Ground Software Lead Engineer​/Architect

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE:
Relocation assistance may be available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START:
Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE:
Top Secret TRAVEL:
Yes, 10% of the Time Description At  Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon.

We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector is seeking a Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect (Level
6) to join our team of highly qualified, diverse professionals within the Western Region Software Engineering Directorate. This position can be located onsite in one of the following locations:
• Gilbert, AZ
• Redondo Beach, CA
• Morrisville, NC
• Dulles, VAThe Ground Software Lead Engineer/Architect (Level
6) will provide technical leadership for software planning, architecture, and execution, with a strong focus on capability road mapping, reuse, and metrics-driven management across the lifecycle.

Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Lead software reuse strategies and product trade studies to maximize efficiency, commonality, and maintainability.
• Allocate system requirements into software capabilities and features; develop and maintain the software buildup plan and capability roadmap (including inputs needed for BPE).
• Review element- and component-level features to ensure alignment with higher-level capabilities; define, track, and report clear feature success criteria.
• Contribute to the development and refinement of the software framework concept, ensuring scalability and adaptability across programs.
• Support Basis of Proposal Estimates (BPE), including development and refinement of ground software cost estimates.
• Own software metrics reporting and management; configure and maintain dashboards and reports in Jira to support execution, visibility, and data-driven decision making.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 12+ years of software engineering experience;
Master’s degree in a STEM discipline with 10+ years of stated experience;
Ph.D. in a STEM discipline with 8+ years of stated experience.
• Active U.S. Government Top Secret clearance at time of application, with the ability and willingness to obtain Special Program Access.
• Demonstrated front-end planning experience: developing capability roadmaps, decomposing capabilities into features, and defining measurable feature success criteria.
• Experience with software architecture and design for complex, mission-critical systems.
• Experience working within Agile software development life cycles, including backlog refinement and iterative delivery.
• Experience integrating and/or leveraging third-party software frameworks.
• Proficiency with Jira for software implementation planning, tracking, and metrics reporting.
• Experience with CAMEO (or similar model-based systems engineering tools).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with software cost estimation and supporting proposal activities.
• Experience as a Product Owner or similar role managing software backlogs, priorities, and stakeholder expectations.
• Control Account Manager (CAM) experience,…