Systems Engineer - Level 4 at Northrop Grumman
Boulder, CO
$142,200–$213,400from the description
Jul 23, 2026
Boulder, CO
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior systems engineering role supporting a defense software program, based on-site in Boulder, CO. Day-to-day work centers on managing requirements lifecycles, developing architectural models and data flows for software systems, leading design readiness assessments, and mentoring junior engineers. The role suits an experienced systems engineer with a background in requirements management tools, model-based systems engineering, and SysML, who holds an active Secret clearance.
Senior level · 8+ years · Boulder, CO · Bachelor's required · 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 $150,836 (middle half $111,458–$177,121). 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 Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is titled 'Systems Engineer (Level 4)' — Northrop Grumman's Level 4 maps to a senior individual contributor, consistent with the 8-year minimum experience requirement and mentorship/lead responsibilities.
SOC classification is a judgement call: this is a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) role focused on software architecture and requirements, which sits between 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other — the closest fit for systems engineers doing MBSE) and 15-1211 (Computer Systems Analysts). 15-1299 was chosen as the primary because the role's core work is systems modeling and architecture rather than business/IT analysis.
The experience floor is stated as 8 years with a Bachelor's, 6 years with a Master's, or 4 years with a PhD. The 8-year figure (lowest common denominator for the most common degree) is used as the overall years minimum.
IBM DOORS is listed under Basic Qualifications with a specific 4+ year requirement, making it a hard gate. All MBSE tooling (Cameo Systems Modeler/MagicDraw/IBM Rhapsody) and SysML experience appear under Preferred Qualifications.
An active Secret clearance (or higher) is explicitly required at time of application and to start — not merely the ability to obtain one.
Interface documentation skills (ICDs, IRS, IDD) and domain knowledge of NG-OPIR/space-ground defense systems are listed under Preferred Qualifications and are not emitted as separate skills as they name no specific tool or technology.
Requires a 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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