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2027 - Associate Software Engineer - McClellan CA

Northrop Grumman

McClellan, CAJob$76–114K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$76–114K/yr
Location
McClellan, CA
Work Authorization
Citizenship required

Olive focuses on jobs in the United States, including remote roles you can work from there.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Secret clearance, required

Job overview

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems seeks an entry-level Software Engineer in McClellan, California, to help deliver national defense capabilities. The role builds and enhances software, develops container images, and contributes to software development standards and DevOps processes. Candidates must be completing or have completed a qualifying STEM degree and meet the listed technical qualifications; U.S. citizenship is required to obtain a government security clearance.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Object-Oriented Development, requiredJava, requiredC/C++, requiredPython, requiredJavaScript, requiredHTML, requiredCSS, requiredSQL, requiredRelational Databases, requiredLinux, requiredBash Scripting, requiredGitLab, requiredArtifact Storage, requiredMonitoring Tools, requiredNetworking Troubleshooting, requiredCore Network Protocols, requiredContainers, requiredSoftware Development Lifecycle, requiredContainerized Systems Management, nice to haveREST APIs, nice to havePub/Sub Architectures, nice to haveReact, nice to haveKubernetes, nice to haveCloud-Native Operating Systems, nice to haveDevOps, nice to haveDevSecOps, nice to haveBitbucket, nice to haveJIRA, nice to haveJenkins, nice to haveConfluence, nice to haveAgile, nice to haveObject-Oriented Software Design, nice to haveFront-End Development, nice to haveBack-End Development, nice to have

Qualifications

Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in STEM, requiredU.S. Citizenship, required

Benefits

Relocation Assistance
Medical Insurance
Paid Time Off

Full 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. We have a wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies. Our differentiated battle management and cyber solutions deliver timely, mission-enabling information and provide superior situational awareness and understanding to protect the U.S. and its global allies.

Entry Level opportunities at Northrop Grumman are unique. Are you interested in boosting your knowledge through experience and exposure, while supporting a mission that seeks to protect our nation and its allies? If so, then Northrop Grumman is the place you!

Our professionals live and breathe different perspectives; we are curious about the world, accepting each other, and aware that the more ideas, backgrounds, opinions and experiences we bring to our work, the stronger that work will be. Just as you would invest your time and hard work into our company, we focus on investing back into you through enriching professional experiences and high-quality learning and development opportunities. We want you to bring your whole self to work, and for you to have meaningful connections with your coworkers, customers and communities, while providing the best products, systems and technologies to protect our world.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is seeking a Software Engineer in McClellan, CA to help deliver next-generation national defense capabilities in a fast-paced, innovation-driven environment.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • The new team member will design, develop, document, test and debug software applications and systems that contain logical and mathematical solutions.

  • Conduct multidisciplinary research and collaborates with equipment designers and/or hardware engineers in the planning, design, development, and utilization of software solutions.

  • Determine computer user needs; analyzes system capabilities to resolve problems on program intent, output requirements, input data acquisition, programming techniques and controls; prepares operating instructions; designs and develops compilers and assemblers, utility programs, and operating systems.

  • Implement solutions in multiple components of the system, including storage, OS, network, application, database, and many more.

  • Provide system analysis as an actual user, including onsite visits, and contribute to the next iteration of the system through feedback and development.

  • Ensure software standards are met.

Responsibilities:

  • Build and enhance software, leveraging feedback as an end user and field rep

  • Use container engines and container tools to develop OCI-compliant container images for existing software applications (e.g. Docker images)

  • Design, develop, document, test and debug applications software and systems that contain logical and mathematical solutions

  • Follow software development standards for configuration management, software reuse, and Dev*Ops processes

Basic Qualifications for a Software Engineer:

A candidate must meet ALL of the below criteria. The candidate must:

Be completing or has completed their degree (Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD) from an accredited institution in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or similar STEM degree from an accredited institution

  • Object-oriented development in Java, or C/C+· Scripting and web: Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

  • Data and storage: SQL/relational databases;

  • Linux experience: filesystems/mounts, cron, bash scripting, services, permissions, users/groups

  • DevOps: GitLab (repos, runners, pipelines), integration with artifact/binary storage, use of monitoring tools (e.g., OpenTelemetry, Grafana)

  • Networking: practical troubleshooting with tools like ss, nc, netstat, tcpdump, ip addr; understanding of core protocols and debugging strategies

  • Understanding of containers, containerized development, and deployment

  • End-to-end software development lifecycle experience

  • Be able to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance (U.S. citizenship is a pre-requisite)

Preferred Qualifications

  • Hands-on design, deployment, and dynamic management of containerized systems

  • Experience designing and consuming REST APIs and pub/sub (topics) architectures

  • Proficiency using REACT framework

  • Experience with Kubernetes (K8s, k3s) and cloud-native OS environments

  • Experience with modern software factories and DevOps/DevSecOps practices

  • Familiarity with Atlassian and CI/CD tools: Bitbucket, JIRA, Jenkins, Confluence

  • Advanced scripting in Python, Bash, and related languages

  • Practical experience working in Agile and DevOps teams

  • Strong background in object-oriented software design and implementation

  • Experience with both front-end and back-end User Interface development.

Salary Range:

Salary Range Level 1: $ 76,200 -$114,400

campusjobs

Primary Level Salary Range: $76,200.00 - $114,400.00

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.

Job Category: Engineering

How this job compares

Set against the 37,862 open Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 15, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$76–114K/yr
  • California median$162–243K/yr6,819 salary ranges
  • US median$131–213K/yr30,850 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $95K, is 53% below the California median midpoint ($205K) — in the lowest quarter of Software Engineer salary ranges in California.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 8,395 open Software Engineer jobs in California and 37,862 across the US. 8% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years of experience at the median; the middle half ask for 3 to 7 years (31,399 postings).
Education
11,533 of the 37,862 open Software Engineer jobs (30%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Pay, requirements and demand for Software Engineer jobs

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 15, 2026. Figures based on too few postings are left out.

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