Director of Engineering Discipline Execution

The Director of Engineering Discipline Execution is responsible for seeking and defining commonality in engineering disciplines across the sector's sites, while enabling site specific approaches necessary for their technology areas. This critical role requires extensive collaboration across engineering disciplines of Systems Engineering, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Hardware or Design Engineering, Integration and Test Engineering, and more. The team is responsible to define common tools, standards, processes, techniques, and oversight methods across sites. The Director will understand positive and negative trends and create action plans for both. In conjunction with the Engineering Strategy team, the Engineering Discipline Execution team will collaborate on a future vision and employ near-, mid-, and long-term actions to achieve organizational objectives. The team will consist of subject matter experts in each discipline, both organizationally aligned and matrixed support. This team will be responsible also to source the necessary talent for successful audits, independent review teams, root cause and corrective actions, and others. The team will also partner extensively with cross-functional organizations to target improvements that benefit overall business outcomes, e,g., Global Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality and Mission Assurance, Business Management, Program Management.
The Director of Engineering Discipline Execution will lead a geographically distributed team of approximately 20 or more engineering professionals in the accomplishment of the role. The Director also leads and/or facilitates the deployment of long-term corporate, cross-sector, and intra-sector engineering transformation efforts, with focus on continuous process improvement, guidance, coaching, and training.
Our ideal candidate understands various engineering lifecycles and has the strategic vision of how it could or should be, and pragmatically how to achieve the desired state. The preferred candidate will have a solid technical background, strategic mindset and ability to influence multiple levels of leadership and customers to drive cost, performance, schedule and improvement to innovate and execute engineering activities.

Specific Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):
Discipline Execution

Ensure engineering organizations across the sector are operating with predictable, repeatable rigor.

Perform analysis to understand process differences between sites and, in collaboration with site leaders, implement change that achieves commonality to achieve business outcomes.

Execute across major discipline areas of Systems Engineering, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Design Engineering, Integration and Test Engineering, etc., to define oversight methods (e.g., metrics).

Implement methods to drive engineering program performance and engineering organizational performance across cost, schedule, technical, quality, critical skills and staff, and various other areas.

Collaborate on engineering long-term vision and strategic alignment

Execute strategy and collaborate with organizational peers to stay ahead of industry trends and opportunities for innovation and engineering differentiation

Partner with division engineering teams to improve engineering competitiveness. Includes:


Leveraging sector reusable engineering assets (processes, guidance, tools, templates, and training) to design affordable systems at the speed of customer need

Providing support to program and product line teams through coaching and mentoring on the use of these sector assets

Partnering with other organizations to enhance systems engineering, mission engineering, digital design and product line engineering processes across programs

Partner with other organizations to establish metrics and other measures focused on execution

Improving engineering through updated, automated, and efficient processes

Act as Mission Systems' primary sector interface to corporate, cross-sector, and intra-sector teams involved in related execution activities

Fostering collaboration through groups such as reusable asset authorities, advisory boards, communities of practice, and centers of excellence.

Process & Standards & Audits
• Leads team focused on engineering Principles and Operating Procedures (PrOP);
• Perform analysis on audit results to understand process gaps, process escapes, and implement plans to update processes and/or work with audited groups to rectify any issues

Cross-Functional Partnerships

Partner with other functional organizations (manufacturing, supply chain, program management, etc.) to enable competitive engineering design and performance, including changes to engineering processes, tools, data, and workflows.


Coordinating technical SMEs to support critical program milestones such as System Requirements Reviews, Critical Design Reviews, Manufacturing Readiness Reviews, etc.

Coordinate technical SMEs across organizations in support of other key decision points (e.g. Non-Advocate Reviews, Independent Review Teams, audits/technical oversight, etc.)

Team Leadership

Workforce planning, staffing, talent development & retention, employee engagement and diversity initiatives for the Engineering Discipline Execution team

Ensure engineering investments are value-added and aligned with strategic imperatives

Drive predictable financial results for funded efforts for the organization

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree with minimum of 10 years of experience, or a master's degree with minimum 8 years of experience, or a PhD with minimum 6 years of experience in STEM related technical fields
Good general knowledge of Northrop Grumman portfolio of products, technologies and customers
Experience working across multiple lines of business and functional disciplines (e.g. manufacturing, supply chain, business management, strategy & business development)
Demonstrated experience leading systems development across the product development lifecycle (from design - to - systems deployment), either as a lead systems engineer, chief engineer, product IPT leader or program manager
Demonstrated ability to innovate while challenging traditional ways of doing business
Demonstrated success in championing change within the organization to achieve competitive advantage for the business
Technical experience in any combination of Systems, Software, Hardware, or Cybersecurity engineering within the aerospace & defense industry
Demonstrated knowledge of hiring, staffing, engineering metrics and training resources, processes, and tools
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Strong project management skills
Solid understanding of engineering process, including a working familiarity with ISO 9001, AS9100, and CMMI
U.S. Citizenship is required
A current/active DoW secret clearance (or DoE equivalent) is required with the ability to obtain Special Program Access (SAP)

Preferred Qualifications:

Active DoW Top-Secret Clearance (or DoE equivalent) or higher and the ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI and Special Access Clearance
Strong experience in Systems Engineering
Demonstrated ability to partner with other stakeholders to achieve an optimum balance between project-level execution and enterprise-level efficiencies that improve overall sector performance and competitiveness

Primary Level Salary Range: $194,600.00 - $292,000.00The 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 http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.

Client-provided location(s): San Diego, CA

Job ID: NorthropGrumman-R10217567-2

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-12-23T20:12:16