Sr Principal Systems Engineer

The Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is seeking a Sr. Principal Systems Engineer to join our Systems Engineering organization in Oklahoma City, OK, or Rancho Bernardo, CA. This individual‑level position will manage and lead a multidisciplinary team of engineers to deliver requirements and deliverables on schedule and within cost. Relocation assistance may be available.

Clearance & Travel

Clearance required for start: Yes (Secret). Travel: Yes, 10% of the time.

Job Responsibilities

• Perform requirements development, allocation, verification/validation planning and manage interface definition efforts.
• Write complex specifications, interface control documents, and engineering reports.
• Support interface/communication with program, functional and subsystem leads.
• Maintain Systems Engineering artifacts following proper configuration management procedures.
• Coordinate with key stakeholders to ensure proper verification and validation of Systems Engineering artifacts.
• Possess strong interpersonal and leadership skills with excellent communications skills to support coordination across IPTs and with external customers.
• Synthesize data from stakeholders and communicate findings and recommendations clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Manage Control Accounts as the Control Account Manager (CAM) for scope assigned, delivering all team deliverables on time and within cost, while meeting contractual, programmatic and technical requirements and stakeholder expectations, and measure and report Earned Value (EV) performance.
• Ensure technical quality, performance, cost and schedule for product team content on the program, in alignment with Engineering and Division processes, program policies, and industry best standards.
• Adhere to the IPT Statement of Work (SOW) and perform rigorous change management in coordination with program leadership.
• Identify resources, including staffing, required to complete product team deliverables, and communicate the need in a timely manner to enable early onboarding of resources.
• Coordinate with Functional Management to staff the IPT.
• Coordinate technical, cost, and schedule integration across NG programs and other inter‑program groups.
• Conduct thorough risk & opportunity management practices including identification, mitigation and realization.
• Identify and proactively address organizational and program impacts through a systematic, proactive approach to issue and problem resolution that identifies, communicates, monitors, and promptly resolves conflicts across all levels of the organization.
• Manage communications with stakeholders through organized processes to ensure that department and program information is defined, collected, shared, understood, stored and retrieved in a manner that effectively meets stakeholder needs.
• Identify, orchestrate, coordinate and control the management activities and processes that integrate program interdependencies throughout their life cycle to achieve successful program completion.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) discipline with 8 years of related experience.
• Master of Science degree in a STEM discipline with 6 years of related experience.
• PhD in a STEM discipline with 4 years of related experience.
• Ability to maintain a final adjudicated Secret clearance within a reasonable period of time.
• Experience in requirements and verification management in DOORS.
• Experience with requirement decomposition and traceability from system to unit/supplier specifications.
• Experience managing suppliers with technical requirements and verification expectations.
• Experience with software development.
• Experience with hardware/software integration testing.
• Experience with Agile execution and leading Scrum teams.
• Experience with Python or other scripting language.
• Experience managing EVMS Control Accounts as a Control Account Manager (CAM).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in Weapons Certification.
• Experience with Cameo and traceability between architecture elements and requirements.
• Experience with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment software development for Aircraft Sustainment efforts.
• Experience with the full lifecycle of aircraft development, build, and operations.
• Risk & Opportunity Management and change control experience.
• Experience leading cross‑functional technical teams.

Salary & Benefits

Primary Level Salary Range: $116,300.00 – $213,400.00. The above range is a general guideline; final compensation will be based on scope, responsibilities, experience, education and market conditions. Employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, discretionary bonus, and Long‑Term Incentives depending on position. Benefits include health, life and disability insurance, savings plan, paid holidays, and paid time off for vacation or personal business. The work schedule is 9/80 with every other Friday off.

EEO Statement

Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity 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 and pay transparency statement, please visit