Sr Principal Systems Engineer at Northrop Grumman
Los Angeles, CA
$142,200–$177,800from the description
Jun 30, 2026
Los Angeles, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior systems engineering role focused on leading the Guidance Section and/or Control Section Integrated Product Team for a missile production program. Day-to-day work involves failure trend analysis, root cause investigations, requirements development, acceptance test data analysis, and supporting design and program reviews. Suits engineers with a background in missile or weapon system lifecycles — particularly RF/sensors, guidance, navigation, or control — and prior production environment experience.
Senior level · 8+ years · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA · 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
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $112,112 (middle half $73,931–$166,799). 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 (10)
This is a Systems Engineering role in the aerospace/defense domain — not a pure software or IT occupation. SOC 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used as the closest available code, but this role is more accurately a Systems Engineer (SOC 17-2199, Miscellaneous Engineers) which is not available in the schema. Treat the SOC classification with caution.
DOORS and CAMEO are listed together as examples of 'systems engineering tools' under Basic Qualifications. They are not strict alternatives to each other (both may be used), but the JD frames them as a single requirement with 'such as', so they are captured together. Either tool satisfying the requirement is the most reasonable interpretation.
TipQA is mentioned in the job duties narrative (data mining for failure database) rather than under a requirements heading — treated as preferred/contextual.
EVMS (Earned Value Management System) is referenced in the duties section as a tracking activity; it is not explicitly listed under Basic Qualifications but is a concrete named tool/methodology central to the described responsibilities.
The title 'Sr Principal Systems Engineer' maps to the level advertised in the title of Principal. However, the actual requirements (8+ years with a BS, or 6+ with an MS, leading a technical team) are consistent with a Senior-level role on a standard career ladder.
A Secret clearance is explicitly required at start ('CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes'). Applicants must already hold an active US Government DoW Secret clearance.
The role is explicitly on-site in Northridge, CA (part of the Los Angeles metro CBSA). No remote or telework is available.
Preferred qualifications include Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), defense/weapon systems experience, systems requirements development, and system verification — none of these are hard gates.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Model-Based Systems 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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