RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance available
CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No
CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret
TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time
DescriptionNorthrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS) offers a challenging career opportunity as a Principal Test Engineer in our Operations Electronics & Avionics Engineering team at our Salt Lake City, UT facility. Working in NGMS means making a direct contribution to mission projects that keep our homeland safe and expanding the boundaries of the world we live in.
The Principal Test Engineer will lead circuit card assembly (CCA) troubleshooting and drive test/process improvements across our product lines. This role is hands-on in the lab and strategic in the conference room: you’ll dig into complex CCA failures, improve how we test, and mentor other engineers and technicians. You should be comfortable owning problems from first failure through root cause and corrective action, and confident working with functional test environments.
What You'll Get to Do:
Troubleshooting & Test Support:
- Lead hands-on debug of complex CCA failures at ICT, functional, and system-level test.
- Perform board-level analysis using schematics, layout, test logs, and instrumentation (DMM, scope, logic analyzer, etc.).
- Distinguish true hardware issues from test setup, software, or fixture-related problems and drive to closure.
- Provide clear, data-driven dispositions and rework recommendations for nonconforming hardware.
Test Process & Capability Improvement:
- Analyze defect/yield data to identify top failure modes and systemic issues.
- Develop and implement improvements to test coverage, methods, and workflows to reduce retest, escape risk, and touch-time.
- Support capacity and throughput improvements (test sequence optimization, parallelization, changeover reduction, etc.).
- Document and standardize best practices for CCA test, debug, and data collection.
Collaboration & Leadership:
- Partner with design engineering, manufacturing, and quality to resolve hardware issues and improve design-for-test (DFT).
- Participate in design and test readiness reviews, providing DFT and test strategy input for new CCAs.
- Mentor junior engineers and technicians in troubleshooting methods, ICT fundamentals, and test tools.
- Prepare and present concise summaries of test performance, risks, and improvement actions to leadership.
What Success Looks Like:
- CCA failures are resolved quickly, with clear root cause and durable corrective actions.
- Test yields improve and retest/no-trouble-found (NTF) rates decrease over time.
- ICT/ICT+ programs and fixtures are robust, with high coverage and strong diagnostics.
- Technicians and junior engineers look to you as a go-to resource for tough board problems.
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in STEM field with 5 years of relevant experience in electronics/CCA test and troubleshooting or Master’s degree in STEM field with 3 years of relevant experience in electronics/CCA test and troubleshooting.
- Strong experience in board-level troubleshooting of digital and/or mixed-signal CCAs.
- Hands-on proficiency with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, DMMs, logic analyzers, power supplies, etc.).
- Ability to interpret schematics, datasheets, test procedures, and manufacturing documentation.
- Demonstrated experience using data to drive root cause and corrective action.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to clearly explain technical issues and solutions to cross-functional teams.
- U.S. Citizenship.
- Ability to obtain/maintain a US Government Secret security clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering.
- Experience with ICT or Flying Probe platforms such as Keysight, Teradyne, or similar.
- Familiarity with boundary scan/JTAG, flying probe, or other structural test methods.
- Experience with statistical analysis of test/yield data and tools such as JMP, Minitab, or similar.
- Background in design-for-test (DFT) for CCAs and participation in design reviews.
- Experience in a high-reliability / aerospace / defense electronics environment.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional problem-solving efforts and sustain improvements.
What We Can Offer You:
Northrop Grumman provides a comprehensive benefits package and a work environment which encourages yourgrowth and supports the mutual success of our people and our company. Northrop Grumman benefits give you theflexibility and control to choose the benefits that make the most sense for you and your family.
Your benefits will include the following: Health Plan, Savings Plan, Paid Time Off and Additional Benefits includingEducation Assistance, Training and Development, 9/80 Work Schedule (where available), and much more!
#MPR
Primary Level Salary Range: $89,400.00 - $134,200.00
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.
