Full Job Description
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available
CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes
CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret
TRAVEL: Yes, 50% of the Time
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has two openings for Consulting Chief Engineers to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals within our RQ4 FMS & RQ4-USAF Business Area Programs. The FMS Business Area is comprised of two Programs: Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan (JPN). These roles are located in San Diego, CA. The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility. There is no remote / hybrid / telework available for this position.
The Chief Engineer is responsible for the technical baseline of all platforms, has technical authority for any changes to the system, and provides technical leadership and direction to the Business Area engineering team in executing the statements of work across the entire lifecycle of the Program.
SUMMARY OF SKILLS
The individual selected for this position will be responsible for leading over 100 engineers in the FMS portfolio or over 200 engineers in the USAF portfolio through sustainment, improvement, and development of new capabilities for the ROK and Japan platforms.
- The CE is responsible for the overall execution and technical performance of the portfolio comprised of members from each technical IPT (Systems Engineering, Air Vehicle, Mission Systems, Software, and Test).
- Oversee all major technical reviews (SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRR, etc.), thus ensuring execution efforts are delivering quality products on time and within budget.
- Serves as the principal technical interface with the customer.
- Demonstrate experience and understanding of software development, avionics integration, systems engineering (including requirements analysis, modeling and simulation, and verification at subsystem and system level), integration and test in both laboratory and flight test environments.
- Ensures Key Performance Parameters, Technical Performance Measures (First Time Quality included) are being tracked, adhered to, and are satisfying customer and program requirements.
- Provides technical leadership and ensures that programs are identifying, reviewing, and managing risks, issues, opportunities.
- Ensures Systems Safety and Airworthiness compliance efforts are being addressed satisfactorily throughout the execution efforts of the development programs.
- Performs critical decisions to halt and correct planned test events if system safety is compromised.
- Elevates issues of significant technical consequence to the Enterprise CE and to the VP of Engineering, as appropriate.
- Ensures robust systems engineering practices are employed in establishing bids for proposals and ECPs.
- Reviews proposals and ECPs and approves them for technical adequacy and executability.
- Provides inputs to IPTs and functional home room leadership regarding the performance of Engineering personnel supporting the CE and/or IPTs in executing program statement of work.
- Provides constructive feedback and improvement recommendations to the IPTs and to the functional homeroom as the Voice of the Customer regarding people, processes and tools.
- Develops, implements and maintains the technical product roadmaps for a program.
Core Technical Competencies include:
- Strong technical judgment and risk management capability, including making, communicating, and defending risk acceptance decisions under uncertainty.
- Demonstrated technical leadership as a chief/lead engineer or equivalent technical authority on complex, multi0disciplinary systems or programs.
- Strong systems engineering and systems thinking skills, including requirements development, architecture, integration, and verification/validation.
- Experience leading system architecture and design trades, balancing performance, cost, schedule, safety, and producibility/supportability.
- Deep expertise in at least one relevant technical discipline, with broad working knowledge across hardware, software, networks, integration, and test.
- Experience driving cross-functional technical integration across IPTs, suppliers, and specialty engineering (safety, reliability, RAM, etc.).
Basic Qualifications:
- Must have a Bachelor0degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) discipline AND 16 years of experience on manned or unmanned aircraft systems, OR a Master0degree in STEM AND 14 years of experience on manned or unmanned aircraft systems, OR a Ph.D. in STEM AND 11 years of experience on manned or unmanned aircraft systems.
- Subject Matter Expert in two or more Core Technical Competency areas:
- Technical judgement and risk management
- Demonstrated technical leadership
- Systems engineering and systems thinking skills
- Leading system architecture and design trades
- Deep expertise in one relevant technical discipline
- Experience leading cross functional technical integration
- Must have demonstrated knowledge and experience of aircraft systems including air vehicle, mission computing, communications, and sensors.
- Must have familiarity with leading large technical proposals and the ability to lead the customer through reviews of technical performance.
- Must have an active DoD Top Secret (or higher) clearance.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Active TS/SCI.
- Advanced degree in a relevant field (MS/PhD).
- Experience with Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) Systems.
- Experience with radar systems and satellite communication.
- Experience with airworthiness certification / MIL-HDBK 516.
- Experience with product lifecycle through sustainment and operations.
Primary Level Salary Range: $212,100.00 - $318,100.00
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.