This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman.
Expand your horizons, advance your career, and contribute to a secure future for generations. Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector is recruiting junior and mid-level engineers with backgrounds in Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineering to support our teams in Dulles, VA, Gilbert & Chandler AZ, and Redondo Beach, CA.
These positions are 100% on-site and cannot accommodate telecommute work.
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.
Key skills we are seeking:
- Design and analyze relative guidance solutions for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO)
- Design, analyze, and tune sequential filters (e.g. Kalman filters) for attitude determination and relative navigation
- Analyze and test the spacecraft GNC subsystem performance using simulations and other analytic tools
- Develop simulation models for sensors (e.g. star tracker, rate gyro, accelerometer, GPS, magnetometer, sun sensors), actuators (e.g. reaction wheel, torque bar, thruster, CMG), system dynamics (e.g. rigid body, multi-body, orbit mechanics, flexible models, propellant slosh), and the space environment (e.g. atmospheric, solar radiation pressure, third-body gravity, geopotential)
- Develop and validate high-fidelity 3 DOF/6 DOF models and simulations of attitude, ephemeris, and line-of-sight dynamics.
- Design, implement, and verify GNC algorithms, including trackers, filters, and controllers.
- Build, test, and integrate software and simulation tools that enable reliable space vehicle and payload GNC throughout flight operations
- Design, develop, implement, verify, and test high-quality software and simulation toolchains
- Work on a 6-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) simulation to design and test missile flight code
- Work with 6DoF simulation models to evaluate system performance
- Experience with missile flight dynamics, autopilot and guidance design, and implementation into missile flight code
- Experience with various trajectory optimization software and tools
- Apply engineering principles, industry standards, company process, and knowledge of vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics, propulsion, classical/modern control, and estimation theory to perform tasks to advanced program/project goals
Basic Qualifications for Levels 1-4:
- Bachelor’s degree with 1 year of professional experience (Level 1)
- Bachelor’s degree with 2 years of professional experience, or Master’s degree with 1 year (Level 2)
- Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of professional experience, or Master’s degree with 3 years, or PhD with 1 year (Level 3)
- Bachelor’s degree with 8 years of professional experience, or Master’s degree with 6 years, or PhD with 4 years (Level 4)
- Requires an active U.S. Government Secret or Top Secret security clearance at the time of application, current and within scope
- Directly related Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) experience
Preferred Qualifications:
- Master’s or PhD in a relevant engineering discipline
- Top Secret clearance
- Experience designing and implementing attitude-control or state-estimation algorithms
- Experience performing actuator/sensor sizing and selection
- Experience with modeling, simulation, and verification/validation of 3‑DOF/6‑DOF GNC systems
- Ability to conduct complex kinematics and dynamics analyses and to contribute to early-stage (clean-sheet) space vehicle and payload conceptual design
- Experience with software and hardware-in-the-loop testing
- Experience with version control tools such as SVN or Git
- Experience implementing spacecraft GNC algorithms on embedded systems
- Strong technical fundamentals in the areas of spacecraft attitude and orbit dynamics, navigation filtering and/or control systems design
- Experience with on-orbit space vehicle operations, commanding, debugging, and use of flight telemetry to track performance metrics
- Experience with Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) algorithms, practices and planning strategies
- Experience with performing spacecraft GNC design, analysis, Hardware (HW) and Integration & Test (I&T), or flight operations.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities
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Primary Level Salary Range: $65,800.00 - $98,800.00The 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.Northrop Grumman Azusa, California, USA Office
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