Embedded Software Engineer – Level 3 or 4 at Northrop Grumman
Sterling, VA
$114,000–$213,400from the description
Jun 30, 2026
Sterling, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on building and maintaining hardware-in-the-loop simulation platforms used to test flight software for spacecraft programs, including national security satellites, NASA science missions, and communications satellites. The work spans defining simulation requirements, designing or selecting interface hardware, and writing software to model space vehicle components such as sensors, actuators, and payloads. It suits an embedded software engineer comfortable working hands-on in a lab environment with both hardware and software integration.
Senior level · 5+ years · Remote · Bachelor's required · TS/SCI 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
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). 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 job posting explicitly states the role is 100% onsite in Dulles, VA and cannot accommodate telecommute work. The caller has overridden this to remote=true and no metro; the candidate pool is treated as national per caller instruction.
This posting covers two levels simultaneously: Level 3 (Principal, $114K–$171K/yr, minimum 5 years experience with a Bachelor's) and Level 4 (Sr. Principal, $142.2K–$213.4K/yr, minimum 8 years experience with a Bachelor's). The compensation range shown spans both levels combined. The lower total experience threshold (5 years) is used for the overall years minimum.
Northrop Grumman's internal title 'Principal' maps to what the broader industry calls a Senior individual contributor; 'Sr. Principal' maps to Staff. The role is classified Senior because the posting fills either level and the lower bound (Level 3/Principal) is the entry point.
A TS/SCI clearance must be obtainable at start; an active/current TS/SCI is listed only as a preferred qualification.
Subversion and Git are listed together as a single version-control requirement; both are captured with each as an alternative for the other.
The preferred qualifications section lists several hardware interface standards (SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553, RS-422, analog/digital) and National Instruments tooling — all marked preferred as they appear only under 'Preferred Qualifications'.
Requires a TS/SCI 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.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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