Principal Systems Engineer - (MS&A) 18987*
Northrop Grumman · Roy, UT
$98,400–$147,600from the description
Jul 13, 2026
Roy, UT
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A principal-level systems engineering role focused on trajectory analysis and generation for hypersonic re-entry vehicles and advanced payloads. Day-to-day work involves producing and analyzing six-degree-of-freedom trajectories, supporting boost-phase ascent analysis, and building models and simulations to underpin test and development programs. Suited to engineers with hands-on hypersonic vehicle modeling experience and programming skills in tools such as MATLAB, C++, or Python.
Senior level · 5+ years · Ogden-Clearfield, UT · 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.
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 $105,715 (middle half $86,307–$126,768). 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 (8)
The role is titled 'Principal Systems Engineer' but the actual scope and experience requirements (5 years minimum with a Bachelor's, focused on a specific technical domain within a team) align more closely with a Senior-level individual contributor than a true Principal/org-wide authority.
The programming language requirement is an OR gate: the JD requires proficiency in at least one of C++, MATLAB, Python, or Fortran. C++ is listed as the primary with the others as alternatives. Proficiency with all three (C++, MATLAB, Python) is listed under Preferred Qualifications.
An active Secret clearance is a hard gate at time of application; a Top Secret clearance is listed under Preferred Qualifications.
The role requires the ability to obtain Special Access Program (SAP) approval — this is an additional access requirement beyond the Secret clearance gate.
This position is contingent upon contract award.
SOC classification is Medium confidence: the role is a specialized aerospace/systems engineering simulation role that sits between 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) and 15-2051 (Data Scientists) given its heavy emphasis on trajectory modeling, simulation, and data analysis rather than general software development.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): 6-DoF trajectory generation, trajectory analysis.
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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