Principal Systems Engineer - Passive Sensing

Northrop Grumman•Baltimore, MD

5d•$108,800 - $163,200•Onsite

About The Position

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. At the heart of Defining Possible is our commitment to missions. In rapidly changing global security environments, Northrop Grumman brings informed insights and software-secure technology to enable strategic planning. We’re looking for innovators who can help us keep building on our wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies that fuel those missions. By joining in our shared mission, we’ll support yours of expanding your personal network and developing skills, whether you are new to the field, or an industry thought leader. At Northrop Grumman, you’ll have the resources, support, and team to do some of the best work of your career. The EOIR team has a need for a Principal Systems Engineer to support technical work related to sensor/system development work associated with advanced electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) remote sensing. The candidate selected will work across a range of programs to solve disparate challenges while leveraging core knowledge, skills, tools, algorithms, and more. This person will coordinate with guidance from architects for program-specific implementations and will be expected to have regular technical interactions with their multi-disciplinary team members. As our program scope expands, we have the need for more talent, so come join us for this 100% on-site position from Linthicum, MD! What You’ll Get To Do: While the family of EOIR programs has a growing set of efforts on both the passive and active sides, this role will focus on system architecture and definition for passive systems. There are several background areas that could be applicable, including hardware selection for airborne sensors, optics, dewars, focal planes, processors, and more; data processing and exploitation, including real-time analysis, ground tests, anomaly resolution, and algorithm development; integration and test experience, including brassboards, lab/ground tests, and flight tests; and software/firmware interactions, to understand how the system actually implements and realizes the work. The team has subject matter experts in these areas, so the candidate selected will need to be able to work with those SMEs to ensure the selected approach meets the customer’s and user’s needs. Our sensors and systems are part of developmental efforts, meaning that your work today will be used by customer for many years in the future. A strong candidate for this role has experience in airborne and/or space-based EOIR sensors, experience developing and demonstrating passive imaging optical sensors, an interest in demonstrating concepts in labs or similar development areas, and an interest in growing technically.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of experience, Master's degree with 3 years of experience or Ph.D. with 1 years of experience in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, or related technical fields; an additional 4 years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
U.S Citizenship is required
A current/active U.S. Government Secret Clearance
Ability to obtain Special Program Access (SAP)
Experience with EOIR sensors in a team environment
Experience in technical computing languages, e.g. Python or Matlab

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in STEM
Additional experience in EOIR sensors and systems
Prior radiometry or remote sensing experience
Experience supporting/defining technical proposals
Current Top Secret clearance, SAP access(es), and/or SCI access
Strong communication skills, both for internal and external audiences

Responsibilities

Support architecture definitions and trade studies for IRAD, CRAD, and execution programs
Design, develop, integrate, test, and deploy novel EOIR sensors
Build and maintain physics-based sensor models
Develop and quantify performance metrics for system performance
Understand data quality and artifact impacts
Represent system performance in functional and analytical models