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Systems Engineer - Integrator (Principal or Senior Principal Level)

Northrop Grumman
Cedar Rapids, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 23 Jul 2026
💰 $171,000/yr($114,000/yr$171,000/yr)

About the role

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No

CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

Description

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 Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Systems Engineer - Integrator to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within our Systems Engineering organization. This role is located in Rancho Bernardo, CA.

In this role, you will fill the role of Global Hawk Integration System Engineer for the United States Air Force (USAF) Business Area. You will be responsible for leading a diverse engineering team to provide imaginative, technical solutions to a wide range of difficult problems across the USAF customers' Global Hawk portfolio. You will be working across the entire spectrum of the Systems Engineering V-Model, and will support SE disciplines including requirements development, use case development, capability (hardware and software) development, integration planning, lab integration, test planning, formal test, and verification.

Essential Functions for Both Levels:

  • Work closely with customers and end users to ensure system requirements, design, risks, and limitations are understood, communicated, and accepted
  • Execute systems engineering functions to maintain the technical baseline, and to ensure the baseline reflects a cohesive system solution
  • Support the development and validation of system level models used for concept development, design, verification, and validation
  • Leverage your experience supporting Fielded Aircraft Systems, UAV systems, and the full lifecycle of Systems Engineering, including design reviews, requirements decomposition, test planning, and requirements verification
  • Ability to plan, execute a schedule and lead a team towards those goals
  • Clearly define end user needs and desired capabilities
  • Provide support and deliverables for successful milestone reviews (e.g. SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, FCA)
  • Presentation skills to effectively provide status to internal executive management and customers

This role may be filled at either the Principal or Senior Principal level based on the qualifications below.

Basic Qualifications:

At a Principal Level:

  • Must have a Bachelors of Science degree in a STEM field and at least 5 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a Master's Degree in a STEM field and at least 3 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a PhD and at least 1 year of relevant military / professional / academic experience

 

At a Senior Principal Level:

  • Must have a Bachelors of Science degree in a STEM field and at least 8 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a Master's Degree in a STEM field and at least 6 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a PhD and at least 4 years of relevant military / professional experience

At Both Levels:

  • Must have the ability to obtain and maintain US Government Secret or higher clearance.
  • Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance within a reasonable amount of time as determined by business needs.
  • Must have previous experience managing Technical Baselines (Functional and Allocated Baselines)
  • Must have previous experience conducting end to end system integration, verification and validation
  • Must have experience with integration and interfaces ICDs/IDDs

Preferred Qualifications for Both Levels:

  • Experience with RQ-4 air vehicle, ground segment, sensor payloads, COMMS and support equipment
  • Experience with USAF customers
  • Active Secret/Top Secret Level Clearance
  • MS degree in STEM field

Primary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00

The above salary range rep

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Company

Northrop Grumman

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