Principal / SR. Principal Manufacturing Process Engineer

Relocation assistance may be available. Secret clearance required. Travel: 10% of the time.

About the Role

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. 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. Join Northrop Grumman on our continued mission to push the boundaries of possible across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is seeking a Manufacturing Process Engineer for the Advanced Interconnects and Multilayer Solutions (AIMS) manufacturing cell. AIMS is committed to the rapid development, manufacture, and delivery of leading-edge discriminating products, utilizing advances in organic materials, technology, and processing to meet or exceed customer expectations. The Manufacturing Process Engineer will provide manufacturing technical expertise and direction to fabricate printed wiring boards, manifolds, and backplanes for next-generation RF hardware. This position will be responsible for multiple imaging/chemical/wet processes in AIMS.

Responsibilities

• Process Development
  • Develop new and maintain or improve existing manufacturing processes with a focus on affordability.
  • Create and manage project plans (tasks, resources, schedules) for process development activities.
  • Provide ROI justification for process improvements.
  • Specify, identify, and procure new manufacturing equipment for production readiness and prepare equipment for production.
  • Develop and optimize process parameters.
  • Develop/revise process documentation and work instructions.
• Factory Support
  • Monitor process yields, cost, and process stability and capability.
  • Recommend and implement quality improvements based on metrics.
  • Create, validate, and maintain automatic equipment programs.
  • Solve manufacturing problems (related to materials, designs, equipment, people) in a timely manner.
  • Assist with the training of new personnel and participate in the design of operator training materials.
  • Support factory maintenance personnel with troubleshooting and repair of process equipment.
• Design Support
  • Recommend product design improvements required to produce advanced microelectronics products.
  • Document state-of-the-art process capabilities and guidelines for product designers.
  • Participate in design producibility reviews for new products.

The chosen candidate must have excellent verbal and written communication skills; be able to multi-task in a fast-paced, dynamic, and high-visibility environment; and work well as part of a team.

Requirements

Principal Engineer (Level 3)

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering or related STEM area with a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience (or minimum of 3 years with an MS or 1 year with a PhD). Candidates with a High School diploma/GED and a minimum of 9 years of relevant experience or a minimum of 7 years with an Associate's degree will also be considered.
• Process Engineering experience.
• Experience with Design of Experiment (DOE), Statistical Process Control (SPC), 6 sigma concepts for process development and control.
• Experience with Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T).
• Fluency in MS Office software applications.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret clearance.
• U.S. citizenship is required.

Senior Principal Engineer (Level 4)

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering or related STEM area with a minimum of 9 years of relevant experience (or minimum of 7 years with an MS or 4 years with a PhD). Candidates with a High School diploma/GED and a minimum of 13 years of relevant experience or a minimum of 11 years with an Associate's degree will also be considered.
• Process Engineering experience.
• Experience with Design of Experiment (DOE), Statistical Process Control (SPC), 6 sigma concepts for process development and control.
• Experience with Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T).
• Fluency in MS Office software applications.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Secret clearance.
• U.S. citizenship is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with high-end PWB imaging and chemical processing to include photolithography, developing, etching, stripping, electroless copper and electrolytic copper plating, electroless nickel gold plating, tin and tin/lead plating, blind, through, and microvias.
• Experience with IPC Class 3 substrate fabrication requirements.
• Experience using TrueChem analysis software.
• Experience with the following plating processes:
  • Electrolytic Gold Plating (cyanide based).
  • Electrolytic Sulfamate Nickel Plating.
  • Electrolytic Tin/Lead Plating.
  • Matte Tin, 90-10 Tin Lead, 95-5 Tin Lead, and 63/37 Eutectic Tin Lead.
  • Electrolytic Silver Plating (cyanide based).
  • Aluminum Pretreatment for Electroless Nickel Plating on Aluminum: Degreasing, Nitric Acid strip, Desmutting, Etching (ammonium bifluoride nitric acid/HF), Zincate.
  • Electroless Nickel Plating.
  • Electroless Copper Plating.
  • ENIG.
  • Electrolytic Copper Plating.
  • Electrocleaning (Copper substrates).
  • General pretreatment of metals (Iron, Stainless Steel Grades, Copper, Brass, Aluminum, Copper-Molybdenum-Copper, Beryllium-Copper).
  • Post plating Qualification Testing for Iron, Stainless Steel Grades, Copper, Brass, Aluminum, Copper-Molybdenum-Copper, Beryllium-Copper substrates.
• Experience with Plating Specs, particularly: ASTM B488, AMS QQ-N-290, AMS 2404, AMS 2403.
• Experience with troubleshooting plating defect root causes (nodules, spongy plating, "burnt" plating, skip plating, shadow plating, etc.).
• Experience with tank maintenance for plating processes: Pump replacement, troubleshooting low temperature/high temperature issues, interlock failures, rectifier performance issues. Experience with general plumbing is a plus.
• Experience with reading drawing requirements and developing plating recipes to meet said requirements for required plating stack-ups.
• Experience with wet chemical titration methods, particularly, iodometry and potentiometric titrations.
• Experience with chemical analysis of plating chemistries by UV-vis, ICP, TOC, and CVS.
• Experience with troubleshooting CVS, ICP, and UV-vis instrumentation.
• Experience with developing new methods for ICP, TOC, and UV-vis analysis.
• Experience with troubleshooting redox titration endpoints and finding alternative methods/reagents due to supply chain issues.
• Experience with calibration procedures for Eppendorf pipettes and statistically justifying out-of-tolerance conditions.
• Experience with XRF calibration, measurements, and method/product creation for new metal stack-ups.
• Experience with automated particle count measurements for EGW and PAO coolants.

Pay

Primary Level Salary Range: $98,900.00 - $148,300.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $123,400.00 - $185,000.00

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.