Description

At the heart of Defining Possible is our commitment to missions. In rapidly changing global security environments, Northrop Grumman brings informed insights and software-secure technology to enable strategic planning. We are looking for innovators who can help us keep building on our wide portfolio of secure, affordable, integrated, and multi-domain systems and technologies that fuel those missions. By joining in our shared mission, we ’II support yours of expanding your personal network and developing skills, whether you are new to the field, or an industry thought leader. At Northrop Grumman, you ’II have the resources, support, and team to do some of the best work of your career.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS) is currently seeking a Principal Quality Engineer to join our team in Baltimore, MD.

What You'll Get To Do:

• Develop, modify, apply, and maintain quality evaluation, control systems, and protocols for processing materials into semi-finished or finished products.  

• Partner with engineering and manufacturing to establish and uphold quality standards.  

• Design, analyze, and implement inspection and testing processes and equipment; conduct quality assurance tests, perform statistical analyses to determine cost and responsibility for non-conforming parts. 

• Audit quality systems, identify deficiencies, and drive corrective actions that meet reliability and documentation requirements; plan, conduct, report, and follow‑up on audits to ensure compliance and continual process improvement.   

• Identify and remove barriers to quality improvement through root‑cause analysis and corrective‑action planning.  

• Review contracts/SOWs/drawings to evaluate, interpret and apply company policies, ISO 9000, AS9102, MIL, IPC, and other standards applicable to designs and processes.   

• Interface with production‑floor roles (inspection, assembly, operations) and communicate clearly with all stakeholders.  

• Define, classify, and control quality characteristics for products, processes, and services; develop and validate control plans and work‑instruction updates.   

• Manage nonconformances across the facility; lead cross‑functional containments to ensure product compliance.  

• Create, use and interpret quality‑control tools (flowcharts, Pareto, control charts) and construct/interpret FMEAs.  

• Interpret technical drawings and specifications, including GD&T symbols, to verify compliance with design requirement.

• Apply benchmarking techniques to drive system‑wide quality improvements.  

• Facilitate team collaboration with brainstorming, conflict‑resolution, and other facilitation tools. 

• Specialize as needed in design, incoming material, production control, product evaluation, reliability, inventory control, or R&D as they apply to product or process quality.    

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field with a minimum of 5 years of engineering experience in Quality Assurance, which can include investigating failures and identifying root causes or in Manufacturing, Process, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering field of work, performing technical job functions; OR a minimum of 3 years of engineering experience in Quality Assurance, which can include investigating failures and identifying root causes or in Manufacturing, Process, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering field of work performing technical job functions with a Masters Degree in a STEM field; OR a minimum of 1 year of engineering  experience in Quality Assurance, which can include investigating failures and identifying root causes or in Manufacturing, Process, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering field of work, performing technical job functions with a PhD Degree in a STEM field

• Experience with Data Analytics and Statistical Analysis methods and techniques

• Ability to obtain and maintain a US Government Secret security clearance 

• US Citizenship required

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in at least one of the following standards (IPC, J-Std, MIL-STD) Experience with ISO9001 or AS9100 Quality Management System and AS9102 First Article Inspections (FAI). 

• Green/Black Belt Certified in Lean Six-sigma. 

• Certified in Lean and Six-Sigma methodologies 

• Certified auditor 

• Experience Facilitating RCCAs with technical groups 

• SAP Experience 

• Active US Government Secret Clearance 

• Experience leading cross-functional teams to resolve problems or issues. 

• Experience using Microsoft Excel, Minitab or equivalent tools for statistical analysis. 

• Knowledge of modern skillsets such as Artificial Intelligence, SQL, Power BI to aid in data analysis and data visualization 

• Experience with FMEAs, CARs, and audit processes. 

• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE)  

• Certified IPC Specialist (CIS) - IPC‑A‑610  

• Certified IPC Specialist (CIS) - IPC/WHMA‑A‑620