Principal/Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Embedded Test

Northrop Grumman • Manhattan Beach, CA

8d • $114,000 - $213,400 • 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.

Please be aware that this position will be contingent upon obtaining and maintaining customer and/or business funding, as well as holding final clearances prior to start date.
Northrop Grumman Space Systems is seeking a Principal/Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Embedded Test to join the Western Region Software Engineering directorate in Manhattan Beach, CA.
The Western Region Software Engineering organization comprises more than 800 highly skilled professionals—Software Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Database Administrators, and Network Engineers—at every career stage, from early‑career talent to senior chief engineers and architects. This group supports a wide array of programs and offers clear pathways for advancement into senior technical or leadership roles. Our culture emphasizes cross‑program collaboration, continuous professional development, and a strong sense of community.
The Principal/Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Embedded Test will develop and test software that runs on resource‑constrained targets with soft‑ and hard‑real‑time requirements for flight, space, and ground systems. The software typically implements complex data‑analysis, routing, and control‑algorithm functions. Candidates must be familiar with diverse processor, memory, and I/O architectures and be proficient in both procedural and object‑oriented C++ development. Experience with real‑time operating systems such as VxWorks or Linux—and their associated development environments and tools—is essential.
The ideal candidate should have academic and professional experience in software engineering across the full life‑cycle of automated test sets and test systems for space programs. Proven ability to operate in a process‑oriented environment employing waterfall, spiral, or agile methodologies is needed to succeed in this role. Moreover, the selected candidate must have strong verbal and written communication skills, with demonstrated comfort working on large, multidisciplinary teams in a laboratory setting.

Please be aware that this position will be contingent upon obtaining and maintaining customer and/or business funding, as well as holding final clearances prior to start date.
This requisition may be filled at a higher grade based on the qualifications listed below:

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 5+ years of relevant software development experience or Master’s degree in STEM with 3+ years of stated experience or Ph.D. in STEM with 1+ year of stated experience (for Principal)
• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 8+ years of relevant software development experience or Master’s degree in STEM with 6+ years of stated experience or Ph.D. in STEM with 4+ years of stated experience (for Sr. Principal)
• Active U.S. Government Secret clearance required at the time of application
• Proficiency in C/C++ programming
• Experience with formal verification processes following TLYF methodology to sell off embedded flight software requirements (functional/performance)

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with real-time operating systems, such as VxWorks or Linux
• Ability and willingness to obtain U.S. Government Top Secret clearance and/or SCI Access
• Prior work experience in developing and debugging embedded real-time systems

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, document, integrate, test, and debug application software and systems that implement logical and mathematical solutions.
• Conduct multidisciplinary research and collaborate with equipment designers and hardware engineers to plan, design, develop, and deploy electronic data‑processing solutions for product software.
• Determine overall system and user requirements; analyze system capabilities to resolve issues related to program intent, output specifications, input data acquisition, programming techniques, and controls; author operating instructions; and create utility programs.
• Ensure adherence to established software standards.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
• 401k
• Educational Assistance
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Life Solutions
• Paid Time Off
• Health & Wellness Resources
• Employee Discounts
• Flexible Schedules: for example, the ability to work a 9/80 work schedule, which allows an employee to work a nine-hour day Monday through Thursday and take every other Friday off of work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal