Principal / Senior Mission Engineering Systems Engineer
Northrop Grumman · Baltimore, MD
$108,800–$203,600from the description
Jul 1, 2026
Baltimore, MD
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A mission engineering role within a modeling, simulation, and analysis team, focused on evaluating system architectures and concepts of operations through combat and analytical simulations. Day-to-day work involves running mission trades, analysis-of-alternatives, and performance assessments using tools such as MATLAB, STK, AFSIM, and Python. Suited to STEM-background engineers with hands-on DoD simulation and testing experience who hold an active Secret clearance.
Senior level · 5+ years · Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD · 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
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,582 (middle half $107,217–$160,197). 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 (11)
This role is posted as a dual-level requisition: 'Principal' (5+ years with a Bachelor's) or 'Senior Principal' (8+ years with a Bachelor's). The salary ranges are also dual: $108,800–$163,200 (Principal) and $135,800–$203,600 (Senior Principal); both ranges are reported here as the combined min/max. The minimum experience requirement of 5 years (Principal level) is used for the overall years minimum.
The title advertises 'Principal / Senior Principal,' which maps to the Principal advertised seniority band. However, the actual scope and experience requirements (5–8 years, component/project-level work) are consistent with a Senior individual contributor, not a true org-wide Principal, so seniority is set to Senior.
A current/active Secret clearance is a hard gate for start; the ability to obtain/maintain Special Access Program (SAP) access is also required but is not a standard clearance tier captured in the clearance field.
An active Top Secret clearance is listed under Preferred Qualifications.
MATLAB and STK are listed as interchangeable analytical modeling tools ('like MATLAB, STK, or similar'); AFSIM and Brawler are listed as interchangeable combat simulation environments ('such as AFSIM and/or Brawler'). Each pair is captured as one skill with alternatives.
JMP and R are listed under Preferred Qualifications for statistical/data exploration work.
Agile and SAFe are listed under Preferred Qualifications.
Domain experience in RF, EOIR, or Communications simulations is listed as preferred but names no specific tool or technology, so it is omitted from the skills list.
The role is 100% on-site in Baltimore, MD; no remote work is available.
Position is contingent on contract award.
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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