Staff Engineer Mission Assurance

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.

Strategic Space Systems Division (SSSD) is an industry-leading provider for prime satellite and payload capabilities and directed energy and electronics solutions for national security, military, and civil customers. We are built on a heritage of providing innovative, affordable and reliable aerospace and defense products that our customers rely on to achieve mission success. Join the Space revolution and make the impossible, possible.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems is seeking a talented Staff Engineer Mission Assurance to join the Mission Assurance (MA) team within Strategic Space Systems Division in Redondo Beach, CA.

The successful candidate will be a member of the Mission Assurance Program Leadership team and will act as a program MA lead for a smaller space program or in a lead support role to the MA Manager within a larger space program.  As the program MA representative, you will have to wear multiple hats across the entire program lifecycle and interface with all levels of program and customer leadership. Helps define, flow down and monitor the MA program specifications, requirements, and processes to ensure mission success of the program. Performs or assures quality, risk management, safety, reliability and maintainability of program achievements, subcontractors, and suppliers in accordance with contractual requirements. Assesses program performance and risks, and determines resources to ensure MA. Is responsible for MA task delegation, coordinating staffing and establishing budgets and spend plans.

Ensures Mission and Quality Assurance support throughout the development, review, delivery, and maintenance cycles for program SDRL deliverables, internal plans, Gate Reviews, and risk-based process audits. Works with the extended MA team and program management teams to define, gather, evaluate, and effectively present process and quality metrics, as applicable, to assist with program efficiency, effectiveness, and continuous improvement in support of current and future Rapid Development Programs.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the implementation of Mission Assurance Principles across the program-life cycle to ensure compliance with Contractual, Regulatory and NG SSSD requirements.

• Provide the Program Managers with an objective identification and assessment of program risks and opportunities and an evaluation of the efficacy of the risk management approach throughout the program lifecycle.

• Communicate risk and opportunities to the Program Managers based upon credible knowledge supported by quantitative and predictive analysis when possible.

• Establish an integrated and executable mission assurance plan for the program along with supporting plans that align with contractual requirements and stakeholder goals prior to contract start; maintains the planning throughout program life cycle to ensure proper alignment with requirements and goals.

• Ensure correct and effective quality metrics are utilized on programs.

• Advocates and implements continuous improvement opportunities, providing leadership and guidance in identifying and executing tasks to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of NG SSSD processes.

• Investigates quality problems, issues, and failures through root cause investigation and corrective action implementation.

• Must be able to verify Mission Assurance requirements, determine Mission & Quality Assurance resource needs 

• Interaction with both internal and external customers as well as all levels of employees including: NG SSSD Program Mission Assurance Managers, Integrated Project Team leads, and representatives from Reliability, PM&P, Configuration Management, System Safety, and Software Quality.

• The selected candidate should thrive in a fast-paced work environment with high expectations, significantly diverse assignments, collaborative/team settings across all levels.

• Leads and supports all mission assurance and quality engineering functions in support of meeting all contractual, functional and program requirements in support of multiple, diverse customer deliverables primarily in our space business area.

As a full-time employee of Northrop Grumman Space Systems, you are eligible for our robust benefits package including:

• Medical, Dental & Vision coverage

• 401k

• Educational Assistance

• Life Insurance

• Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Life Solutions

• Paid Time Off

• Health & Wellness Resources

• Employee Discounts

 
This position’s standard work schedule is a 9/80. The 9/80 schedule allows employees who work a nine-hour day Monday through Thursday to take every other Friday off.

Basic Qualifications:

• 14+ Years with Bachelor’s in a STEM/Technical discipline; or 12+ Years with Masters; or 9+ Years with PhD.

• Experience with one or more of the following: Manufacturing Quality, Parts Materials & Processes, Reliability, or Program Mission Assurance.

• Candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret Clearance or SCI Access. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in Engineering

• Previous Rapid Development Program experience

• Previous proposal and early stage program execution experience

• Demonstrated written and verbal interpersonal, communication skills and confidence to brief senior management with solid foundation in Mission Assurance applications.

• Record of increasing responsibility and leadership supporting manufacturing, electrical, mechanical, and Integration & Test engineering organizations

• Experience or understanding across multiple functions of Mission Assurance to include: supplier assurance, subcontracts, mechanical and electrical manufacturing, integration & test, and software assurance.

• Certification in lean and six sigma Quality Engineering Methodologies

• Prior experience in satellite design, development, integration, testing, operations, and/or ground support is desired.

• An active SSBI/SCI Clearance

Salary Range: $161,000 USD - $241,400 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.