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Flight Software Engineer - Level 3/4 (AHT)

Northrop Grumman

Redondo Beach, CAJob$114–171K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$114–171K/yr
Location
Redondo Beach, CA
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Secret clearance

Job overview

Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector seeks a Flight Software Engineer for its Western Region Software Engineering team in Redondo Beach. The role designs, develops, integrates, and verifies flight software for embedded and real-time systems, collaborating across engineering disciplines in an Agile environment. The position is onsite and may be filled at Level 3 or Level 4; an active Secret clearance is required at application.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Embedded C/C++Object-Oriented ProgrammingThread-Safe ProgrammingEmbedded Software IntegrationSoftware TroubleshootingPythonDriver-Level SoftwareSerial CommunicationsNetworkingLinuxAgile DevelopmentAtlassian Tool SuiteBitbucketJiraConfluenceGitDockerShell ScriptingCCSDS Space Packet ProtocolCI/CDJenkinsOptical PayloadsRF PayloadsIR PayloadsSelf-StarterTeamworkPrioritizationRecommendation-Making

Qualifications

Bachelor's in STEM or EquivalentMaster's in STEM or EquivalentPhD in STEM or EquivalentActive Secret ClearanceTop Secret or SCI Access5+ Years Relevant Engineering Experience3+ Years Relevant Engineering Experience1+ Year Relevant Engineering Experience8+ Years Relevant Engineering Experience6+ Years Relevant Engineering Experience4+ Years Relevant Engineering Experience

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: 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’s Space Sector is seeking a Flight Software Engineer - Level 3/4 to join our Western Region Software Engineering team. This position is located onsite in Redondo Beach, CA.

The Western Region Software Engineering organization comprises over 800 highly skilled professionals, including Software Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Database Administrators, and Network Engineers, at all levels—ranging from early-career engineers to senior chief engineers and architects. This engineering organization supports numerous programs, and we have plenty of opportunities for career advancement into higher level technical roles or leadership positions. Our culture promotes cross-program collaboration, continuous professional development, and a strong sense of community.

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

  • Design, develop, integrate, and verify/test flight software solutions for embedded and real-time systems.

  • Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams—including Systems Engineering, Digital Engineering, Hardware, and Integration & Test—within an Agile development environment.

  • Understand system requirements, how they apply to system design, and implement and debug software to meet defined completion criteria.

The Flight Software Engineer will work in a rapid, fast-paced program environment and must be a self-starter who can operate efficiently in a team setting. Existing engineering and systems specialists will be available to assist with any activities associated with executing primary tasking. However, the selected individual will be expected to prioritize and make recommendations to Technical Leads, as required, to implement assigned tasking.

This position can be filled at either a level 3 or a level 4.

Basic Qualifications for Flight Software Engineer - Level 3:

  • Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline with 5 years of relevant engineering experience; Master's degree in a STEM discipline with 3 years of stated experience; PhD in a STEM discipline with 1 year of stated experience

  • Active U.S. Government Secret security clearance required at the time of application

  • Strong background in embedded C/C++ development with emphasis in object-oriented and thread-safe programming

  • Strong background in integrating and troubleshooting embedded software in a lab environment

  • Proficiency with Python

  • Experience writing driver-level software for serial or networking applications (UART, TCP, UDP)

  • Experience developing in a Linux environment

  • Experience working in Agile software development using the Atlassian Tool Suite (Bitbucket, Jira, Confluence) and Git version control

Basic Qualifications for Flight Software Engineer - Level 4:

  • Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline with 8 years of relevant engineering experience; Master's degree in a STEM discipline with 6 years of stated experience; PhD in a STEM discipline with 4 years of stated experience

  • Active U.S. Government Secret security clearance required at the time of application

  • Strong background in embedded C/C++ development with emphasis in object-oriented and thread-safe programming

  • Strong background in integrating and troubleshooting embedded software in a lab environment

  • Proficiency with Python

  • Experience writing driver-level software for serial or networking applications (UART, TCP, UDP)

  • Experience developing in a Linux environment

  • Experience working in Agile software development using the Atlassian Tool Suite (Bitbucket, Jira, Confluence) and Git version control

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience with software development in Docker containerized environment

  • Experience with Shell scripting

  • Experience with CCSDS Space Packet Protocol

  • Experience with software development leveraging CI/CD pipeline tools such as Jenkins

  • Experience developing or interfacing with Optical, RF, or IR payloads

  • Ability and willingness to obtain a Top Secret clearance and/or SCI Access

#LosAngelesSpace

#SpaceEngJobs

#SpaceSoftwareJobs

Primary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00

Secondary 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 42,527 open Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 6, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$114–171K/yr
  • California median$165–246K/yr7,804 salary ranges
  • US median$135–217K/yr33,898 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $143K, is 30% below the California median midpoint ($205K) — in the lowest quarter of Software Engineer salary ranges in California.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 9,720 open Software Engineer jobs in California and 42,527 across the US. 8% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
This posting asks for at least 1 year of experience — less than three in four Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 34,814 postings).
Education
13,955 of the 42,527 open Software Engineer jobs (33%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 6, 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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