Ground Control Segment ( GCS ) Staff Systems Engineer
Northrop Grumman · Baltimore, MD
$152,900–$265,600from the description
Jul 15, 2026
Baltimore, MD
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level systems engineering role focused on the ground control segment for a tactical aircraft program. The position owns the ground architecture from rack-level hardware design through software/hardware integration, verification, and flight test support, while also serving as the primary technical interface to the customer and managing suppliers. It suits an experienced engineer with a background in aircraft or UAS ground segment design and a current Secret clearance.
Senior level · 12+ years · Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Staff, 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.
Why we read it this way (11)
This role is a Systems Engineer specializing in ground control segments for aircraft/UAS — it does not map cleanly to a standard computer/IT SOC. 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used as the closest fit; 15-1211 (Computer Systems Analysts) is a plausible alternative given the architecture and integration focus.
The posting lists three possible on-site locations: Melbourne, FL; Linthicum, MD (near Baltimore); and San Diego, CA. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD is used as the primary CBSA given the division name ('Baltimore and Partnered Sites'), but the actual assignment location may differ.
The title includes 'Staff' but the scope — technical lead for a small team of 4–6 people within a single program segment — is consistent with a Senior-level role rather than a true Staff/cross-org technical authority. Seniority is assessed as Senior.
The 12-year minimum experience figure applies to candidates with a Bachelor's degree; 10 years with a Master's, or 8 years with a PhD. The Bachelor's + 12 years figure is used as the overall years minimum per the minimum-degree path.
An active Secret clearance is a hard gate for start; the ability to obtain Special Program Access (SAP) is also required but is not a named clearance level.
Top Secret clearance is listed under Preferred Qualifications, not required.
Skills such as 'ground segment architecture', 'systems engineering', 'engineering drawings', 'BOMs', 'configuration management', and 'hardware/software integration' are domain competencies rather than named tools, but are retained here because they represent the core hard-gated technical requirements of this specialized role with no more specific tool names available.
JIRA and Agile appear only under Preferred Qualifications.
CAD and ECAD are listed together under Preferred Qualifications as interchangeable hardware design tools; MPLM is a separate configuration/hardware definition tool also listed as preferred.
Ignored 5 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): ground segment architecture, systems engineering, configuration management, UAS/UAV ground control segments, HMI development.
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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