Lead Systems Engineer

About the role

• RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available
• CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No
• CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret
• TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

About the role

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 Defensive Systems has a need for a Staff Systems Engineer to lead a program on our Integrated Mission Solutions (IMS) team. In this role, you will be responsible for providing technical leadership on one or more of our sustainment and modernization programs.

This opportunity provides a chance to have direct impact on the product and mission, moving quickly through design decisions, integration, testing, production and fielding. Our ideal candidate will possess technical expertise, collaborative people skills, and the proven ability to drive a technically diverse and fast-paced team. This position is in Warner Robins, GA and requires that you work on-site daily.

Roles and responsibilities will include

• Maintain technical ownership of a product/system, driving development and sustainment from concept to delivery.
• Lead an engineering team through full product lifecycle, including requirements analysis, design, prototyping, fabrication, verification testing and sell off.
• Break down tasking, coordinate the workload and assignments of a team, and drive execution of engineering tasks.
• Maintain a backlog of tasks and set team priorities in a manner consistent with the program development schedule.
• Act as the primary point of contact for team-related issues and provide regular progress updates, risks and blockers to senior management.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers in technical domains, engineering design principles and project execution best practices.
• Perform hands-on integration and testing of complex systems, including both hardware and software components in development and production environments.
• Generate and update system and sub-system level specifications, ensure verification traceability, develop test plans, perform analysis of test results and prepare comprehensive reports.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Biomedical Engineering from an ABET accredited school with 12 years of relevant experience; Master’s with 10 Years; PhD with 8 Years.
• Experience in a leadership position, leading a project and/or team through the full program lifecycle, to include requirements analysis, design, trade studies, prototyping, fabrication, verification testing and sell off.
• History of effectively communicating complex technical concepts to project, program, and company management, other technical managers, and customers.
• Experience designing, integrating, troubleshooting and testing complex systems that include hardware and software.
• Experience with legacy system sustainment and modernization, including hardware redesign due to obsolescence.
• Experience with deriving system requirements and developing test plans and procedures.
• Experience with lab test equipment such as function generator, oscilloscope, multi-meter, spectrum analyzers, etc.
• Experience with Department of Defense programs.
• Must currently hold or be able to maintain a U.S Department of Defense (DoD) Secret level security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing or working with program management on scope, schedule and budget.
• Experience with schematic development and circuit card design.
• Experience with MATLAB or equivalent programming/analysis languages.
• Experience working hands-on with EW, radar, laser or optical systems.
• Experience in performing aircraft functional test.
• #IMS-SYSE926
• #LI-MJ5
• #VECTR2026

Primary Level Salary Range

$152,900.00 - $229,300.00

The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.

Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and 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 application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.