DevOps Engineer - Level 3 or 4

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes

CLEARANCE TYPE: SCI

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.

*Please be aware that this position is contingent upon capturing program award(s) and obtaining and maintaining associated business and/or customer funding. Furthermore, 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. Continued employment thereafter will be subject to maintenance at the level of clearance and program access required for the position in the future*


Expand your horizons, advance your career, and contribute to a secure future for generations. Northrop Grumman's Space Sector invites you to bring your pioneering spirit to our collaborative teams. As a DevOps Engineer - Level 3 or 4 located in either Dulles, VA or El Segundo, CA , you'll be a linchpin in missions of paramount importance, defining the art of the possible from day one. This position is 100% onsite and cannot accommodate telecommute work.

A DevOps engineer in Northrop Grumman's Space Systems division enables rapid, reliable delivery of mission-critical software that powers satellites, ground stations, and launch-vehicle controls. They design and operate secure, automated CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code on hardened cloud and on-premise environments, ensuring compliance with aerospace standards, stringent safety requirements, and real-time telemetry monitoring. By bridging software development with orbital-operations teams, they help maintain the high availability and performance needed for successful space missions.


This role will primarily be performed in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) environment. This position will work a 9/80 schedule, with every other Friday off.

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

• Automate cloud native technologies, deploy applications, and provision critical infrastructure
• Work with microservices and distributed application architecture, such as containers, Kubernetes, and/or serverless technology
• Work within the OpenStack cloud ecosystem to configure and deploy optimized infrastructure
• Ensure monitoring and health of the resources deployed via Nagios or other enterprise management solutions
• Document procedures used during deployment cycles
• Experience with operational monitoring tools

• Work with the fellow DevOps team and play a mentoring role to cross-train and grow technical talent across DevOps team and assist in troubleshooting tasks
• Implement clean and maintainable infrastructure-as-code that adheres to industry best practices, terraform
• Other duties as assigned

If this job description reads like it was written specifically for you, consider joining our team!

*Please be aware that this position is contingent upon capturing program award(s) and obtaining and maintaining associated business and/or customer funding. Furthermore, 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. Continued employment thereafter will be subject to maintenance at the level of clearance and program access required for the position in the future*


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

Basic Qualifications for Level 3 :

• Bachelor's degree with 5 years of professional experience - OR - Master's degree with 3 years of professional experience - OR - PhD with 1 year of professional experience. Will consider an additional 4+ years of experience in lieu of degree
• Requires an active Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance [ TS/SCI ] at time of application , current and within scope
• 3+ years of DevOps experience
• 3+ years in a technical leadership role managing technical objectives
• Experience in Jira metrics reporting

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Terraform, & Ansible
• Experience with Kubernetes (K8s)

Basic Qualifications for Level 4 :

• Bachelor's degree with 8 years of professional experience - OR - Master's degree with 6 years of professional experience - OR - PhD with 4 years of professional experience. Will consider an additional 4+ years of experience in lieu of degree
• Requires an active Top-Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance [ TS/SCI ] at time of application , current and within scope
• 5+ years of DevOps experience
• 5+ years in a technical leadership role managing technical objectives
• Experience in Jira metrics reporting
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Terraform, & Ansible
• Experience with Kubernetes (K8s)

Preferred Qualifications:

• STEM degree
• Experience in Linux tools/automation and shell scripting
• Experience in Python
• Experience with OpenStack management
• Docker containerization
• Experience with continuous integration/deployment tools such as Jenkins or GitLab
• Experience creating, executing, and troubleshooting complex, automated processes used to configure servers and/or deploy code

Curious about all the exciting developments with the Northrop Grumman Space Sector? Click the link below:

Working at Northrop Grumman is more than just a paycheck. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards and benefits package designed to help you thrive at work and in life. For more information on our Total Rewards package, please visit our Total Rewards site.

Northrop Grumman Total Rewards


*Please be aware that this position is contingent upon capturing program award(s) and obtaining and maintaining associated business and/or customer funding. Furthermore, 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. Continued employment thereafter will be subject to maintenance at the level of clearance and program access required for the position in the future*


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 U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.