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Sr. Principal Operations Support Engineer – Level 4

Northrop Grumman

Aurora, COJob$142–213K/yrSeen 5 days agoSeen in employer's feed 5 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$142–213K/yr
Location
Aurora, CO
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

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Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Top Secret clearance

Job overview

Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector seeks a Sr. Principal Operations Support Engineer to support mission-critical systems in Aurora, Colorado. The role develops and maintains technical understanding of systems, troubleshoots operational issues, and helps maximize system availability and capability. It is 100% onsite and requires an active TS/SCI clearance with CI polygraph at application; the position is contingent on program awards, funding, and final clearances.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Operations EngineeringSystems EngineeringLinx OSLinux ScriptingPerlPythonMATLABGeographically Diverse TeamworkAtlassian Tool SuiteMulti-Site Customer OrganizationsLive Telemetry TroubleshootingProcess AutomationOptical SystemsData Science MethodsImagery and Telemetry Analysis

Qualifications

Bachelor's in STEM+8, Master's+6 or PhD+4 YearsActive TS/SCI Clearance With CI PolygraphNon-Traditional Work Week Availability

Benefits

Relocation Assistance
Medical Insurance
401(k) Match
Paid Time Off

Full job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Polygraph

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’s Space Sector is seeking a Sr. Principal Operations Support Engineer – Level 4 to join our team in Aurora, CO. This position is 100% onsite and cannot accommodate telecommute work.

Please be aware that this position will be contingent upon capturing program award(s), obtaining and maintaining customer funding, and holding final clearances (if applicable) prior to start date.

The Sr. Principal Operations Support Engineer is developing and maintaining a strong technical understanding of systems to aid in identification and troubleshooting potential issues and ensuring maximum availability and capability. Troubleshooting of real-world operations issues

Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Development of products and CONOPs for the 24x7 operation of a mission-critical system

  • Trending of operational data and simulation of products and CONOPs before transition to operations

  • Returning systems to an operational state, ensuring the health and safety of the systems while maximizing mission availability

  • Review or develop standard operating procedures that are executed real-time on the operational system for standard events and anomaly recoveries

  • Developing scripts and products to automate the operations of complex systems

  • Develop suites of operational products for newly delivered systems

  • Other duties as assigned

This position is contingent upon capturing program award(s), obtaining and maintaining customer funding, and holding final clearances (if applicable) prior to start date

This position is contingent upon the candidate obtaining final clearances and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company.

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field with 8 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of professional experience – OR – PhD with 4 years of professional experience.

  • Requires an active Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance with an active Counterintelligence (CI) Polygraph at time of application

  • Prior operations and/or systems engineering experience

  • Experience with Linx OS and Linux scripting tools.

  • Scripting languages either PERL, python, or MATLAB

  • Ability to work a non-traditional work week that will include occasional 12-hour shifts and weekends per business need

  • Experience working in a geographically diverse team and matrix organization

  • Experience with Atlassian tool suite (e.g. Confluence, JIRA, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience working with multi-site customer organizations

  • Experience troubleshooting live telemetry on operational systems

  • Experience automating processes and scripts

  • Experience with optical systems

  • Experience with data science methods

  • Experience with analyzing imagery and telemetry

Curious about all the exciting developments with the Northrop Grumman Space Sector? Click the link below:

https://www.northropgrumman.com/space

Working at Northrop Grumman is more than just a paycheck. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards and benefits package designed to help you thrive at work and in life. For more information on our Total Rewards package, please visit our Total Rewards site.

Northrop Grumman Total Rewards (https://totalrewards.northropgrumman.com/?\_gl=1*1y2u5rc*\_gcl\_au*MTkyMjcyNDUxNS4xNzUyNTg4MDg3*\_ga*MzA4NDM5NjgzLjE2NzM5ODM3ODg.*\_ga\_7YV3CDX0R2*czE3NTMyNzU3NDgkbzEyMzckZzEkdDE3NTMyNzY2ODQkajU5JGwwJGgw)

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 10,536 open Systems Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 27, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$142–213K/yr
  • Colorado median$114–175K/yr880 salary ranges
  • US median$115–188K/yr7,864 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $178K, is 22% above the Colorado median midpoint ($145K) — in the top quarter of Systems Engineer salary ranges in Colorado.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 1,023 open Systems Engineer jobs in Colorado and 10,536 across the US. 4% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Colorado
Experience
This posting asks for at least 8 years of experience; Systems Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years at the median (8,741 postings).
Education
4,680 of the 10,536 open Systems Engineer jobs (44%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 27, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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