Principal Engineer Systems / Sr. Principal Engineer Systems – Civil & Commercial Space – Cygnus

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.

Successful candidates for this position will be a Systems Engineer within the Tactical Space Division at Northrop Grumman Space Systems located in Sterling, VA.  This position offers the opportunity to work on exciting space flight programs designed to further Civil and Commercial Space (CCS) technology to support human exploration, communication, science and research as well as support space logistics.

The Systems Engineer is responsible for supporting key Systems Engineering (SE) deliverables as part of an Integrated Team at various program levels i.e. Mission-, Element-, and Segment-level.  The integrated team will incorporate the direction and results of a multi-disciplined engineering development of the space system architecture & elements.  The Systems Engineer is expected to support key program deliverables as well as support and incorporate new company and industry driven technologies. 

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Provide support to all or selected segments for the SE Integrated Team

• Support in development of space vehicle and/or ground segment design and analysis efforts

• Support development of solutions to complex analytical, design, and test problems

• Support contractual space segment technical reviews

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

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

• Expected to complete work while being reviewed for soundness of technical judgment, overall adequacy and accuracy. Works under general supervision. 

• Primarily interact with internal company contacts, but is expected to be able to interact infrequently with inter- organizational and outside customer contacts on routine matters.

Basic Qualifications:

• Must have U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain a Government clearance.

• Must have a Bachelor's Degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) discipline with 9 or more years of applicable experience in a technical field with a preference of production or hardware development in the Aerospace industry; OR a Masters Degree in STEM with 7 or more years of applicable experience.

• Proficiency in related engineering programs such as: Microsoft Office or equivalent document generation programs, Microsoft SharePoint or equivalent collaboration tool, Matlab or equivalent computational tool

Preferred Qualifications:

• Either self-experience or experience interfacing with team members in any of the following fields:

• Command and Data Handling design and development

• Electrical design at a card, component or system level

• FPGA / Processor design and development

• Software design and development

• Power distribution system design and development

• Both High and Low Voltage Bus Design

• Mechanical design and development

• Understanding of both launch loads as well as space docking loads

• Thermal control system design and development

• Thermal control techniques in both a vacuum and/or ambient condition

• Automotive and motor or mechanism design and development

• Radio communication design and development

• Proficient in the use of the requirement development and management tool DOORS

• Experience in development and maintenance of interface control documents

• Experience in avionics system testing and evaluation

• Knowledge in any of the following areas: Launch Vehicles, System Safety, System Reliability, Contamination Control, EMI, Space Environments (Radiation, Surface Charging, etc.), or Human Factors

Salary Range: $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.