Sr. Principal Systems Engineer - Nuclear Survivability/Thermal

Requisition ID: R10168776

• Category: Engineering
• Location: Melbourne, Florida, United States of America
• Clearance Type: Top Secret
• Telecommute: No- Teleworking not available for this position
• Shift: 1st Shift (United States of America)
• Travel Required: Yes, 10% of the Time
• Relocation Assistance: Relocation assistance may be available
• Positions Available: 1

This position is currently contingent on program award and associated program award funding. Start dates are determined after funding confirmation.

Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems has an opening for a Sr. Principal Systems Engineer - Nuclear Hardness & Survivability (NH&S) Thermal Engineer to join our team of qualified, diverse individuals. The position will be located in Melbourne, Florida.

The Sr. Principal NH&S Engineer will have a unique opportunity to support design and mitigation strategies to develop and field a survivable weapon system with operational requirements involving the Nuclear Thermal operating environments.

General Responsibilities:

The candidate will be an integral contributor throughout the Engineering & Manufacturing Design and Production & Deployment phases of the program providing domain specific expertise including, but not limited to, the following:

• Generating weapon system design criteria supported by design analysis, modeling & simulation, equipment and system-level trade studies, system integration, piece-part, component, equipment, and system test artifacts.

• Preparing and presenting Nuclear Survivability engineering artifacts supporting requirements compliance and weapon system performance traceability throughout Design Reviews. 

• Develop nuclear hardness system level design strategies, including system level analysis and testing in support of the acquisition life cycle.

• Developing system-level NH&S Design Analysis Reports (DAR) and nuclear hardness system test plans and reports documenting equipment compliance and weapon system certification.

• Ability to travel 20% is required.

The NH&S Engineer will also have an opportunity to support cross-domain design and mitigation strategies and complete work scope in the following nuclear threat areas: Electromagnetic Pulse, Ionizing Radiation, Thermal Radiation, Air-Blast and Radiological exposure depending on the individuals NH&S experience.

Domain Specific Responsibilities/Technical Skills:

Leads and execute the analysis and/or evaluation/validation of components, equipment, subsystems, or weapon system analytical models and actual system implementation for weapons compliance to operationally relevant nuclear threat environments. Working knowledge of operational nuclear weapons threat environments and resulting effects on system interactions of DoD and commercial systems is crucial. Domain specific technical skills and activities are as follows: 

• Development of Thermal Flash Requirements and Hardening Allocations

• Identify Airframe Structural Thermal Hardening & Material Protection Design Criteria 

• Identify Flight Deck Protection Features & Integration Design Criteria 

• Complete Thermal analyses and testing to include coupon testing, thermal load analysis, thermal hardening performance thresholds

• Develop & review Acceptance Test Procedure and Qualification Test Reports 

• Review of Seller drawings, Qualification Test Plans & Procedures, Qualification Test Reports, and Qualification by Similarity Substantiating Data

• Witness Component and System-level Hardness Testing 

• Develop Assembly & Checkout Nuclear Harness Requirements & Hardness Critical Items

• Develop Production Assurance & Nondestructive Inspection Test Techniques

• Develop Hardness Maintenance/Hardness Surveillance (HM/HS) procedures supporting production hardness assurance tests and source data for Technical Order publication 

• Develop Nuclear Hardness and Survivability (NH&S) Program Plan 

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) discipline with 9 years of experience in engineering; OR Master of Science degree in a STEM discipline with 7 years of experience in engineering; OR PhD in a STEM discipline from an with 4 years of experience in engineering.

• Must have an active DoD Secret clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain an interim Top Secret prior to starting, within a reasonable amount of time as determined by the business.

• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Nuclear Command, Control & Communication weapon system survivability design experience 

• Master’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering with focus on thermodynamic, fluid mechanics and/or heat transfer disciplines

• Proficiency with Thermal Modeling & Simulation tools & techniques for transient analysis with unique boundary conditions (COMSOL, ANSYS Thermal Desktop, Matlab, MathCad, or equivalent)

• Experience with Government solar and/or Xenon, Quartz Lamp Thermal Flash facility technology, capabilities, and limitations.  

Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action 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/AA and Pay Transparency statement, please visit. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.