Space Sr. Staff AI Safety Architect

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be availableCLEARANCE TYPE: NoneTRAVEL: 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.

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.

Northrop Grumman is seeking an engineer or researcher to lead the development of a safety framework for AI-driven Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) in space environments. This role involves building the policies, simulations, and constraint systems that ensure AI agents operate within safety bounds when planning and executing trajectories. The individual will work at the intersection of AI safety, control theory, orbital dynamics, and systems engineering to design fail-safes, guardrails, and interpretability tools that make AI behavior traceable, verifiable, and certifiably safe.

The qualified Senior Staff Systems Engineer will support National Security Space (NSS) Programs and Internal Research & Development (IRAD) projects in the Tactical Space Systems Division located in Dulles, VA. The job responsibilities will be as an individual-contributor and deliverable/product lead within a multi-disciplinary engineering team.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Define and develop architectural safety frameworks for integrating AI into mission and safety-critical systems
• Lead safety assessments for AI-driven RPO
• Design and test verification strategies for non-deterministic AI behaviors
• Ensure system designs comply with relevant standards and emerging AI-specific guidance
• Define requirements for runtime assurance and fail-safe behavior for deployed AI
• Author supporting documentation that demonstrates AI behavior is traceable, verifiable, and certifiably safe
• The application of traditional systems engineering functions in the context of fault management, system autonomy.
• The candidate must be able to assist in the formulation of system design, definition of concept of operations, and systems analysis for failure modes and effects, including their identification and mitigation through autonomous or operational controls.
• Designing, implementing, and validating Fault Management and System Autonomy Flight Software using flight-like simulations and flight hardware.
• Must be knowledgeable in spacecraft subsystem design, spacecraft testing, flight software best practices, and mission operations.
• Candidate may be called on to assist in new business activities, such as conceptual design and analysis for proposals and funded studies and may include authoring sections for both.
• Presentation skills and the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to either technical or nontechnical audiences is required.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelors of Science degree in technical field + 14 years of experience, or Masters of Science degree in technical field + 12 years of experience, or PhD + 9 years of experience
• Experience in Systems Engineering for mission critical applications
• Mission and/or vehicle systems engineering experience
• Experience working with AI/ML-based systems
• Strong understanding of ML model behavior, robustness, uncertainty quantification, and verification techniques
• Familiarity with aerospace safety standards
• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government DoD security clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with real-time, embedded IA systems or autonomy in aerospace or defense domains
• Familiarity with formal methods, runtime assurance architectures, or explainable AI techniques
• Failure analysis or fault management technical experience
• Experience defining requirements & interfaces
• Understanding of spacecraft integration & test, launch, and mission operations
• Experience developing verification documentation
• Experience with architecture development
• Experience with spacecraft mission operations
• Familiarity with electrical & computer systems
• Familiarity with command and telemetry databases
• Active U.S. Government DoD Top Secret/SCI security clearance

Salary Range: $188,200.00 - $282,200.00The 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.