
Staff Software Architect
Job Description
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.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, but they’re also making history.
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Sector Advanced Autonomy Team (AAT) has an opening for a Staff Software Architect to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. This position is located in El Segundo or Redondo Beach, CA and will be primarily based on site within our office spaces to support the program and business needs. Operating on our 9/80 schedule means you will get every other Friday off. The position does not have remote or Hybrid work available .
Essential Functions:
We are seeking a talented and highly motivated software architect with experience in communicating with customers, stakeholders, software developers, system engineers, and senior leadership to collect mission requirements, describe software product features, technical designs, develop feature roadmaps, and product strategy. Job includes shaping the long-term technical strategy to evolve and deliver software architecture to enable various DoD missions. Lead mission decomposition into functions, requirements, interface definitions that can be implemented by software developers. Ensure the autonomy architecture remains aligned with Government Reference Architectures (GRAs).
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor’s Degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) discipline from an accredited university and at least 12 years’ experience, or STEM master’s degree with 10 years’ experience, or a STEM PHD with 8 years’ experience.
Experience with Agile best practices and processes; tasking, accountability, interception, process enforcement
Experience designing and architecting on-board mission system software ensuring portability, modularity, adaptability, and scalability.
Knowledge of engineering practices and patterns for the full software/hardware/network development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, and V&V
Experience designing micro-service based containerized software using open standards
Your ability to transfer and maintain the final adjudicated Secret clearance (DoD must be in-scope or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation) and any program access(es) required for the position within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the Company.
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience with Government Reference Architectures like OMS/UCI
Experience designing or architecting (design patterns, scaling) operational user experiences
Knowledge or experience with software infrastructure such as code (Kubernetes, Podman, K3s, Helm, etc.)
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Job Details
- Category
- Software
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Location
- El Segundo; United States-California-Redondo Beach, CA
- Posted
- Feb 23, 2026, 07:00 PM
- Listed
- Feb 24, 2026, 02:52 PM
- Compensation
- $177,000 - $265,600 per year
About Northrop Grumman
Part of the growing space industry ecosystem pushing humanity toward interplanetary exploration.
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