Sr. Principal Safety Engineer

About the role

• RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance available
• CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes
• 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.

Aeronautics Systems is seeking a Sr. Principal Systems Safety Engineer to support the BQM-34 Targets program in Rancho Bernardo, CA. The selected candidate will apply systems engineering and safety engineering principles to identify, assess, and mitigate hazards across the system lifecycle, and will be responsible for planning and executing safety analyses and validating safety requirements and assumptions against design and test evidence.

Responsibilities

• Perform system safety engineering activities across the lifecycle, including hazard identification, analysis, tracking, and mitigation.
• Develop and maintain system and subsystem safety requirements, and ensure they are properly allocated, implemented, and verified.
• Conduct safety analyses such as Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA), Functional Hazard Analysis (FHA), System Safety Assessments (SSA), FMEA/FMECA, and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), as applicable.
• Plan and execute safety validation activities, including defining safety acceptance criteria, identifying supporting test/analysis data, and confirming that system behavior satisfies safety requirements and assumptions.
• Collaborate with systems, software, hardware, integration/test, and reliability teams to ensure safety considerations are incorporated into design decisions and verification plans.
• Support preparation of safety-related documentation and artifacts (e.g., hazard logs, safety assessments, safety case/evidence packages) for internal reviews and customer deliverables.
• Present safety findings, risks, and recommendations to program and customer stakeholders and support resolution of safety-related issues.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related STEM discipline and 8+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience in systems engineering and/or systems safety engineering on complex systems.
• Experience performing or supporting safety or reliability analyses (e.g., hazard analysis, FMEA/FMECA, FTA, or similar).
• Active DoD Secret clearance, with the ability to obtain and maintain higher-level clearances if program needs evolve.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with system safety on aerospace, defense, or mission-critical systems (airborne ISR, mission systems, or similar domains).
• Familiarity with applicable safety standards or guidance (e.g., MIL-STD-882 or similar system safety standards).
• Strong analytical, documentation, and communication skills, with the ability to work across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Experience contributing to and presenting material at systems engineering technical reviews (SETR) for safety specific topics.
• Familiarity with systems engineering practices (requirements development, architecture, verification/validation) and how safety integrates into these activities.
• Experience with safety, reliability, or requirements management tools (e.g., DOORS/DOORS Next, safety/hazard tracking tools, or similar).
• Experience with earned-value management systems and management of a control account.
• Experience with RCC-319 and Range Safety
• 882E System Safety Engineering methodology
• 882E / JS-SSS-EH / IG Software Safety Engineering methodology/SwCI and LOR analysis
• ESOH policies
• HAZMAT / NAS 411-1
• An understanding of the US Navy System / Software Safety Engineering policies – NAVAIRINST 5100.3H
• An understanding of aircraft systems
• An understanding of drone aircraft operations
• An understanding of Navy NAVAIRINST 13034.1G airworthiness policy and possibly 516C airworthiness criteria

Pay and benefits

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.