Systems Engineer – Level 3 or Level 4 (AHT) at Northrop Grumman
Colorado Springs, CO
$103,600–$193,900from the description
Aug 11, 2026
Colorado Springs, CO
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Systems Engineer role at Northrop Grumman's Space Sector in Colorado Springs focused on radar algorithm development and integration for defense platforms. The position spans requirements analysis, mathematical algorithm design, software integration planning, and mission engineering across the full Systems Engineering lifecycle. It is open at two levels (L3 or L4), suiting candidates with 5–8+ years of STEM experience in signals processing and radar systems.
Senior level · 5+ years · Colorado Springs, CO · Bachelor's required · Top Secret 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
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $112,511 (middle half $80,144–$140,023). 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 covers two levels: Level 3 (5 years with a Bachelor's, 3 with a Master's, 1 with a PhD) and Level 4 (8 years with a Bachelor's, 6 with a Master's, 4 with a PhD). The salary ranges are also split: $103,600–$155,400 for Level 3 and $129,300–$193,900 for Level 4. The overall years minimum is set to 5, the minimum qualifying threshold across both levels.
The clearance requirement is Top Secret at time of application, with the additional ability to obtain SCI access — this is a hard gate but the posting does not state TS/SCI is already required, only that SCI approval must be obtainable. Classified as Top Secret accordingly.
SOC classification is Medium confidence. The role is primarily systems/algorithm engineering for radar — it sits between 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other / Systems Engineers) and 15-1252 (Software Developers), as the work involves both algorithm design and software integration planning. 15-1299 is used as the closer fit for a systems engineering role with algorithm development responsibilities.
Jira and Confluence are listed together under the Atlassian tool suite preferred qualification; Jira is used as the primary skill name with Confluence in alternatives.
Python, C/C++, and Java are listed as interchangeable preferred programming languages; Python is the primary with C++ and Java as alternatives.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Systems Engineering lifecycle.
Requires a Top Secret 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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