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Sr. Principal Software Engineer

Northrop Grumman

Hollywood, MDJob$142–213K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$142–213K/yr
Location
Hollywood, MD
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.

Top Secret clearance, required

Job overview

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems seeks a Sr. Principal Software Engineer for its mission planning systems team in Hollywood, Maryland. The role supports the full software product lifecycle in an Agile Scrum framework, from requirements and implementation through testing, integration, and customer support. The engineer will develop mission-planning features, maintain delivery pipelines and environments, and support software test events and deliverable documentation. Work is performed on-site.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Agile Methodology, requiredContinuous Integration, requiredContinuous Deployment, requiredBamboo, requiredJenkins, requiredScrum Master, requiredC#, requiredJava, requiredObject-Oriented Design, requiredMicrosoft Windows, requiredTest Procedure Development, requiredFormal Test Events, requiredYAML, requiredPython, requiredPowerShell, requiredBatch Scripting, requiredTypeScript, requiredAutomated Test Development, requiredTestComplete 4, requiredRevision Control Systems, requiredSystem Troubleshooting, required.NET Framework, nice to haveWindows Presentation Foundation, nice to haveMicroservices, nice to havegRPC, nice to haveREST, nice to haveSoftware Design Patterns, nice to haveRelational Databases, nice to haveSQL, nice to haveAtlassian Tool Suite, nice to haveAzure, nice to haveAWS, nice to haveDocker, nice to haveKubernetes, nice to haveAnsible, nice to haveTerraform, nice to haveChef, nice to havePuppet, nice to haveMission Planning, nice to haveDOORS, nice to have

Qualifications

Bachelor's in STEM or Equivalent Experience, requiredMaster's in STEM or Equivalent Experience, required9 Years Relevant Experience, required7 Years Relevant Experience, requiredCurrent DoD Secret Clearance, requiredAbility to Obtain Top-Secret Clearance, requiredAbility to Obtain SAP Clearance, requiredCertified ScrumMaster or PSM, nice to haveCompTIA Security+, nice to haveActive Top-Secret Clearance and SCI/SAP Access, nice to have

Benefits

Relocation Assistance
Medical Insurance
Paid Time Off

Full job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret

TRAVEL: No

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 Defense Systems (NGDS) is looking for a Sr Principal Software Engineer based out of Hollywood, MD ( St. Mary's County). Our Team works on state-of-the-art Mission Planning systems. This is a role in a large program that will support the full software product lifecycle in an Agile Scrum framework: requirement definition, estimation, implementation, unit testing, integration testing, SW/HW integration, test documentation, supporting test events, and customer support. The ideal candidate will be a cross-functional team player, willing to take on challenges, that collaborates with internal and external teams and that is driven to provide solutions to internal and external customers.

Responsibilities Include:

  • Designs, develops, documents, tests and debugs applications software and systems that contain logical and mathematical solutions while ensuring software standards are met

  • Maintain and improve the software CI/CD pipelines to enable fast, bug free delivery of critical business software to production

  • Set up and deploy Development, Test, and Build environments

  • Create and update Windows installers

  • Install, test, and verify software products

  • Provide support for the software build and installation

  • Work within a Cross-Functional scrum to develop high-priority mission planning features.

  • Understand third-party software and hardware peripherals to support implementation of software interfaces and support integration

  • Develop software test products such as Verification Cross Reference Matrices to tie software requirements to software tests, Software Test Plans, Software Test Procedures, and Software Test Reports.

  • Define and develop test approaches for new software and system capabilities.

  • Compile data and define changes required in testing procedures or new testing requirements.

  • Perform frequent Smoke Testing and frequent Acceptance Testing on SW builds.

  • Resolve technical issues within a scrum, across scrums, and with the support of other functional roles.

  • Interface on a technical level with the customer

  • Support authoring and development of contract deliverable documentation that support deliverable software products and test events

  • Help define automated test strategies.

  • Support the Agile Framework as a Scrum Master, when required

All work must be performed on-site in Hollywood, MD

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in STEM and a minimum of 9 years of relevant (Computer Science, etc.) experience, or 7 years of experience with a Master’s degree (Computer Science, etc.). Relevant (Computer Science, etc.) years of experience in lieu of degree may be considered

  • Current DoD Secret Clearance (adjudicated within the last 5 years), with ability to obtain a Top-Secret clearance and Special Access Program (SAP) clearances

  • Experience with/using Agile Methodology and Continuous Integration (CI) / Continuous Deployment (CD) Tools (Bamboo, Jenkins) and Practices

  • Current DoD Secret Clearance and ability to obtain SAP access

  • Experience as a Scrum Master

  • Proficiency in C# and/or Java and Object-Oriented Software Design paradigms

  • Experience with Microsoft Windows technologies

  • Test procedure development and maintenance

  • Experience supporting/coordinating formal test events

  • Experience with one or more of the following scripts: yaml, Python, PowerShell, Batch, Typescript

  • Automated test script or test procedure development and maintenance for software testing

  • Experience with automated testing and test software such as TestComplete 4

  • A functional understanding of how revision control systems (e.g., BitBucket, git, CVS, etc.) are used

  • Hands-on system troubleshooting skills

Preferred (Nice to Have) Qualifications:

  • Proficiency in C#, .NET Framework

  • Experience with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Microsoft Windows-based Applications

  • Experience with Microservice development and service communication protocols such as gRPC and/or REST

  • Experience with Software Design Patterns

  • Experience with/using Relational Databases, SQL

  • Experience with the Atlassian Tool Suite: Bitbucket, Jira, Confluence, Crucible/Fish-eye

  • Familiarity with/using/deploying to Cloud technology: Azure and/or AWS

  • Familiarity with/using Containers in Docker and/or Kubernetes

  • Experience with/using and/or managing these DevOps tools: Ansible, Terraform, Chef, or Puppet

  • Previous in-depth mission planning domain knowledge of program software design and code

  • Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) or Professional Scrum Master™ (PSM™) certification

  • Experience working with requirements in DOORS.

  • Demonstrated ability to implement process improvements, streamline activities, and develop efficiencies.

  • Strong interpersonal and analytic skills; Works well in a team-environment

  • Experience with Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) Framework (FW

  • Exposure to Infrastructure as Code (IaC) development

  • Experience with Air Force mission planning

  • CompTIA Security+ Certification

  • Active Top-Secret Clearance (adjudicated within the last 5 years) and SCI/SAP access

Primary Level Salary Range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00

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 9,069 open Software Engineering jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 13, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$142–213K/yr
  • Maryland median$133–222K/yr106 salary ranges
  • US median$146–251K/yr7,056 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $178K, is close to the Maryland median midpoint ($178K) — in the middle half of Software Engineering salary ranges in Maryland.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 128 open Software Engineering jobs in Maryland and 9,069 across the US. 9% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Maryland
Experience
This posting asks for at least 7 years of experience; Software Engineering postings that state a minimum ask for 7 years at the median (6,915 postings).
Education
2,148 of the 9,069 open Software Engineering jobs (24%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 13, 2026. Figures based on too few postings are left out.

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