Principal Embedded Software Engineer-17488
Northrop Grumman · Roy, UT
$98,400–$147,600from the description
Jul 11, 2026
Roy, UT
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role involves designing and developing embedded software for flight systems, specifically within a Guidance, Navigation & Control team supporting a defense program based in Roy, Utah. The work centers on building reliable, real-time software applications in collaboration with cross-functional teams across the full development lifecycle. It suits an experienced software engineer with a background in C/C++ or similar languages, object-oriented design, and Agile practices, who holds an active DoD Secret clearance.
Senior level · 5+ years · Ogden-Clearfield, UT · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
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
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $112,296 (middle half $88,576–$146,860). 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 (9)
The title is 'Principal Embedded Software Engineer' (T3 level per Northrop Grumman's internal ladder), but the minimum qualifications — 5 years with a Bachelor's, 3 with a Master's, or 1 with a PhD — and the scope of the role (embedded flight software on a single program) are consistent with a Senior individual contributor, not a true org-wide Principal. Seniority is assessed as Senior accordingly.
The clearance gate is an active Secret at time of application, plus the ability to obtain Special Access Program (SAP) approval — a meaningful additional hurdle beyond a standard Secret.
C/C++/C#, Python, Java are listed as interchangeable options for the 2+ year programming requirement; C++ is used as the primary name with the others captured as alternatives.
The Cameo requirement is specifically for Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE); familiarity with MBSE tooling is the underlying gate.
Static/dynamic scanning tools (SonarQube, Fortify, Coverity, PCLint) appear under Preferred Qualifications and are listed as examples ('i.e.'), so they are marked preferred with the named tools captured as alternatives.
UNIX and Windows scripting/programming experience (Perl, Bash, Ruby, Shell) appear under Preferred Qualifications; the underlying capability is captured via the CI/CD and Git preferred skills rather than duplicating every scripting language.
Real-time embedded software experience for weapon systems is listed as preferred, not required; no specific tool or technology name was extractable, so it is omitted from the skills list per extraction rules.
Degree requirement is set to Bachelor's because the JD requires a STEM Bachelor's as the baseline path; equivalent experience is NOT offered as a substitute.
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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