Sr Principal Software Engineer - DevOps
Northrop Grumman · Melbourne, FL
$122,800–$184,200from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Melbourne, FL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level software engineering role focused on breaking apart a legacy monolithic codebase into a microservices architecture using domain-driven design. Day-to-day work spans full-stack C#/.NET development (including Blazor UI and RESTful/gRPC APIs), managing core infrastructure services, and troubleshooting network connectivity issues. The role also involves mentoring junior engineers and participating in Agile ceremonies, and requires an active Secret clearance.
Senior level · 8+ years · Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL · 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.
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 $134,657 (middle half $104,151–$166,625). 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 title 'Sr Principal Software Engineer' maps to advertised Principal, but the actual requirements (8+ years, STEM bachelor's, hands-on full-stack development) are consistent with a Senior individual contributor — not an org-wide technical authority. Seniority is assessed as Senior.
The role blends full-stack software development (primary) with infrastructure/networking duties (DNS, DHCP, NAS, Active Directory, VLANs, firewalls). 15-1252 Software Developers was chosen as the primary SOC given the emphasis on C#/.NET application development and microservices refactoring; 15-1244 is the runner-up given the infrastructure management responsibilities.
C#/.NET is listed in Basic Qualifications with firm language ('Proven experience'); Blazor, REST/gRPC, and networking concepts are also in Basic Qualifications and treated as hard gates. The UI framework requirement names Blazor specifically alongside React and Angular as alternatives.
An additional language (C/C++, Python, Java) is explicitly called 'a plus' within the Basic Qualifications section — treated as preferred.
Degree requirement: the JD offers a STEM Bachelor's + 8 years, Master's + 6 years, or PhD + 4 years. A bachelor's is the minimum formal degree path and is marked accordingly; equivalent experience is not offered as a substitute.
Active Secret clearance is a hard gate: 'Must have an active in scope government Secret security clearance (with a background investigation completed within the last 6 years).'
DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II (e.g., Security+) appears under Preferred Qualifications and is not a hard gate.
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
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.