Staff Engineer Systems Software-18265 at Northrop Grumman
Huntsville, AL
$169,000–$253,600from the description
Aug 14, 2026
Huntsville, AL
Sep 25, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Staff Software Lead role at Northrop Grumman supporting the SLCM-N Tactical Supplier Management Team in Huntsville, AL, focused on hands-on C/C++ development for safety-critical, embedded command and launch systems. The position spans HWIL lab integration, GPS simulation environments, MATLAB/Simulink-based algorithm validation, and technical leadership across Agile teams and supplier counterparts. Candidates must hold an active DoD Secret clearance and be able to obtain Top Secret/SAP access.
Senior level · 12+ years · Huntsville, AL · Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Staff, but the requirements read as Senior.
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 $130,897 (middle half $102,526–$165,828). 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 18, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The posting title is 'Staff Software Lead,' which maps to the Staff advertised seniority band; however, the actual scope and experience requirements (12+ years, deep hands-on IC work, no explicit org-wide authority) are consistent with a Senior-level role on a normal career ladder.
Degree requirement is marked None because the posting explicitly accepts 4 additional years of experience in lieu of a degree.
An active DoD Secret clearance is a hard start requirement; the ability to obtain Top Secret and SAP approvals is also required but the posting does not gate on already holding TS — the clearance requirement is set to Secret accordingly.
C is listed separately from C++ because the posting explicitly names both ('modern C/C++') as languages used for embedded and mission applications.
Python appears only under Preferred Qualifications ('Proficiency with Python or similar scripting'), so it is marked preferred; 'or similar' alternatives were not enumerated as the posting leaves the substitutes open-ended.
The preferred qualifications section is duplicated verbatim in the posting; skills were extracted once.
This position is noted as contingent upon program funding.
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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