Staff Systems Engineer
Northrop Grumman · Rolling Meadows, IL
$169,000–$253,600from the description
Jul 15, 2026
Rolling Meadows, IL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level systems engineering role at a defense contractor's Rolling Meadows, IL facility, focused on leading and overseeing all systems engineering activities for programs involving electro-optical infrared and electronic warfare systems. The position carries responsibility for process integrity, engineering work products, and cross-disciplinary coordination across hardware, software, and firmware. It suits a deeply experienced STEM professional with a background in DoD systems development, requirements decomposition, and integration and test environments.
Staff level · 12+ years · Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
“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 (8)
The title 'Staff Systems Engineer' is used by Northrop Grumman as a formal job grade (not merely a descriptor), and the role owns overall systems engineering execution for a program — consistent with Staff-level scope. However, the JD does not describe org-wide technical authority across multiple teams in the way a true Staff/Principal IC role would; it is closer to a very senior program-level SE lead. Sized as Staff given the explicit title and 12+ year minimum.
SOC classification is uncertain: Systems Engineering at a defense contractor sits between 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) and 15-1211 (Computer Systems Analysts). The role is primarily hardware/systems-focused rather than software-centric, making a pure software-developer code inappropriate.
The clearance gate is stated as 'ability to obtain and maintain a minimum of a U.S. Government Secret Clearance with additional customer specified clearance prior to start.' An active Secret or TS is listed only under Preferred Qualifications, so the hard gate is the ability to obtain Secret.
The overall years minimum is set to 12, reflecting the BS+12 path (the minimum years across all degree-level options listed).
'Hardware/software/firmware integration' and 'technical presentations' are named as required skills because they appear under Basic Qualifications with firm language, but they are cross-cutting competencies rather than specific named tools — included here as the closest concrete representation of those gates.
SysML, MBSE, IBM Rational DOORS, Enterprise Architect, Cameo, EVM, requirements decomposition, and EOIR domain experience all appear under Preferred Qualifications.
Ignored 3 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): systems engineering, hardware/software/firmware integration, Earned Value Management.
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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