Principal/ Senior Principal Cyber Systems Engineer
Northrop Grumman · Melbourne, FL
$98,400–$184,200from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Melbourne, FL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A System Security Engineering role focused on designing and validating secure architectures for defense systems across their full development lifecycle. Day-to-day work involves applying DoD and NIST cybersecurity frameworks, supporting authorization processes, verifying system-level security requirements, and acting as a technical liaison between internal and external teams. Suits engineers with a background in DoD cybersecurity practices and an active Secret clearance.
Senior level · 5+ years · National · 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.
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 $132,021 (middle half $99,961–$167,095). 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 (8)
The posting covers two levels simultaneously — 'Principal' (5+ years, $98,400–$147,600) and 'Senior Principal' (8+ years, $122,800–$184,200). The overall years minimum is set to the lower bound (5 years) and the comp range spans both levels. Hiring managers should note the actual level filled will determine which salary band applies.
Location is not specified in the posting; no CBSA could be determined. This is a Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems role, which has major sites in Palmdale/El Segundo CA, Melbourne FL, and other defense hubs.
The advertised title is 'Principal Cyber Systems Engineer,' which maps to the Principal band; however, the actual experience requirements (5–8+ years, single-team SSE scope) are consistent with a Senior individual contributor, not a true org-wide Principal — hence the seniority is set to Senior.
An active DoD Secret clearance is a hard gate for start; the ability to obtain a SAP clearance is listed as a contingency requirement. A Top Secret clearance is listed under Preferred Qualifications as optional.
The DoDD 8140.01 certification (Security+, CISSP, or similar) is required but may be obtained within 6 months of start — it is still treated as a hard gate per the posting's language.
Embedded computing environments appear only under Preferred Qualifications and are not a hard gate.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): DoD System Security Engineering, Digital Engineering.
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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