Sr Principal Software Engineer - Development
Northrop Grumman
- Location
- United States California San Diego
- Work model
- On-Site
- Level
- Principal
- Posted
- Aug 28, 2026
Skills
About this role
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes CLEARANCE TYPE: 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. Please note that this opportunity is contingent on program funding. Start dates are determined after funding confirmation. Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is looking to add a Sr Principal Software Engineer - Development to join our team on site in San Diego, California or Grand Forks, North Dakota with a partial hybrid schedule. In this role you will design, develop, integrate and test software (SW) for our end-user customers and businesses. You will be responsible for the design, architecture, development, and administration of embedded and real time systems. You will work with multi-disciplinary teams, such as Systems Engineering, Cloud & Application, Test Automation, DevSecOps and Systems Test, in an Agile SW development environment. You will analyze system capabilities to resolve problems on program intent, output requirements, input data acquisition, programming techniques and controls. Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: •Work in a fast-paced environment with high expectations, significantly diverse assignments, and collaborative team settings across all levels •Participate in the full SW development life cycle including requirements, design, implementation, qualification, and delivery of SW products to our customer •Operate in an embedded technology development environment working with real time operating systems for use in flight and mission critical systems •Work in Agile Scrum teams to develop SW products for multiple SW baselines Basic Qualifications: •Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 8 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and 6 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 4 years of related engineering experience. •Experience with the full SW Development Life Cycle (SDLC) •Experience with the following programming and scripting languages: C, C++, and Python •Experience with developing multi-threaded SW used for one of the following real-time applications: flight critical SW, Safety critical SW, medical SW, or mission critical SW •Experience with two of the following tools: Jira, Crucible, Bitbucket, Subversion, Bamboo, Jenkins, Sonarqube, Fortify, or Coverity •Experience with Agile SW development, embedded system programming, SWintegration and testing •Familiarity with at least two of the data interfaces: 1553, 1394, 422, 429, Serial, CAN, Discrete & Analog I/O, Ethernet/IP, or Fibre Channel •Recent experience and proficiency in software architecture, design, implementation, integration, and debugging C++ SW running on Real-Time Operating systems such as: VxWorks, Integrity, AND/OR Real Time Embedded Linux. • Active U.S. Government Secret Clearance Preferred Qualifications: •Basic understanding of PowerPC or ARM assembly •Able to read assembly and use CPU documentation to understand behaviors •Can identify moderate execution defects by only reading code