Northrop Grumman Fellows are recognized experts who tackle the hardest technical problems and ensure we retain the hard-won insights needed to perform complex missions successfully. They define what is possible in our most critical capability areas while identifying and cultivating the people, processes, and tools required for enduring technical advantage. Fellows are deployed against our most important programs and captures, aligned to top business priorities, and advance our products and solutions to meet customers’ missions every day.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems is seeking an NG Fellow 1 – Hypersonic Autopilot and Guidance to support the Weapons Prime Strategic initiative for LED. This position is located in Chandler, Arizona and reports to the GNC/SW engineering director.

The ideal candidate will set and drive strategy for a broad set of hypersonic autopilot, guidance, flight-dynamics, and embedded algorithm initiatives and will be empowered to shape technical direction across trajectory design, engagement geometry, mission analysis, controllability, real-time implementation, and integrated weapon-system performance. The Fellow is expected to provide scientific, technical, and intellectual leadership that materially improves capture success and market-share growth in alignment with the LED long-range strategic plan.

This leader must have a strong grasp of campaign execution and networking strategy and possess the skills, drive, and judgment to successfully interface with senior leaders, chief engineers, program teams, and customer stakeholders. The role is expected to connect architecture, flight dynamics, mission analysis, guidance-law development, autopilot design, and embedded implementation into a coherent technical strategy that supports hypersonic weapon-system performance objectives across the lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic & Technical Leadership

• Serve as a sector-level technical authority for hypersonic autopilot and guidance applications, shaping architecture and design approaches that strengthen the Weapons Prime initiative.
• Define and influence long-term technical roadmaps for hypersonic guidance, autopilot behavior, flight dynamics, mission analysis, engagement geometry, time-to-go logic, and real-time software realization across relevant mission profiles.
• Drive technical strategy, trades, and risk-reduction plans across the engineering lifecycle—from concept exploration through design, development, integration, verification, test, and fielding support.
• Provide technical leadership on critical programs and captures, including solution development, technical differentiation, and alignment to customer mission needs.
• Establish and champion best practices for translating advanced GNC and interceptor-style algorithm concepts into robust, high-fidelity software architecture and deterministic implementation methods for hypersonic mission environments.
• Lead trade studies on trajectory shaping, controllability, engagement timelines, predicted intercept conditions, guidance-law performance, autopilot robustness, thermal and aerodynamic constraints, latency, and implementation approaches in operationally relevant environments.

Organizational & People Leadership

• Lead through influence across software, systems, GNC, flight sciences, mission engineering, and verification organizations, aligning technical direction with LED strategy and growth objectives.
• Mentor chief engineers, IPT leads, and senior technical staff in guidance-law development, autopilot design, estimation approaches, mission analysis, and embedded implementation practices.
• Drive adoption of engineering methods, modeling approaches, and digital practices that improve solution quality, mission performance, implementation robustness, and affordability.
• Engage regularly with senior leadership and customers to present technical concepts, trade studies, risks, mitigations, and recommendations in a clear and compelling manner.

Technical Skills and Core Competencies

• Deep experience in GNC, autopilot development, flight dynamics, mission analysis, and guidance implementation for hypersonic weapons, interceptors, launch vehicles, or closely related missile systems.
• Demonstrated experience transitioning advanced guidance and control concepts into deterministic real-time or embedded software implementations with awareness of latency, compute, timing, and mission-critical robustness constraints.
• Strong background in controls, kinematics, estimation and filtering methods, uncertainty analysis, engagement geometry, trajectory optimization, and other applied-math techniques relevant to hypersonic mission performance.
• Broad systems engineering and technical oversight experience across complex, multi-discipline defense systems.
• Experience designing, researching, and developing advanced technical solutions that result in differentiated product and business opportunities.
• Proficiency in developing architectures and implementation strategies for mission-critical guidance and autopilot functions across varied mission life cycles.
• Experience with high-fidelity modeling, simulation, verification, and performance trade studies for guidance, controllability, mission timelines, predicted intercept conditions, or flight-dynamics functions.
• Working knowledge of MBSE and digital engineering practices, along with requirements and architecture tools such as DOORS, Cameo, or comparable toolsets.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelors, Master’s, and/or PhD in a relevant STEM degree and robust industry related experience; 20 years of experience with a BS or 18 years of experience with an MS or PhD
• Active U.S. Government Secret security clearance at time of application, with the capability to obtain TS/SCI clearance.
• Demonstrated experience with guidance, autopilot, flight-dynamics, or mission-analysis development for hypersonic, interceptor, missile, or closely related aerospace systems.
• Demonstrated experience with systems engineering and verification activities spanning requirements development, integration, test, and fielding support for complex development efforts.
• Experience working closely with IPT Leads, Chief Engineers, and program leadership on complex development efforts.
• Ability to support strategic initiatives and captures tied to portfolio growth objectives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience with hypersonic weapon applications and direct responsibility for guidance, autopilot, architecture, mission analysis, or flight-dynamics-related solution development.
• Experience implementing guidance and control functions in embedded mission systems for operationally relevant environments.
• Experience with modeling and simulation environments used to assess trajectory shaping, engagement geometry, time-to-go logic, controllability, thermal and aerodynamic effects, mission timelines, and robustness in representative mission conditions.
• Experience and proficiency with Agile principles, processes, and tools; Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE); and verification environments such as software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, or comparable test frameworks.
• Track record of contributing to or leading successful captures and proposals for advanced weapon-system programs.