Embedded Software Engineer – Level 3 or 4 at Northrop Grumman
Dulles, VA
$114,000–$213,400from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Dulles, VA
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
An embedded software engineering role focused on developing flight software for national security space programs, working entirely on-site in a classified environment. Day-to-day work involves writing and integrating embedded software modules, building board support packages, supporting hardware-in-the-loop testing, and working across disciplines to define requirements and verify spacecraft flight software. Suits engineers with a background in real-time operating systems, C/C++, and avionics data protocols.
Senior level · 5+ years · Remote · Bachelor's required · Top Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Mid, 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 $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). 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)
The posting is explicitly 100% onsite at Dulles, VA and states it cannot accommodate telecommute work. The remote=true flag has been set at the caller's direction, overriding the JD; the actual posting is fully on-site, and the metro (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, CBSA 47900) has been left blank per the caller's instruction.
The role is offered at two levels: Level 3 (5+ years, salary $114K–$171K) and Level 4 (8+ years, salary $142.2K–$213.4K). The overall years minimum is set to 5 (the lower gate); the full salary range spans both levels. Seniority is assessed as Senior, reflecting the minimum 5-year gate and the scope of mission-critical embedded flight software work.
The title 'Embedded Software Engineer – Level 3 or 4' maps to the level advertised in the title Mid (Level 3 ≈ III) as the lower of the two advertised levels; the actual requirements support Senior.
The clearance gate in the Basic Qualifications requires an active Top Secret (TS) clearance. The Preferred Qualifications additionally call out TS/SCI access; TS/SCI is listed only under Preferred, so the clearance requirement is set to TopSecret (not TopSecretSci) based on the hard gate. However, the job description body states 'This work does require a TS/SCI clearance,' which is a strong signal that TS/SCI is the true operational requirement — hiring managers should treat TS/SCI as effectively required.
Stellar and CFS are listed together ('Familiarity with Stellar or CFS') as interchangeable options; CFS is captured as an alternative.
Yocto and Vulcan appear only under Preferred Qualifications.
Data protocols (UART, SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553, SPI) are listed in the Basic Qualifications as required familiarity; RS-422 appears only under Preferred Qualifications.
Degree requirement is set to Bachelors as the minimum formal degree stated; the JD also accepts a Master's or PhD with fewer years of experience as equivalents.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): real-time operating systems.
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.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
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.