- Identify process and product non-conformances, determine root cause and support implement corrective and preventive action
- Demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical topics to management and non-technical audiences

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science or a related field 
• Minimum of 5 years of related experience
• U.S. citizen
• Ability to obtain Tope Secret/SCI clearance
• Knowledge of Software Quality Assurance standards
• Knowledge of aerospace software development life cycles
• Strong computer skills including MS Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint
• Knowledge of software nonconforming product tracking systems

Preferred Qualifications:

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Excellent writing communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to adapt to new challenges and ideas
• Exceptional customer responsiveness
• Ability to follow established processes and procedures
• Be detail oriented and self-driven
• Ability to successfully work multiple concurrent tasks
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills
• Must be self-motivated and detail-oriented
• Capable of working on multiple levels of compliance requirements
• Work well under pressure and adapts well to unplanned tasks
• Ability and willingness to continuously learn and implement new processes
• Dedicated to teamwork and be able to work very well in a team environment

Salary Range: $104,000 USD - $150,000 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.