RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No

CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 25% 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 is seeking an experienced, Principal or Sr. Principal Backend Software Engineer to support our Product Support Analytics and Innovation team.

This position is required full-time, in-office. Hybrid scheduling (time split between in-office and work-from-home) may become available depending on future project needs.

This position is located on-site at our facility in Rancho Bernardo, CA.

Accomplish

We are seeking a first-principles thinker and skilled software engineer to solve complex data challenges. This is not a role for operating pre-built tools; this is an opportunity to architect and build the core data backbone of our systems. You will be responsible for creating custom, high-performance ETL pipelines from the ground up, taming complex data sources that range from structured text to esoteric third-party binary formats. Your work will involve deep data modeling, abstracting reusable patterns, and writing modular, maintainable. Python code that stands the test of time.

You need a strong foundation in software engineering and have chosen to apply those skills to data. You believe that data pipelines are software and should be built with the same level of care, testing, and architectural foresight as any other production application.

Essential Functions:

• Architect and develop custom, maintainable ETL solutions from the ground up using Python, SQLAlchemy, and SQL Server.
• Develop and optimize data storage solutions, including relational and NoSQL databases.
• Write and maintain tests and documentation for data architecture, workflows, and processes.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists, analysts, and other software engineers to understand data requirements and deliver robust, integrated solutions.
• Champion software engineering best practices within the data domain, including comprehensive unit/integration testing, CI/CD automation (Git, Docker), and robust documentation.
• Tune and optimize complex SQL queries and data processing workflows within our on-premise infrastructure.

Succeed:

The individual we seek will be self-motivated, proactive, goal-oriented to help us grow our services, become even better at what we do and will possess the following qualifications.

This role may be filled at the Principal Engineer or Sr. Principal Engineer Level.

Basic Qualifications for a Principal Software Engineer:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, with 5 years of related engineering experience, OR Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, with 3 years of related engineering experience
• Recent professional experience in backend software development and/or data engineering.
• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.
• Proficiency in SQL for relational databases (MSSQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or similar).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and version control (e.g., Git, Docker, etc).
• Your ability to obtain and maintain a government Top Secret clearance and any program access(es) required for the position within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the company

Basic Qualifications for a Sr. Principal Software Engineer:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, with 8 years of related engineering experience, OR Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, with 6 years of related engineering experience OR a PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field with 4 years of related engineering experience.
• Recent professional experience in backend software development and/or data engineering.
• Strong programmin