Staff Cyber Systems Engineer

Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible. With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.

At the heart of Defining Possible is our commitment to missions. In rapidly changing global security environments, Northrop Grumman brings informed insights and software-secure technology to enable strategic planning. We’re looking for innovators who can help us keep building on our wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies that fuel those missions. By joining in our shared mission, we’ll support yours of expanding your personal network and developing skills, whether you are new to the field, or an industry thought leader. At Northrop Grumman, you’ll have the resources, support, and team to do some of the best work of your career.

We are looking for you to join our team as a Staff Cyber Systems Engineer / Firmware Test Engineer based out of Chantilly, VA.

This is a challenging hands-on technical opportunity to join a high performing team in a dynamic, fast paced environment with evolving requirements. Northrop Grumman is seeking a Test Engineer who has experience with both software and firmware. The ideal candidate is familiar with RF, firmware and satellite communications and has a background of working closely with other members of a technical development team. The engineer should be familiar with software development life cycle processes and with various software testing methods to include system, integration, regression testing, and requirements management. The Test Engineer will support test activities for new, mission-critical hardware and software products developed by internal and external development teams.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Validate custom hardware products and software tools with various wireless communications (e.g., RF, Bluetooth, satellite)
• Conduct firmware segment-level testing and verification of hardware/software communication interfaces
• Work as a member of an agile software development test team learning new tools and processes and define product functionality
• Validate software requirements through functional, usability, performance, security, compatibility, ad-hoc and regression tests.
• Develop, maintain and execute test plans and procedures for software systems
• Participate in cross-functional team meetings, decision-making and technical discussions
• Review user stories, backlog items, analyze testability of requirements and provide feedback
• Apply analytical and problem-solving skills to clarify user stories and determine appropriate testing scenarios to validate the iterative development of products against functional and technical specifications
• Identify and track software defects during sprint cycles
• Timely identification of issues and effectively communicate adequate priority level and impact to software developers, project manager, and appropriate parties to facilitate issue resolutions
• Demonstrate systems to key stakeholders to ensure solutions meet customer requirements, operate properly and are ready for deployment.
• Conduct test case reviews and ensure all test activities are properly executed and documented according to our client's standards
• Configure hardware and software test equipment
• Represent the customer as a Subject Matter Expert by providing support at vendor sites to help validate externally developed products and provide immediate feedback on items need that need clarification, system expertise, or changes, as well as ensure the logical and systematic conversion of customer or product requirements into total systems solutions.
• Perform a range of tasks to include troubleshooting, analysis and interpretation of systems and software
• Support the entire lifecycle of systems development life cycle (SDLC) by gathering and maintaining requirements, schedule, planning, validation, system performance and delivery of systems.
• Collaborate and coordinate with technical personnel for strategizing the most efficient path forward to achieve acceptable test coverage of systems developed in onsite, offsite, and external CONUS facilities.

Basic Qualifications:

• Candidate MUST have active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph to be considered
• Bachelor’s Degree and a minimum of 12 years of related experience, a master’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience, a PhD with a minimum of 7 years of experience, or 16 years of experience in lieu of a degree.
• Experience with various aspects of software and/or hardware testing
• Demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize and self-manage multiple project tasks
• Proficiency with computer hardware, software, and wireless systems, and the ability to validate proper implementation and functionality between various systems and interfaces.
• Experience translating requirements and user stories into functional test plans
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in order to write well-articulated test plans and facilitate product demonstrations
• Ability to articulate and document defects in a timely manner, and collaborate with the development team and management to prioritize bugs until resolution
• Ability to use strong analytical skills to identify, characterize and isolate issues, and troubleshoot to present options for correcting those issues.
• Experience performing technical planning, system integration, verification and validation, and effective analyses for total systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Development Test experience working with integrated product teams
• Experience with FPGA/firmware testing
• Familiarity with RF and satellite communications
• Familiarity with Agile Scrum methodologies
• Experience with agile management software, such as Microsoft Azure DevOps
• Experience with test automation to include design, development and debugging of tests
• Self-starter with the ability to pick up and learn new products with little supervision, as well as adapt to a variety of situations and tasks
• Ability to provide testing best practices to other team members
• Experience with providing test estimation to management and project teams
• Experience serving as a point of contact for the customer to communicate the product status, issues, schedule, risks and readiness throughout the development cycle.

Northrop Grumman provides a comprehensive benefits package and a work environment which encourages your growth and supports the mutual success of our people and our company. Northrop Grumman benefits give you the flexibility and control to choose the benefits that make the most sense for you and your family. Your benefits will include the following: Health Plan, Savings Plan, Paid Time Off and Additional Benefits including Education Assistance, Training and Development, 9/80 Work Schedule (where available), and much more!

Northrop Grumman has approximately 90,000 employees in all 50 states and in more than 27 countries. We strive to attract and retain the best employees by providing an inclusive work environment wherein employees are receptive to diverse ideas, perspectives, and talents to help solve our toughest customer challenges: to develop and maintain some of the most technically sophisticated products, programs, and services in the world.

Our Values. The women and men of Northrop Grumman Corporation are guided by Our Values. They describe our company as we want it to be. We want our decisions and actions to demonstrate these Values. We believe that putting Our Values into practice creates long-term benefits for shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, and the communities we serve.

Our Responsibility. At Northrop Grumman, we are committed to maintaining the highest of ethical standards, embracing diversity and inclusion, protecting the environment, and striving to be an ideal corporate citizen in the community and in the world.

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 all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.