Principal Engineer Software - Support Equipment Software
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 on an aeronautics surveillance program, focused on the full development lifecycle — from gathering requirements and architecting solutions to implementation, unit testing, integration, and ongoing maintenance. The work involves C/C++ or similar object-oriented languages alongside scripting, in Linux or Windows environments, within an agile team. Candidates need a STEM degree, several years of software engineering experience, and the ability to obtain a DoD Secret clearance.
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 (7)
The title 'Principal Engineer Software' is Northrop Grumman's internal job level label, not a true Principal-band role in the industry sense. The actual requirements (5 years with a Bachelor's or 3 years with a Master's, full-lifecycle development on a team) are consistent with a Senior individual contributor, so seniority is assessed as Senior.
The JD requires a DoD Secret clearance; an interim clearance is required to start, meaning candidates must be able to obtain one — not necessarily hold an active one at application.
C/C++ is listed as a single requirement with OOP alternatives; C++ is used as the primary name with C as an alternative. The scripting language requirement names Bash and Python as examples — Bash is listed as primary with Python as the alternative.
Linux and Windows are presented as interchangeable environment options in the requirements section.
Configuration management experience is required but names no specific tool; no skill entry is emitted for a generic methodology.
The Atlassian/GitLab tool suite, Git, and CI/CD pipelines appear under Preferred Qualifications. DOD 8570 IAT Level II certification (e.g., Security+) is also preferred but is a certification, not a named technology skill, so it is not emitted as a skill.
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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