Data Scientist / Principal Data Scientist *
Northrop Grumman · Roy, UT
$87,200–$162,400from the description
Jun 30, 2026
Roy, UT
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A data scientist role focused on building predictive maintenance capabilities for a large-scale U.S. nuclear weapons system. Day-to-day work involves designing cloud-based data architectures, developing end-to-end data pipelines, and creating statistical, machine learning, and physics-based models to forecast component remaining useful life. The role suits candidates with a STEM background and hands-on experience in data engineering, predictive modeling, and tools such as Python, SQL, and cloud platforms like AWS.
Senior level · 3+ years · Ogden-Clearfield, UT · 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.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
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 $102,393 (middle half $74,902–$126,563). 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)
This is a dual-level posting covering both a Data Scientist (T02, ~3 years experience) and a Principal Data Scientist (T03, ~5 years experience). The salary range spans both levels: $87,200–$130,800 for the primary (Data Scientist) level and $108,200–$162,400 for the secondary (Principal Data Scientist) level. The advertised seniority reflects the higher 'Principal' title in the posting title, while the actual seniority is assessed as Senior given that even the upper level requires only 5 years with a bachelor's and the scope, while meaningful, is program-level rather than org-wide.
The clearance section header states 'No' clearance required for start, but the body requires the ability to obtain a DoD Secret clearance as a hard gate for the role. An active Secret clearance is listed as a preferred qualification. Clearance is marked as Secret (required to obtain).
Python and SQL are listed together as interchangeable options ('Python, SQL, or other relevant data science programming languages') with 2+ years required — emitted as a single requirement with alternatives.
AWS, Palantir Foundry, Databricks, and Snowflake all appear under Preferred Qualifications as a grouped 'and/or' list, so each is marked preferred with the others as alternatives.
The data architecture and data pipeline experience requirements are hard-gated (2+ years each) but name no specific tool — they represent capability requirements rather than named technologies. These are retained as skills because the JD explicitly quantifies years against them as distinct competencies.
The alt SOC (15-1243 Database Architects) reflects the significant data architecture design emphasis in this role alongside the modeling/ML work.
Ignored 4 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): cloud-based data architecture, predictive modeling, survival/reliability analysis, time-series modeling.
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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