Software Integration and Test Engineer / Principal Software Integration and Test Engineer at Northrop Grumman
Manhattan Beach, CA
$91,800–$171,000from the description
Jul 13, 2026
Manhattan Beach, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on testing and integrating software for military Mission Planning systems, covering the full lifecycle from writing test plans and procedures to executing them across developmental, integration, and acceptance phases. Day-to-day work involves hands-on lab troubleshooting, building test automation within CI/CD pipelines, and occasionally supporting fielded systems on-site. It suits engineers with a background in software/hardware integration and automated testing who hold an active Secret or higher DoD clearance.
Mid level · 2+ years · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA · Bachelor's required · Top Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Mid.
“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 $124,897 (middle half $85,193–$153,319). 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)
This posting covers two levels simultaneously: 'Integration and Test Engineer' (2+ years with a Bachelor's, or 0 years with a Master's) and 'Principal Integration and Test Engineer' (5+ years with a Bachelor's, or 3 years with a Master's). The title advertises 'Principal' but the minimum qualifying experience is only 2 years, so seniority is assessed at Mid for the lower gate. The salary ranges are also split: $91,800–$137,600 for the primary level and $114,000–$171,000 for the principal level; both ranges are reflected in the min/max fields.
The clearance requirement states 'Active DoD Top Secret Clearance (adjudicated within the last 5 years or under continuous evaluation)' as a Basic Qualification. The posting header also says 'CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret', which appears to be a system-generated field that understates the actual requirement; the body text clearly gates on Top Secret.
TestComplete is cited as an example automated testing tool ('e.g., TestComplete') within the required qualifications section. Per extraction rules, the 'or similar' framing means the specific tool is interchangeable but the capability is a hard gate.
Agile/Scrum experience appears only under the 'Preferred (nice to have) Qualifications' section.
Military Mission Planning Systems (JMPS, AFMSS, PFPS) appear only under 'Preferred (nice to have) Qualifications'.
The role is explicitly on-site in Manhattan Beach, CA — no remote work is available.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): test planning.
Requires a Top 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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