Fault Management & System Autonomy – Space Systems/Principal Systems Engineer

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.

This Systems Engineering position is an engineering support role on a Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) program in the Space Systems Division at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems located in Dulles, VA. The job responsibilities will be as an individual-contributor and deliverable/product lead within a multi-disciplinary engineering team. Successful candidate will 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 will be in the context of fault management and system autonomy. The candidate must be able to assist in the formulation of system design, definition of concept of operations, and systems analysis for failure mode and effects. The candidate will be responsible for identification of these modes and mitigation through autonomous or operational controls. Responsibilities will also include interaction with program, functional and customer leadership.

In this role, the Systems Engineer will perform general systems engineering duties related to fault management, 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. Position will also include responsibilities relating to integration, testing, and operational readiness of spacecraft and payloads. Candidate 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.

The engineer will develop original ideas, elaborate on preliminary design concepts, evaluate completed designs with their program/functional supervisors and other technical groups, and make the necessary design modifications to achieve the best design within the program constraints. The candidate may also develop and coordinate the conduct of test programs required to evaluate design work.

Responsibilities/Duties:

• 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 and hazard control verification closure

• Support mission operation tasks for Launch, Phasing, Rendezvous, Departure, Secondary Activities, and Disposal / Reentry

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

• Evaluate secondary payload options and perform feasibility studies for system integration of secondary payloads or secondary mission objectives

• Evaluate cargo loading and removal operations throughout the mission flow

• 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

Basic Qualifications:

• Systems Engineer 2 - Bachelor’s Degree in STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math or related area and 2+ years of experience, Master’s Degree and 0 years of experience;

  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

• Experience in Systems Engineering for mission critical applications

• Mission and/or vehicle systems engineering experience

• Software coding or scripting experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Failure analysis or fault management technical experience

• Experience with Systems Engineering process

• Experience defining requirements & interfaces

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

• Experience with human spaceflight vehicle development including integration & test

• 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

Salary Range: $81,700 USD - $122,500 USD

Salary Range 2: $101,200 USD - $151,800 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.