Staff Systems Engineer - Modeling / Simulation & Analysis (MS&A) - 18319
Northrop Grumman · Huntsville, AL
$169,000–$253,600from the description
Jul 13, 2026
Huntsville, AL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level engineering role focused on building and validating physics-based models and simulation frameworks to assess cruise-missile accuracy performance. Day-to-day work spans post-flight data analysis, requirements development, earned value reporting, and advising leadership on trade studies, alongside coordinating a multidisciplinary team. Suits a seasoned STEM professional with deep modeling and simulation experience and an active Secret clearance.
Senior level · 8+ years · Huntsville, AL · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Staff, 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
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $123,099 (middle half $94,422–$145,807). 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' but the actual scope and requirements — 12 years max experience gate, single-program technical lead, no explicit org-wide authority — are consistent with a Senior-level individual contributor. 'Staff' here appears to be a Northrop Grumman internal grade label rather than a cross-team technical authority role in the conventional sense.
The posting lists two possible locations: Huntsville, AL (CBSA 26380) and Roy, UT (Ogden-Clearfield, UT CBSA 36260). Huntsville is listed first and is the more common Northrop Grumman Defense Systems hub for this type of role; Roy, UT is captured here as a secondary option.
The clearance gate is nuanced: an active Secret clearance is required at time of application, but the candidate must also be able to obtain Top Secret/SAP access. The hard gate for start is Secret; TS/SAP is a condition of continued employment.
The scripting-language requirement lists Python, C++/C#, SQL, MATLAB, and R as examples of acceptable languages ('e.g.'). These are treated as interchangeable alternatives satisfying one hard gate on scripting proficiency, with Python listed as the primary name. The 5-year hands-on experience figure applies to this combined requirement.
Jira and Confluence appear under Preferred Qualifications alongside agile methodologies; they are listed as preferred, not required.
This position is contingent upon contract award, which may affect actual hiring timeline.
SOC classification is Medium confidence: the role is a specialized modeling and simulation engineering position that sits between 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) and 15-2031 (Operations Research Analysts), as it combines physics-based simulation development with analytical/estimation work on missile accuracy.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): physics-based modeling and simulation, Earned Value 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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