Sr Principal Engineer Software at Northrop Grumman
El Segundo, CA
$142,200–$213,400from the description
Jul 12, 2026
El Segundo, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level software engineering role within an aerospace and defense company's research and advanced development division, focused on building enterprise data integration systems — including microservices, data pipelines, observability dashboards, and real-time messaging infrastructure. The work involves Java-based backend development, Apache NiFi, cloud storage integration, and frontend dashboard components, across multiple concurrent mid-to-large-scale programs. Suited to experienced engineers with a strong background in distributed systems and enterprise integration patterns.
Senior level · 9+ years · San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA · Bachelor's required · Top 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.
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.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $166,860 (middle half $131,418–$198,246). 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 role is titled 'Senior Principal Software Engineer' — 'Principal' is the advertised level, but the actual requirements (9+ years, project-level scope, no explicit org-wide technical authority) support Senior on the career ladder.
The posting lists two possible work locations: San Diego, CA and El Segundo, CA (Los Angeles metro). The CBSA is set to San Diego as the first-named location; the role could equally be in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CBSA (31080).
Top Secret clearance is listed as required to start ('CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret') and the Basic Qualifications gate on the ability to transfer/maintain a final adjudicated TS clearance. The preferred qualifications mention an active SCI/SAP clearance as a bonus — that upgrade is not a hard gate.
The degree requirement is a STEM Bachelor's (or higher) from an accredited university; equivalent experience is NOT offered as a substitute, so Bachelors is the minimum hard-required degree.
The experience floor is 9 years with a Bachelor's, 7 with a Master's, or 3 with a PhD — 9 years is used as the overall years minimum (the minimum path).
Spring WebSocket is listed as the specific implementation mechanism for WebSockets under Basic Qualifications; it is captured under the broader 'WebSockets' skill with SSE as an alternative, consistent with how the JD frames them as interchangeable delivery mechanisms.
JAXB and Jackson appear together as a single XML-processing requirement under Preferred Qualifications; Jackson is captured as an alternative.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): AWS SDK for Java.
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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