1,842,870open jobs
108,186companies
259,730added this week
Browse all
Salary
$114k – $171k per year
Location
In office (San Diego)
Seniority
Principal · 8+ years exp
Employment
Full-Time

Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 20, 2026. First seen by Alion on Jun 24, 2026. Northrop Grumman scores A on the Alion truth index.

Overview
Company
Impact
Profile match
Northrop Grumman is an American defence contractor whose oldest predecessor was founded in 1939, and which took its present form through the 1994 combination of Northrop and Grumman. It builds strategic systems including the B-21 Raider bomber and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile programme, military and civil space systems, radars and electronic warfare equipment, autonomous aircraft, and mission systems and software for the United States armed forces and allied governments. Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it earns the large majority of its revenue from the American government and employs close to one hundred thousand people.
RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be availableCLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: YesCLEARANCE TYPE: SecretTRAVEL: 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. Our organization is chartered with providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter.

Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Enjoy a culture where your voice is valued and start contributing to our team of passionate professionals providing real-life solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. We take pride in creating purposeful work and allowing our employees to grow and achieve their goals every day by Defining Possible. With our competitive pay and comprehensive benefits, we have the right opportunities to fit your life and launch your career today.

We are looking for you to join our team as a Principal or Sr. Principal Embedded Engineer Cryptographic Software based out of San Diego, CA.

What You'll Get to Do:

In this role you will design, develop, integrate and test software for our end-user customers and businesses, primarily focused on cryptographic software code bases. Specifically, you will be responsible for the design, architecture, development, and administration of embedded and real time systems. You will work with multi-disciplinary teams, such as with Systems Engineering, Digital Engineering, Hardware, and Integration & Test, in an Agile software development environment. You will analyze system capabilities to resolve problems on program intent, output requirements, input data acquisition, programming techniques and controls.

This position is contingent upon customer approval

Principal Engineer Embedded Cryptographic Software Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering or another STEM discipline with 5 years of related experience, or Master's degree with 3 years or a PhD with 1 year of experience
  • Current active US Government Secret Clearance
  • Proficient in C/C++
  • Familiarity with HAIPE, OTNK, and/or IKE
  • Experience implementing cryptographic mechanisms using dedicated software libraries
  • Experience with Yocto/Petalinux or WindRiver Linux
  • Experience with Xilinx platforms (Zynq, Ultrascale+ and VERSAL)
  • Experience with TCP/IP and common network configurations
  • Proficient in all areas of the formal software lifecycle process from requirements to testing
  • Experience integrating low-level firmware and software in complex real-time multi-threaded embedded applications
  • Experience with developing and debugging embedded real-time systems.
  • Experience using Jira/Bitbucket/Git and the Agile software development process
  • Ability to work full-time onsite at our Rancho Carmel location.

Sr. Principal Engineer Embedded Cryptographic Software Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering or another STEM discipline with 8 years of related experience, or Master's degree with 6 years or a PhD with 4 years of experience.
  • Current active US Government Secret Clearance
  • Proficient in C/C++
  • Familiarity with HAIPE, OTNK, and/or IKE
  • Experience implementing cryptographic mechanisms using dedicated software libraries
  • Experience with Yocto/Petalinux or WindRiver Linux
  • Experience with Xilinx platforms (Zynq, Ultrascale+ and VERSAL)
  • Experience with TCP/IP and common network configurations
  • Proficient in all areas of the formal software lifecycle process from requirements to testing
  • Experience integrating low-level firmware and software in complex real-time multi-threaded embedded applications
  • Experience with developing and debugging embedded real-time systems.
  • Experience using Jira/Bitbucket/Git and the Agile software development process
  • Ability to work full-time onsite at our Rancho Carmel location.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Foundational Knowledge with Rust
  • Experience with low level driver development
  • Familiarity with Linux kernel driver development/modifications
  • Proficiency working with Linux containers (Docker, Kubernetes or similar container orchestration platforms)
  • Experience with TCP/IP and common network configurations
  • Experience with RESTful Services
  • Experience with Software Defined Radios
  • Experience with the Avionics Operating System
  • Experience with Communication Protocols (I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe, Ethernet)
  • Experience implementing cryptographic mechanisms using dedicated software libraries
  • Familiarity with Xilinx tools (Vitis, Vivado)
  • Familiarity with latest NSA Security Standards
  • Familiarity with assembly language
  • Familiarity with bare metal embedded device drivers
  • Familiarity with PowerPC architectures and peripherals
  • Familiarity with IBM tools (Rhapsody, DOORS, Clearcase)
  • Familiarity with Green Hills AdaMulti
  • Current active US Government Top Secret Clearance
  • Current active SAP clearance
Primary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00Secondary Level Salary Range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00The 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.
Free account
Stop reading job ads. Get the ones that fit.
One free account turns this page into a shortlist built around your stack, your level and your pay.
Match on every job. Stack, seniority, pay and location, scored against your profile.
1,842,870 open roles. Read straight off company career pages, refreshed every day.
Unlimited applications. Every one you send is tracked in one place, on-site or on a company board.
3 tailored CVs a month. Rewritten for the exact job you are applying to. Included free.
Create a free account Continue with Google
Free forever. No card. Under a minute.

Your match

How well do you fit this role?
Two answers are enough for a real match. No account needed.
Check my fit
Answers stay in this browser until you create an account.

Recommended for you based on this role

Hardware
Similar stack
Same company
San Diego
≈ $132k – $241k per year (Estimated) • In office • Freelance • 10+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • Los Angeles
AI/ML
ChatGPT
Chips/EDA
Altium Designer
KiCad
Eagle
Design
SolidWorks
AutoCAD
Apply
$113k – $189k per year • Remote (United States) • Full-Time • 10+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • Wilmington
DevOps
GitLab
Apply
$170k – $230k per year • In office • TS/SCI • Full-Time • 10+ years exp • United States
DevOps
CI/CD
Linux
Management
ITIL
Apply
≈ $154k – $292k per year (Estimated) • Hybrid • Full-Time • 8+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • Warren
Apply
Firmware Engineer 5 hours ago
$180k – $230k per year • Equity • In office • Full-Time • 10+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • Sunnyvale
Apply
Cloud Administrator 28 days ago
In office • Full-Time • 2+ years exp • Kochi
Python
Bash
DevOps
Zabbix
GitHub Actions
Prometheus
Azure
CI/CD
Git
AWS
Kubernetes
Nginx
Grafana
Nagios
Bitbucket
CentOS Stream
Incident Management
SLI/SLO/SLA
Linux
Windows
Apache HTTP Server
Management
Service Desk
Apply
Software Engineer 24 days ago
≈ $103k – $219k per year (Estimated) • In office • Wichita
Python
Databases
DynamoDB
AI/ML
Copilot
Claude Code
AI Agents
AWS Bedrock AgentCore
DevOps
CI/CD
Git
AWS
AWS Lambda
GitHub
API Gateway
Apply
≈ $25k – $68k per year (Estimated) • In office • Full-Time • Bachelor's Degree • Porto
Analytics
Power BI
Microsoft Excel
Management
Jira
Apply
≈ $53k – $96k per year (Estimated) • Hybrid • Full-Time • 7+ years exp • High School Diploma • Montreal
Python
JavaScript
TypeScript
DevOps
Rest API
Docker Swarm
CI/CD
Git
Docker
Kubernetes
Pipeline as Code
Linux
QA
Selenium
JMeter
Cypress
Playwright
Gatling
Postman
Rest-Assured
k6
Apply
Firmware Engineer 4 28 days ago
$175k – $225k per year • In office • Full-Time • Bachelor's Degree • San Diego
C++
Chips/EDA
Xilinx Vivado
Vitis
Management
Agile
Apply
$129k – $206k per year • In office • Full-Time • 5+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • San Diego
C++
IoT
FreeRTOS
Apply
≈ $44k – $80k per year (Estimated) • Hybrid • Secret • Full-Time • 4+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • Norfolk • San Diego
Apply
HVAC Technician 1 day ago
≈ $40k – $70k per year (Estimated) • In office • 2+ years exp • San Diego
Apply
≈ $53k – $105k per year (Estimated) • Equity • In office • Full-Time • High School Diploma • San Diego
Management
Microsoft Office
Apply
≈ $87k – $190k per year (Estimated) • In office • Full-Time • 5+ years exp • Bachelor's Degree • Cambridge • San Diego
Apply
See all jobs
This is one of many
1,842,870 more open roles from verified company boards, updated every day.