AI Software Engineer Level 3 or 4 (AHT)

Relocation assistance may be available. An active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility is required at time of application. Travel is expected (10% of the time).

About our organization

As an engineer, you'll be joining our growing Aurora Software department which has 200+ Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Systems Administrator, Database Administrator, and Network Engineer peers from entry-level to the most senior chief engineers and architects. We have plenty of opportunities for career advancement into higher level technical roles or leadership positions.

Our Software Department is part of a larger organization that includes Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test staff as well as a Hardware Engineering unit. This larger organization influences cross-program collaboration, professional development and training, as well as engagement and inclusion activities such as lunch-n-learns, campus events, and leadership mixers. We support a small but mighty team that continues to innovate and set new benchmarks for our customers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize AI/ML models with expertise in supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning, as well as statistical modeling.
• Configure, engineer prompts, validate outputs, and build agentic workflows for large language models (LLMs).
• Apply strong statistical background to hypothesis testing, experimental design, A/B testing, and data-driven inference.
• Write production-grade Python code, including testing and refactoring, using the scientific Python stack (NumPy, pandas, PyTorch).
• Utilize version control (Git) and containerization (Docker or OCI-compatible containers) for development and deployment.
• Leverage Linux-based development skills, including strong Bash/Unix scripting.
• Troubleshoot and optimize data pipelines, model training, and serving processes.
• Take ownership of projects and drive them forward with a self-starter attitude.

Requirements

• Level 3: Bachelor’s degree in science with 5+ years of software development experience; 3+ years with a Master's; or 4 additional years of experience in lieu of a degree.
• Level 4: Bachelor’s degree in science with 8+ years of software development experience; 6+ years with a Master's; or 4 additional years of experience in lieu of a degree.
• Deep expertise in ML fundamentals: supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement learning, and statistical modeling.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs: model configuration, prompt engineering, output validation, and building agentic workflows.
• Strong statistical background: hypothesis testing, experimental design, A/B testing, and data-driven inference.
• Proficient in Python: production-grade code, testing, and refactoring.
• Experience with the scientific Python stack: NumPy, pandas, PyTorch.
• Version control and containerization: Git (branching, PR workflow) + Docker (or OCI-compatible containers).
• Linux-based development: strong Bash/Unix scripting skills.
• End-to-end problem-solving: troubleshoot and optimize data pipelines, model training, and serving.
• Self-starter attitude: takes ownership and drives projects forward.

Preferred Qualifications

• Data engineering and cleaning: robust pipelines for noisy, imbalanced, or sparse real-world datasets; experience with feature stores.
• Database expertise: SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB, Redis) systems.
• MLOps and productionization: CI/CD for ML (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), experiment tracking (MLflow, Weights & Biases), model registry, automated testing, and monitoring/drift detection.
• Model serving and APIs: FastAPI, Flask, gRPC, TorchServe, ONNX Runtime.
• Security and compliance awareness: data-privacy regulations and secure model deployment practices.
• Software engineering rigor: test-driven development, code reviews, static analysis, design patterns, documentation.
• Agile teamwork: Scrum/Kanban, cross-functional collaboration, mentoring junior engineers.
• MATLAB: for legacy code or signal-processing tasks.
• Fast-paced, results-driven environment: comfortable with shifting priorities and tight timelines.
• Outstanding communication: clearly articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders; produce thorough documentation.
• Knowledge of bias mitigation, fairness metrics, and responsible AI practices.

Pay

Primary Level Salary Range: $137,800.00 - $206,800.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $172,100.00 - $258,100.00

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.

Benefits

• Health insurance coverage
• Life and disability insurance
• Savings plan
• Company-paid holidays
• Paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business