Software Engineer Level 2 (AHT) at Northrop Grumman
Aurora, CO
$91,800–$137,600from the description
Aug 11, 2026
Aurora, CO
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A mid-level software engineering role at Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Aurora, CO, focused on designing, implementing, and testing software for defense and space mission systems. The position sits within a 200+ person software department and involves working across the full software development lifecycle, likely on Command and Control or ground station systems. Candidates must hold an active TS/SCI clearance at time of application.
Mid level · 2+ years · Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO · TS/SCI clearance · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
What the occupation pays Median $140,636 (middle half $126,359–$175,118). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 12, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The posting titles this a 'Level 2 Software Engineer,' which Northrop Grumman uses to denote a mid-level IC role, consistent with the 2+ years of experience requirement.
A Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility is explicitly required at time of application — not merely the ability to obtain one.
The degree requirement is effectively None: the posting accepts 4 additional years of experience in lieu of any degree, making the Bachelor's non-mandatory.
Automated regression testing (unit, integration, system level) and service-oriented architectures appear under Preferred Qualifications but name no specific tool, so they were omitted from the skills list per the no-generic-concepts rule.
Docker and Kubernetes are listed together as containerization options; Jenkins and GitLab are listed together as automation pipeline options — each pair is emitted as separate skills with the other as an alternative, since both tools are named as interchangeable within their category.
The leadership-oriented preferred qualifications (motivating agile teams, prioritization, delegation) are soft skills and were not emitted.
Requires a TS/SCI clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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