AI Systems Engineer (Principal or Sr. Principal Level)

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.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is looking to add a Principal / Sr Principal Systems Engineer - Operations Analysis AI  to join our team in El Segundo, CA. The candidate should be a self-starter with familiarity working in an Integrated Product Team (IPT) construct.

The selected candidate will perform operational‑analysis studies with a focus on mission data‑flow aggregation, dissemination, and architecture. This individual will be a subject‑matter expert (SME) in mission‑relevant data, its implementation across the enterprise, or the development of AI/ML solutions that accelerate data‑driven decision making in multi‑domain simulation environments.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Model operational environments and conduct trade‑studies via computer simulation.
• Perform operational and effectiveness analysis to quantify capability gaps.
• Create and apply knowledge of Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) to support blue/red kill‑chains across multiple security environments, programs, architectures, and platforms.
• Provide blue/red tactics and CONOPS modeling, simulation, and analysis in mission‑level models to help achieve long‑term program objectives.
• Conduct mission‑engineering activities that ensure operational capabilities match delivered system performance through the Systems‑Engineering “V”.
• Develop, train, and validate AI/ML models (e.g., supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement‑learning, Bayesian) that:
  • Analyze large‑scale data streams for pattern detection, anomaly identification, and predictive insight.
  • Perform data‑compression (e.g., autoencoders, sparse coding, learned codecs) to reduce bandwidth/storage while preserving decision‑critical information.
  • Supply real‑time decision‑support scores for complex, multi‑domain simulations.
  • Automate and accelerate time‑intensive data‑workflow steps such as feature extraction, data‑fusion, and report generation.
• Design and implement MLOps pipelines (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow, DVC) that integrate training, validation, versioning, and deployment into existing simulation and analysis toolchains.
• Leverage high‑performance computing (HPC) and GPU acceleration (CUDA, cuDNN, ROCm) to scale model training and inference for massive data sets.
• Synthesize stakeholder input, visualize results, and communicate findings to leadership at all levels.

There is no remote / hybrid / telework available for this position.  Travel up to 25% may be required.

Basic Qualifications:

At the Principal Level:

• Must have a Bachelors Degree in a STEM field and at least 5 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a Master's Degree in a STEM field and at least 3 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a PhD and at least 1 year of relevant military / professional / academic experience

At the Senior Principal Level:

• Must have a Bachelors degree in a STEM field and at least 8 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a Master's Degree in a STEM field and at least 6 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a PhD and at least 4 years of relevant military / professional experience.

At Both Levels:

• Experience with coding in MATLAB or Python which includes AI/ML libraries such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit‑learn, XGBoost, and SciPy.
• Experience in at least one of the following domains:
  • Research, analysis, and assessment threats to U.S. military operations
  • Vehicle performance analysis
  • Navigation / Position Navigation & Timing (PNT)
  • Survivability, lethality, vulnerability, engagement, or mission‑level analysis
  • Electronic Attack (EA), Electronic Protection (EP), Electronic Countermeasures
  • Red or blue CONOPS and TTPs
• Data‑science fundamentals experience: data preprocessing, feature engineering, statistical analysis, and model evaluation.
• Active DoD Secret clearance (with a background investigation within the past 5 years or enrolled into Continuous Evaluation) and ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret Clearance (TS).
• Ability to obtain and maintain initial and upgraded Special Access Program (SAP) access via Program Access Request process.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Current applicable SAP.
• Active DoD TS with SCI.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills, including project/analysis‑lead experience.
• Physics‑based modeling and simulation using object‑oriented programming (C++, C#, Java, or Python).
• Demonstrated ability to work in a rapid‑prototyping AI/ML environment.
• Experience with system‑of‑systems modeling tools (AFSIM, Suppressor, Brawler) and associated integration of AI/ML components.
• Familiarity with AGILE, MBSE, and system architecture frameworks; ability to embed data‑centric AI/ML deliverables into model‑based development cycles.
• Operational military background or experience providing insight into realistic mission constraints.
• Proficiency with version‑control systems and collaborative workflow tools.
• GPU/parallel programming experience (CUDA, OpenCL, MPI, Dask, Spark) for scaling model training and inference.
• Hands‑on experience building MLOps pipelines (MLflow, Kubeflow, Airflow, CI/CD for model deployment).
• Knowledge of explainable AI (XAI) techniques and model interpretability tools (SHAP, LIME, Saliency Maps) to support transparent decision making.
• Experience with data compression and representation learning (autoencoders, variational autoencoders, transformer‑based codecs) applied to telemetry and sensor streams.
• Prior work on workflow automation (Python scripting, PowerShell, Bash, RPA tools) that reduces manual data‑processing time.
• Experience modeling and simulating radars, missiles, integrated air‑defense systems (IADS), air and/or space platforms with AI‑enhanced assessment modules.

Primary Level Salary Range: $137,800.00 - $206,800.00
Secondary Level Salary Range: $172,100.00 - $258,100.00
The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.
Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives. In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.
The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.
Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO and pay transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.