Sr Principal / Principal Engineer Guidance Navigation Control – Advanced Programs – Future Concepts w/ Active Security Clearance

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.

Want to solve complex problems at the “napkin sketch” level by creating cutting-edge, complex systems that need to operate in the harshest of conditions?

Join Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Programs (Future Concepts) on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.

Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges.

We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible.

With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems is looking for a motivated GNC Engineer (Sr Principal Engineer Guidance Navigation Control, or (Principal Engineer Guidance Navigation Control) to support the Advanced Programs - Future Concepts Team in Northridge, CA.

The Future Concepts team is looking for motivated GNC engineers who want to solve interesting, complex, problems which protect our nation.

Our work influences the investment decisions of our senior leadership and customer program offices. The GN&C discipline itself is a mesh of many other fields (e.g., Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Software Engineering, etc.) and frequently collaborates across functional disciplines, offering a unique opportunity to obtain a broad understanding of many areas or to focus on developing a deep expertise more narrowly in any one of the relevant fields.

This drives the development of clean-sheet requirements, refine existing program system requirements, and influence the pursuit of future technologies and capabilities.

You will work with air vehicle and subsystem engineers, as well as with program and customer leadership, to recommend candidate designs, and to develop Concepts of Operation (CONOPs) and Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) at the system, mission, and campaign levels.

The selected candidate will be responsible for developing new and / or integrate existing system simulation frameworks, performance models and algorithms, threat models and command and control models.

Essential Functions:

• You will be driving the full cycle of mission trajectories, from taking requirements from customers, design reviews, simulation, and analysis of the mission, to running operations.

• Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for Air-to-Ground and Air-to-Air missile missions for all phases of flight.

• Develop flight constants and guidance parameters, verified via analysis to meet mission requirements subject to mission and vehicle constraints.

• Develop software automation tools for mission design, analysis, test, and reporting.

• Perform trade studies to improve weapon performance and reliability.

• Implement new software or algorithms to support mission unique capabilities.

• Support full mission lifecycle, starting with sales and concluding with mission execution.

• Interact with customers to execute current missions and develop future business.

Experience in at least one of the below:

• Design Guidance algorithm: Guidance Law, Trajectory Optimization, Flight Vehicle Autonomy

• Design Navigation algorithm: Initial Alignment, Strapdown Propagation, INS filter

• Flight Control algorithm: Trim Point Selection, LTI Trim and Maneuver Analysis, Non-linear Dynamic Analysis

• Tracking algorithm: Angle Only Tracking, Maneuvering Target Tracking, Multi-Target Tracking, Multi-Sensor Data Fusion, Track File Manager

• Architect high-fidelity multiple degree-of-freedom flight/orbital mechanics and vehicle dynamics simulation

• Modeling of navigation sensors in the Monte Carlo simulation

• Architect modeling of targeting sensors in the Monte Carlo simulation.  Evaluate simulation output versus actual targeting sensors' output.

• Architect flight vehicle system conceptual designs and modeling & simulation for trade studies, initial requirements definition, and contribute to proposal efforts.

• Architect propulsion systems including electric, rocket, air-breathing, and attitude control thruster.  Evaluate simulation output versus actual test data.

• Architect modeling of actuation systems as well as design of test equipment to demonstrate actuation system performance meet requirement.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proposal development, writing or execution

• Master’s Degree in a STEM discipline from an accredited university

• Familiarity with AGILE, MBSE, and / or system architecture frameworks

• Effective project management skills and good communication techniques

• Experience with version control tools (Bitbucket, GitHub, or Gitlab, etc.)

• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills

• Excellent communications skills, including the ability to present and brief technical data to all levels of leadership within the organization and U.S. Government

• Analysis of Survivability, Lethality, Vulnerability, Engagement at the mission level

• Experience integrating plug-ins to AFSIM

• Knowledge of RF Threat Modeling

• Knowledge of guided missile design

In this role:

• We are looking for engineers who enjoy solving complex problems, can work effectively in a fast-paced environment and are passionate about advancing the aerospace industry.

• Drive the development of clean-sheet requirements, refine existing program system requirements, and influence the pursuit of future technologies and capabilities

• Performs operational analysis and mission effectiveness analysis

• Participate in Agile project framework

• Perform mission engineering activities to ensure continuity between desired operational capabilities and delivered system performance

• Ensure performance capabilities of new systems and architectures are traded against cost and mission requirements; develop mission relevant scenarios.

• Assess operational effectiveness of existing and emerging systems and capabilities in representative operational environments

• Solicit input from various stakeholders, synthesize data, and communicate results to various levels of leadership within the organization

• Develops software to model behavior of systems in real-time and constructive simulations

• Develops, integrates, and uses advanced graphical user interfaces and visualization tools

Basic Qualifications:

• Must have an Active Security Clearance

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• Principal Engineer Guidance Navigation Control requires a minimum of 5 years with a Bachelor of Science degree in related field OR a Master’s degree with 3 years experience in related field.​

• Sr. Principal Engineer Guidance Navigation Control Engineer requires a minimum of 9 years with a Bachelor of Science degree in related field OR a Master's degree with 7 years experience in related field.

Salary Range: $104,600 USD - $157,000 USD

Salary Range 2: $129,700 USD - $194,500 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.