Software Director, Technical Excellence

Northrop Grumman

Director leading Software Center of Technical Excellence at Northrop Grumman. Focusing on strategic vision, technical training, and collaboration across aerospace systems.

Posted 6/4/2026full-timeCalifornia, Florida • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $209,000 - $362,100 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Provide leadership and define strategic vision for technical priorities within Software discipline, aligned to long-term sector strategy
Regularly interface with EI&E discipline leads to identify program needs and close 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
Oversee and allocate the discipline’s NCTA and indirect budgets to strengthen technical excellence; advance tools, processes, and workforce capabilities; and generate measurable impact on program performance and future competitiveness
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
Represent the discipline in sector-wide and enterprise-wide technical development efforts related to technical development, technical career pathing, technical training, and critical skills investment
Participate in sector-level talent reviews and succession planning to maintain discipline-wide visibility into talent strengths, gaps, and growth opportunities
Partner with EI&E leads to understand program critical skill needs and collaborate with SI&O to translate skill needs into funded technical training programs and onboarding frameworks
Provide leadership, alignment, and support to NG Fellows within the discipline to advance sector- and enterprise-wide emerging technologies and future workforce capabilities
Contribute technical expertise and process leadership in major proposal reviews, program reviews, independent technical reviews, program stand-up reviews, NCTA and indirect activities, and other sector-wide improvement efforts
Act as a trusted advisor to help resolve technical performance shortfalls through root cause analysis, corrective action planning, long-term verification of improvement
Capture, share, and embed lessons learned and best practices across programs to continuously raise the bar for technical performance

Requirements

What you’ll need

Must have a Bachelor’s of Science degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) discipline AND 9 years of related professional/military experience within the Aerospace and Defense industry that includes a background in leadership positions, OR a Master’s of Science degree in a STEM discipline and 7 years of related professional/military experience within the Aerospace and Defense industry that includes a background in leadership positions
Minimum 6 years of Software leadership/management experience in an integrated product team environment leading agile development teams
Experience working across the total program lifecycle
Expertise in establishing engineering standards, tools, and processes at scale
Experience in defining and developing software processes and defining tools in alignment with the DOD Dev*Ops Reference architecture
Experience with or exposure to digital design initiatives and solutions
Experience with commercial Software licensing models and managing commercial software tool portfolios
Knowledge of modern industry practices for developing software defined systems
Experience in Avionics, Vehicle, Systems Engineering, Global Supply Chain, and Test processes and tools where they overlap and /or are adjacent to Software processes and tools.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

software leadershipagile developmentengineering standardssoftware processesDOD Dev*Ops Reference architecturedigital design solutionscommercial software licensingsoftware defined systemsAvionicsSystems Engineering

Soft Skills

leadershipstrategic visioncollaborationcommunicationroot cause analysiscorrective action planningtechnical expertiseprocess leadershiptalent managementcommunity building