Software Engineering- Sr. Staff Engineer (Software Test Automation Discipline Lead)

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: Secret

TRAVEL: Yes, 25% 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.

Software Engineering- Sr. Staff Engineer (Software Test Automation Discipline Lead)

The Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Sector (NGAS) Software Engineering Center of Technical Excellence (CoTE) is creating an Everything-as-Code (XaC) ecosystem powered by an AI-augmented workforce and a resilient software factory. Our mission is to deliver mission effects at the speed of relevance by continuously evolving the tools, processes, training, and metrics that make the software engineering ecosystem efficient, measurable, and future-ready. As a leader in the CoTE team, you will be at the heart of this transformation, driving relentless improvement and ensuring our software capabilities not only meet but anticipate emerging challenges - and turn them into strategic opportunities.

The Software Engineering CoTE organization is seeking a * Sr.* Staff Engineer Software - Software Test Automation Discipline Lead  to lead the Software Management Discipline area. This key leadership role reports to the Aeronautics Systems (AS) Software Factory & Systems Integration Director in the Software Engineering CoTE organization.

This position supports all Aeronautics Systems business divisions at the Aeronautics Systems primary geographic sites, including Melbourne, FL; Palmdale, CA; San Diego, CA; South Bay (El Segundo / Redondo Beach / Manhattan Beach), CA; and Oklahoma City, OK. This position is geographically flexible and can be based at any of the 5 locations listed above.

The Sr. Staff Engineer Software/ Software Test Automation Discipline Lead owns governing the tools, processes, training, and metrics to support the end‑to‑end ecosystem that guarantees NGAS software is “right” (meets its requirements) and that the means to prove it are in place. This role merges the traditional “verification & assurance” responsibilities with the engineering, governance, and continual evolution of the automated‑test infrastructure. In practice, the Lead drives the strategy, tools, processes, training, and metrics that enable shift‑left testing, hybrid‑test execution, continuous monitoring, and test‑as‑code across the entire product lifecycle: from unit‑level checks through Hardware‑in‑the‑Loop (HITL) simulation to post‑flight health‑data analysis.

The Lead does not own day-to-day coding or system integration; instead, the role is to architect, sustain, and continuously improve the tools, process, training, and metrics, creating an enabling environment that product teams use.

Core Responsibilities include

• Define and maintain test verification & automation tools, processes, training, and a metrics roadmap aligned with the product strategy.

• Foster a “Test as Code” culture through code review practices, pull request templates, and shared libraries.

• Provide leadership and define the strategic vision for technical priorities within the Software discipline, aligned with the long-term sector strategy.

• Regularly interface with EI&E discipline leads to identifying program needs and closing gaps in engineering tools, processes, digital solutions, and technical training.

• Lead the development, deployment, and sustainment of sector-wide engineering tools, standardized processes, digital solutions, and technical training: ensuring they are relevant, scalable, and interoperable across programs.

• Build and sustain a strong Software Community of Practice (CoP), ensuring alignment of sub-CoPs, strategies, and priorities while fostering collaboration across programs and sub-disciplines.

• Act as a trusted advisor to help resolve technical performance shortfalls through root cause analysis, corrective action planning, and long-term verification of improvement.

• Capture, share, and embed lessons learned and best practices across programs to continuously raise the bar for technical performance.

Core Technical Competencies

• Software Testing Automation Frameworks : Automation Frameworks, Test Automation, Tool Qualification. Architecture and integration of modular test harnesses, such as JUnit, PyTest,