Product Line Engineering (PLE) Coach

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.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is seeking a Product Line Engineering (PLE) Coach to join the PLE Center of Excellence (CoE) team within the Digital Engineering and Competitive Design (DECD) organization. Product Line Engineering is a way to engineer a family of related products in an efficient manner, taking full advantage of the products’ similarities while respecting and managing their differences. The mission of the PLE CoE team is to foster the adoption of product lines across the Mission Systems organization through coaching, training, guidance, best practices, tools, and metrics for measuring success.

This highly visible role The PLE Coach will support teams that are already taking on product line thinking and help them implement successful product lines. Responsibilities include:

• Use existing knowledge of software architecture and Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) tools to help define and shape the PLE adoption strategy for teams across the NGMS sector
• Provide mentoring, training, and coaching on PLE principles, practices, and the adoption process and identify where deviations may need to occur to meet specific needs 
• Create new training materials including tools, templates, techniques, and processes
• Interface with senior technical and business leaders across Missions Systems to provide guidance on their role in the PLE adoption process and ensure successful transition to PLE for their teams
• Help teams create and modify their product lines using MBSE tools like Cameo and IBM Rhapsody Architect
• Schedule and conduct PLE focused education and awareness sessions, surveys, technology demonstrations, and other training events
• Facilitate technical and business workshops focused on product lines
• Represent NG at internal and external conferences related to PLE
• Ensure our product line engineering strategy is aligned with NG digital transformation strategy

The selected candidate must have exceptional verbal and written communication skills. Being a charismatic teacher with a passion for coaching and mentoring is key to leading teams to successful outcomes.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's + 9 years of exp; Master's + 7 years of exp; PhD +4 years of exp
• Must be comfortable working in an Agile team
• Systems and Software Engineering skills:
  • Requirements management methods and tools, such as DOORS
  • Systems and software architecture development and Model-based Engineering (MBE) and MBSE methods and tools, such as IBM Rhapsody, Cameo, etc.
  • Software development tools, methods, and best practices
  • Configuration and temporal management methods and tools, such as IBM ClearCase, Git, etc.
• Exposure to some of the following:
  • Traceability across the systems and software engineering lifecycle
  • Engineering processes and governance
  • Change management methods and tools
  • Family of Systems or Family of Products
  • Model-Based Engineering, Model-Based systems Engineering or Model-Based Architecture
  • Experience as a software architect
  • Strategic reuse or variant management
• Coaching skills and behaviors:
  • Facilitator: Plan, guide, and manage group events to meet specific objectives
  • Trainer: Focus on skills development through instruction
  • Coach: Develop and set shared goals; listen, ask deep questions, empower, enable to act, reinforce behavior, and improve insight
  • Change Agent: Focus on embedding change; develop formal vision, roadmaps, and incremental change plans

Preferred Qualifications:

• Product line engineering experience internal or external to Northrop Grumman
• Experience with Sensor System Development including RF  
• Systems, and/or software or hardware architecture derivation and development experience
• Project management experience
• Experience with Big Lever Gears tool for product line configuration
• Active in the PLE Community of Practice (CoP) or presented PLE content at relevant industry conferences or NG Symposiums
• Experience in one or more of the following areas:
  • Coach for Agile, MBx, or other initiatives related to Digital Transformation
  • Participate in NG Coaching Guidance training that includes engineering practices and facilitation skills
  • Leading organizational change, in partnership with executive management and technical leadership
• Professional certifications
  • Scrum Master
  • Agile Practitioner
  • CompTIA Project+
  • Earned Value Management
  • Project Management Professional (PMP)
  • Program Management Professional (PGMP)
  • Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP)

This position reports to Unknown City, MD, USA, however, this position can also be worked from Unknown, VA, VA, USA.

Salary Range: $117,900 USD - $176,900 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.