Principal/Sr. Principal Systems Engineer - GNC (20154)

Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible. With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems is seeking a Principal or Sr. Principal Guidance Navigation & Control Systems Engineer to join our team. This position will be located at Huntsville, AL to support the Strategic Deterrent Systems (SDS) Division. This position may be filled at a higher level based on qualifications below.

• →Architect, design, and verify guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) solutions and 6 DOF flight dynamics models for cruise missiles and flight vehicles supporting the Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase of the SLCM N program.
• →Develop autopilot, targeting, and guidance algorithms for assess stability, performance, and robustness using advanced control theory and high fidelity simulations.
• →Define GNC requirements and interfaces to control effectors, navigation sensors, and propulsion systems, and evaluate the impact of latency, bandwidth, and sensor characteristics on system performance.
• →Integrate GNC algorithms into real time embedded flight software, including support to requirements decomposition, interface control documents, and verification.
• →Conduct Monte Carlo, robustness, and performance analyses in MATLAB/Simulink and Python to identify technical risks, quantify margins, and support risk reduction trade studies.
• →Support flight test programs, including contribution to test planning, instrumentation and telemetry definition, and post flight reconstruction and diagnostics of GNC performance.
• →Work closely with aerodynamics, structures, thermal, software, and systems engineering to ensure GNC designs are integrated, feasible, and aligned with overall vehicle and mission requirements.
• →Implement GNC software using modern software practices such as Git, CI/CD pipelines, and adherence to real time operating system constraints.
• →Develop clear technical documentation and presentations that communicate GNC concepts, assumptions, analysis results, and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications

This position may be filled at a Principal level or Sr. Principal level

• →Requires a Bachelors degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) discipline from an accredited university with 5 years of relevant experience; or a Masters degree with 3 years (Sr Principal level requires a Bachelors with 8 years; a Masters with 6 years; or a PhD with 4 years).
• →Must be a US Citizen with an active US Government Secret Security Clearance, at time of application, current and within scope, with an investigation date within the last 6 years.
• →Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret Clearance and Special Access Program (SAP) approval within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the company to meet its business needs.
• →Requires 3 years of experience in guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) for cruise missiles, or other complex flight systems, including development of 6 DOF vehicle models and autopilot/guidance algorithms.
• →Requires experience in C/C++ for embedded code (preferably MISRA C compliant), MATLAB/Simulink for modeling, simulation, and code generation, and Python for data analysis and rapid prototyping, with experience using Git and CI/CD pipelines.

Preferred Qualifications

• →Active DoD Top Secret Clearance.
• →Experience supporting technical GNC teams or workstreams in support of technology maturation and risk reduction or similar early lifecycle acquisition phases.
• →Experience deploying GNC algorithms to real time embedded systems, including familiarity with real time operating systems and support.
• →Experience with cruise missile flight dynamics, navigation and sensor fusion (e.g., INS/GPS/star tracker/lidar)..
• →Proven track record of troubleshooting complex real time GNC systems and effectively communicating technical concepts and risks to non specialists and external customers.
• →Demonstrated experience integrating Simulink algorithms onto hardware using the Simulink Real-Time and Speedgoat Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing platform.
• →Independent contributor with strong leadership skills, demonstrated problem-solving skills, excellent communication skills, as well as interpersonal and organizational skills and a proactive, detail-oriented approach.