Principal Engineer Software - Simulation
Northrop Grumman · Melbourne, FL
$98,400–$147,600from the description
Jun 30, 2026
Melbourne, FL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A software engineering role focused on the full development lifecycle — from requirements and design through testing, integration, and maintenance — for aerospace surveillance systems. The work involves building and debugging simulation applications, managing databases, developing UIs, and integrating software components across Linux and Windows environments. Suited to engineers with hands-on C/C++ or object-oriented programming experience and a background in Agile development.
Senior level · 5+ years · Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL · 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 $134,657 (middle half $104,151–$166,625). 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)
The title 'Principal Engineer Software' is Northrop Grumman's internal job grade label, not a career-ladder 'Principal' in the industry sense. The actual requirements (Bachelor's + 5 years, or Master's + 3 years) and scope align with a Senior individual contributor, so seniority is set to Senior.
A DoD Secret clearance (or the ability to obtain one) is a hard gate; an interim clearance is explicitly required to start.
The degree requirement is Bachelor's in a STEM discipline; a Master's with fewer years is offered as an alternative path, so Bachelor's is the minimum.
C/C++ is listed as the primary language with 'or other OOP languages' as a qualifier — common OOP alternatives are captured. The JD names no other specific language.
UI development is listed as a required skill but no specific UI framework or technology is named.
Configuration management is required but no specific tool is named in the required section; Git and the Atlassian suite (Jira, Confluence) appear only under Preferred Qualifications.
Rhapsody and Cameo are listed together as a preferred UML modeling option and are captured as interchangeable alternatives.
Oracle databases appear only under Preferred Qualifications.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): UI development, configuration management.
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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