Flight Test & Instrumentation Department Manager

Flight Test & Instrumentation Department Manager

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 Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Flight Test & Instrumentation Department Manager within our Test and Evaluation organization. This leadership role is located in Melbourne, FL.

As a leader, you always act with integrity, and the highest ethical standards characterize everything you do. You enable your team to achieve predictable and balanced results, while satisfying the needs of internal and external partners. You treat all people with respect, and you model personal growth and continuous development. You know how to build an inclusive environment that attracts, retains, and inspires a diverse and engaged team.

You develop trusted and valued customer relationships and communicate effectively, so that people throughout the organization feel engaged and connected to their work. You deliver excellence, strive for continuous improvement and respond vigorously to change.

The Department Manager is accountable for the performance, development, and engagement of a large engineering organization consisting of section managers and individual contributors. The role balances people leadership, technical oversight, and operational execution in a complex, program-driven environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• People Leadership & Talent Management
• Lead all aspects of personnel management, including workforce planning, hiring, retention, engagement, redeployment, and succession planning.
• Support staffing for section manager and senior technical roles, including requisition development, interview facilitation, onboarding, and mentoring.
• Foster a culture of engagement, collaboration, accountability/ownership, and belonging by modeling Northrop Grumman leadership behaviors:
  Sets a vision, builds a high performing team, takes ownership, leads with courage, responds to challenges with resilience and acts with speed.
• Conduct performance management activities, including goal setting, quarterly connections, leadership development, and knowledge sharing activities.
• Execution & Operational Leadership
• Drive day-to-day execution of departmental activities in support of program objectives.
• Serve as Delegation of Authority (DOA) in the absence of the Department Manager and/or EI&E leadership, as required.
• Ensure consistent application of functional engineering processes, tools, and best practices in alignment with the Center of Technical Excellence.
• Partner across functions to support cross-discipline and intra-discipline integration activities, data analysis, metrics development, and performance reporting in coordination with Strategy, Integration, and Operations.
• Technical & Program Oversight
• Provide engineering leadership oversight for technical execution activities, including:
  Root Cause and Corrective Action (RCCA) investigations;
  System Engineering Technical Reviews (SETRs), such as System Requirements Review (SRR), Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR), Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs);
  Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR);
  Process audits and Independent Review Team (IRT) engagements.
• Support long-range strategic planning efforts and execute special assignments as required.

Our Leaders at Northrop Grumman live our values daily and encourage our teams to do the same. We do the right thing: upholding the highest ethical standards and facilitating a safe and respectful environment that attracts, retains, and inspires a diverse and engaged team. We do what we promise: holding yourself and others accountable to meet predictable and balanced results. We commit to shared success: operating as OneNG and removing barriers for our teams.

Finally, We pioneer: setting a vision that shapes the future and inspires others.

Basic Qualifications:

• Must have a Bachelor of Science degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 9 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master's degree in a STEM discipline and 7 years of related engineering experience.
• Minimum 3 years of leadership experience, including first-level or higher people management leadership.
• Experience in leading, mentoring, and developing multidisciplinary engineering teams to deliver complex technical…