Software Engineer (AHT)
Northrop Grumman · Manhattan Beach, CA
$91,800–$137,600from the description
Jun 30, 2026
Manhattan Beach, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A software engineering role supporting a collaborative mission planning program within a defense systems division. Day-to-day work spans backlog management, requirements gathering, and stakeholder coordination alongside hands-on development using C#, Java, or .NET in an Agile/DevOps environment with relational databases and configuration management tools. Suited to early-career engineers holding an active Secret clearance with object-oriented design experience.
Mid level · 2+ years · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
“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 $164,459 (middle half $130,334–$195,752). 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 job title is 'Software Engineer' with no level modifier, but the basic qualifications require only 2 years of experience and a BS in a STEM field, placing this squarely at the Mid level despite the broad salary range.
The role description mixes product ownership/backlog management responsibilities (more typical of a Product Owner or Systems Analyst) with hands-on software engineering duties. The hard-required skills are engineering-focused, so 15-1252 (Software Developers) was chosen as primary; 15-1211 (Computer Systems Analysts) is a plausible runner-up given the product liaison and requirements-gathering duties.
C# is listed as the primary named option in the 'any combination of C#, Java, or .NET' requirement; Java and .NET are captured as alternatives since any one satisfies the gate.
Python is listed as the primary named scripting language option; YAML, PowerShell, and Curl are captured as alternatives since the JD requires proficiency in 'one or more' of these.
Git and GitHub are listed together as configuration management tool options; one satisfies the requirement.
The Atlassian Tool Suite (Bitbucket, Jira, Confluence) is listed as a single required line item; each tool is emitted separately as a hard gate since all three are named explicitly under Basic Qualifications.
An active Secret clearance adjudicated within the last 5 years is a hard gate for this role — candidates must hold one at start.
Microservice architectures, REST, React, Docker/Kubernetes, and AWS/Azure all appear under Preferred Qualifications and are marked accordingly.
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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