Staff Cyber Systems Engineer
Northrop Grumman · Jessup, MD
$194,700–$292,100from the description
Jun 30, 2026
Jessup, MD
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level cybersecurity systems engineering role supporting a missile defense program across multiple U.S. sites. The work centers on translating weapon system requirements into secure architectures, conducting attack surface analysis, guiding RMF documentation, and overseeing cybersecurity compliance against DoD standards throughout the full system development lifecycle. Suits a deeply experienced engineer holding an active Secret clearance and CISSP certification.
Staff level · 12+ years · Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD · Secret clearance · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 5 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 $141,208 (middle half $106,798–$194,505). 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 (9)
The role is titled 'Staff Cyber Systems Engineer' and the JD explicitly uses the 'Staff' level designation, which here reflects genuine cross-program, org-wide technical scope on a major defense program (Sentinel) — not merely a long experience requirement — supporting the Staff seniority classification.
The degree requirement is effectively None: the JD accepts 18 years of experience in lieu of any degree, making no degree a hard gate.
Total years minimum is set to 12, the lowest threshold stated (Bachelor's + 12 years); higher thresholds apply with advanced degrees.
The posting requires an active Secret clearance at start, with the ability to obtain Top Secret with SAP access. The clearance gate is Secret (the minimum required to begin); TS/SCI is listed under Preferred Qualifications as a nice-to-have.
Primary work location is Annapolis Junction, MD (Baltimore-Columbia-Towson CBSA), though the posting notes multiple places of performance across several states.
CISSP (DoD 8570 IASAE Level II) is a hard gate per the Basic Qualifications; ISSEP/ISSAP (IASAE Level III) appears under Preferred Qualifications.
SonarQube and Fortify are listed together as examples of a security tool suite in the DevSecOps pipeline under Preferred Qualifications; they are captured as a single preferred skill with Fortify as an alternative.
AFI 17-101 is referenced as a compliance standard in the responsibilities narrative rather than as a discrete skill, so it is not emitted as a separate skill entry.
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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