Principal/Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer

Company: Northrop Grumman
Location: San Diego
Posted on: April 1, 2026

Job Description:

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No 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 Mission Systems is a trusted provider of mission-enabling solutions for global security. Our organization is chartered with providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter. We are looking for you to join our team as a Principal/Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer based out of San Diego, CA. As a Principal/Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer at Northrop Grumman, you will have a challenging and rewarding opportunity to be a part of our Enterprise-wide digital transformation. Through the use of Model-based Engineering, DevSecOps and Agile practices we continue to evolve how we deliver critical national defense products and capabilities for the warfighter. Our success is grounded in our ability to embrace change, move quickly and continuously drive innovation. The successful candidate will be collaborative, open, transparent, and team-oriented with a focus on team empowerment & shared responsibility, flexibility, continuous learning, and a culture of automation. What You’ll get to Do: Roles and Responsibilities: Perform as a consultant in highly specialized, leading edge information technologies and methodologies Perform hardware and software installation, configuration, and maintenance Comply with cyber requirements, which may include routine system checks for antivirus, logging, and network system services Recommend and implement approved system enhancements that will improve the performance and reliability of the system including installing, upgrading/patching, monitoring, problem resolution, and configuration management Solve complex problems across disciplines in an Agile, Networking, and Software environment Opportunity to travel for system installations, test support, and customer demos This position may be filled as a Principal Cyber Systems Engineer or Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer. Qualifications: Basic Qualifications for Principal Cyber Systems Engineer: Bachelor's Degree in Cybersecurity, Software, or related STEM degree field with 5 years of experience; or 3 years of experience with a Master's degree; or 1 year of experience with a STEM PhD An additional 4 years of relevant experience can be considered in lieu of a Bachelor degree. Knowledge of Juniper and Cisco network operating systems Ability to analyze DISA STIG rules as well as vendor hardening guides, determine feasibility on individual networks, and implement cyber best practices to configure and harden network operating systems. Experience configuring, troubleshooting, and accounting for High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptors (HAIPE) Experience configuring and validating network topologies using network emulation tools such as GNS3 and EVE-NG Experience using Traffic generators and emulators to include, but not limited to, Spirent, Ixia, and PacketStorm to create custom traffic streams or implement packet degradation on the wire Must be a US Citizen Clearance: The ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret clearance is required Basic Qualifications for Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer: Bachelor's Degree in Cybersecurity, Software, or related STEM degree field with 8 years of experience; or 6 years of experience with a Master's degree; or 4 year of experience with a STEM PhD An additional 4 years of relevant experience can be considered in lieu of a Bachelor degree. Knowledge of Juniper and Cisco network operating systems Ability to analyze DISA STIG rules as well as vendor hardening guides, determine feasibility on individual networks, and implement cyber best practices to configure and harden network operating systems. Experience configuring, troubleshooting, and accounting for High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptors (HAIPE) Experience configuring and validating network topologies using network emulation tools such as GNS3 and EVE-NG Experience using Traffic generators and emulators to include, but not limited to, Spirent, Ixia, and PacketStorm to create custom traffic streams or implement packet degradation on the wire Must be a US Citizen Clearance: The ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret clearance is required Preferred Qualifications: Network Service Provider experience including installation, troubleshooting, testing, and monitoring of both fiber and copper networks, and a basic knowledge of MPLS circuits and other private WAN circuits Comfortability with various Linux distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Debian operating systems Knowledge of network automation tools such as Ansible and Python. Experience analyzing, configuring, and troubleshooting specialized equipment such as Single Board Compute (SBC) systems; Type I Hypervisors, and Docker Containers. DoD 8570 Level 2 Certification, such as Security CE Primary Level Salary Range: $125,300.00 - $187,900.00 Secondary Level Salary Range: $156,400.00 - $234,600.00 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.

Keywords: Northrop Grumman, Carlsbad , Principal/Sr Principal Cyber Systems Engineer, IT / Software / Systems , San Diego, California