Software Engineer/Principal Software Engineer - DevSecOps (San Diego - Hybrid) at Northrop Grumman
San Diego, CA
$91,800–$171,000from the description
Jul 15, 2026
San Diego, CA
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on building and operating a DevSecOps software factory for aerospace programs, covering the full pipeline from continuous build and integration through testing, cyber compliance, and deployment. The work involves collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams in an Agile environment and automating delivery processes. It suits engineers with hands-on CI/CD toolchain experience — such as GitLab, Jenkins, Docker, or Kubernetes — who hold an active U.S. Secret clearance.
Mid level · 2+ years · San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA · Bachelor's required · 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 $166,860 (middle half $131,418–$198,246). 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 (7)
This posting covers two levels simultaneously: Level 2 (Software Engineer, 2+ years, salary $91,800–$137,600) and Level 3 (Principal Software Engineer, 5+ years, salary $114,000–$171,000). The advertised seniority reflects the highest title in the posting ('Principal'); the required seniority is sized to the lower Level 2 gate (2 years), which defines the minimum qualifying candidate.
Degree requirement: a Bachelor's in a STEM field is the minimum hard gate at Level 2. Master's or PhD with less experience are listed as equivalents for Level 2/3 respectively, but a Bachelor's is the floor.
The CI/CD tooling requirement lists Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Bamboo) AND/OR GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes as a combined gate. These are emitted as separate named skills since they are distinct tools, with GitHub/GitLab as alternatives to Jira/Bitbucket where interchangeable, and Jenkins as an alternative to Bamboo.
An active Secret or in-scope Top Secret clearance is a hard gate for both levels. Top Secret clearance appears again under Preferred Qualifications as a differentiator (implying Secret is the minimum acceptable).
Virtual machine/network configuration (VPC, NSX-T, NSX-V), cloud certifications, software metrics, cyber analysis, cyber remediation, and RMF experience all appear under Preferred Qualifications only.
The role is described as 'partially hybrid' but on-site in San Diego; it is not fully remote.
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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