Principal/Sr. Principal Systems Engineer – Fault Management & System Autonomy – TOP SECRET

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.

In this role, the Systems Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and testing the autonomy on-board spacecraft that keeps them both safe on-orbit and facilitates mission-critical functions. They will have the opportunity to work on missions from conception through launch, and will get to work with platforms that range from basic simulators to the actual spacecraft in Northrop Grumman's I&T facility located in Dulles, VA. 

Successful candidates will perform general systems engineering duties related to Fault Management and System Autonomy, which may include requirements flow down, tracking, verification, and the writing of specifications, interface control documents, and engineering reports from advanced studies, special engineering investigations, and similar activities. Tasks may also include assisting with Command & Telemetry database development and validation of its content. The candidate must be knowledgeable in aerospace systems, spacecraft subsystems design, or mission operations.

Responsibilities/Duties:

• Perform traditional Systems Engineering functions, including requirements synthesis and flow-down, verification/validation planning, system trades study support, systems analysis, coordination of design efforts, and management of technical budgets & interface definitions. The application of these systems engineering functions will be in the context of fault management and system autonomy (FMSA).

• Must be able to assist in the formulation of system design, definition of concept of operations, and systems analysis for failure modes and effects.

• Leading a multidisciplinary technical team across multiple unique spacecraft programs.

• Coordinating technical development with technical and business leadership across multiple unique spacecraft programs.

• Evaluate design documentation and verification for compliance with customer and internally derived requirements

• Evaluate design documentation to ensure manufacturability and application of previous lessons learned

• Evaluate design documentation to provide evidence for requirement verification

• Support mission operation tasks for Launch, Operations, and Disposal

• Evaluate System Level test results and generate reports & review packages

• Evaluate payload interfaces and perform feasibility studies for integration of payloads to existing systems

• Provide support to selected elements of the program Systems Engineering Team

• Support and deliver SE Products and other deliverables, with a focus on mission success

• Develop/implement and communicate solutions to routine Engineering problems

• Contribute to the technical tasks supporting the program

• Provide systems engineering support for technical reviews

• Write status and technical performance reviews, analyses and reports

• Responsibilities relating to integration, testing, and operational readiness of spacecraft and payloads.

• May be called on to assist in new business activities, such as conceptual design and analysis for proposals and funded studies, and may include authoring sections for both.

Basic Qualifications:

• Systems Engineer 3 - Bachelor’s Degree in STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math or related area and 5+ years of experience, Master’s Degree and 3+ years of experience; or a PhD.

• Systems Engineer 4 - Bachelor’s Degree in STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math or related area and 9+ years of experience, Master’s Degree and 7+ years of experience; or a PhD and 4+ years of experience. 

• Experience in Systems Engineering for mission critical applications

• Mission and/or vehicle systems engineering experience

• Software coding or scripting experience

• Must have U.S. Citizenship with a current or active Top Secret level clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Failure analysis or fault management technical experience

• Experience leading a technical team

• Experience with Systems Engineering process

• Experience defining requirements & interfaces

• Understanding of spacecraft integration & test, launch, and mission operations

• Experience developing verification documentation

• Experience with architecture development

• Familiarity with electrical & computer systems

• Familiarity with command and telemetry database

• Strong Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) & Matlab scripting skills

• Spacecraft operations and related ground systems experience

• Additional experience in any of the following areas is also desired: orbital mechanics, power systems modeling, avionics or digital electronics design, telecommunications design, risk analysis, thermal design and analysis, or integration and testing (either at the spacecraft or payload level).

Salary Range: $101,400 USD - $152,200 USD

Salary Range 2: $125,800 USD - $188,600 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.