Software Engineering Manager 3 at Northrop Grumman
Rolling Meadows, IL
$184,300–$276,500from the description
Jul 12, 2026
Rolling Meadows, IL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A department manager role overseeing a team of embedded software engineers at a remote site in Apopka, FL while based full-time in Rolling Meadows, IL. Day-to-day responsibilities center on technical, cost, and schedule performance across multiple defense software programs, along with staffing, recruiting, employee development, and serving as the primary liaison between the remote engineering team and program management and systems engineering stakeholders.
Senior level · 10+ years · Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
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
What the occupation pays Median $177,581 (middle half $141,229–$219,605). 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 is a people-management role (Department Manager / Manager Level 3) with direct reports, staffing, recruiting, performance management, and budget/cost accountability — classified as Computer and Information Systems Managers (11-3021). The alt code 15-1252 reflects the deep embedded software engineering background required.
The posting titles this 'Manager Level 3', which maps to a Senior-level management scope (single department, reporting to a Director); it does not represent org-wide authority that would warrant a higher band.
The 10-year minimum experience requirement is stated at the role level ('minimum of 10 years related software or firmware experience') and is captured in total experience, not tied to a specific named technology.
Agile familiarity is listed under Basic Qualifications with the softer word 'familiarity', but it sits firmly in the required section alongside other hard gates; it is treated as required accordingly.
Embedded software development and Earned Value Management (EVM) appear under Preferred Qualifications and are optional.
An active DoD Secret clearance is a hard gate for start ('CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes'); an active Top Secret clearance is listed as preferred.
A Master's degree in a STEM field is listed as preferred, not required; the minimum hard requirement is a BS/BA in a STEM discipline.
25% travel is required; the role is on-site in Rolling Meadows, IL (Chicago metro), with oversight responsibilities for a remote site in Apopka, FL.
Skills like 'personnel management' and 'agile' are listed here as named competency gates from the required section; generic soft skills and methodological concepts without a specific tool name have been omitted per extraction rules.
Ignored 4 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): software engineering, personnel management, embedded software development, 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.
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