Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer (AHT)

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret TRAVEL: 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. This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems Sector is known for pushing the boundaries of innovation, redefining engineering capabilities, and driving advances in various sciences through cutting-edge technology.  Our team is chartered with providing the skills, and innovative technologies to develop, design, produce, and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter. Come be a part of our mission. We are seeking a Sr. Principal DevOps Engineer to lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of our CI/CD pipelines and runtime environments. You will own our GitLab-based delivery platform, drive automation across build/test/deploy, and mentor engineers while partnering closely with development, quality assurance, and operations teams. This position will be based in Aurora, CO.

Own and evolve GitLab CI/CD pipelines for multiple services and environments. Architect, implement, and maintain robust CI/CD workflows (build, test, security, deployment, rollback). Design and maintain Docker image build processes (Dockerfiles, multi‑stage builds, image scanning, registries). Support and optimize containerized runtime environments, including Docker Swarm and/or other orchestration platforms. Define and enforce branching strategies, merge request workflows, and release practices in GitLab. Integrate quality gates into pipelines (unit tests, integration tests, Cucumber/BDD, static analysis, security scanning). Monitor pipeline performance and reliability; identify bottlenecks and drive continuous improvement. Implement configuration‑as‑code for pipeline definitions and deployment workflows (GitOps mindset). Collaborate with development and QA to ensure safe, repeatable, and observable releases. Mentor and coach engineers on DevOps practices, tooling, and automation patterns.

Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of relevant experience, OR Master's degree with 6+ years of relevant experience is required. 4 additional years of experience is required in lieu of a degree. Must have an active U.S. Government Top Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope, with the ability to obtain and maintain SCI approval/access. Experience as a DevOps Engineer (or similar), including demonstrated senior‑level responsibilities. Hands‑on experience with GitLab and GitLab CI (pipeline YAML, runners, environments, variables). Experience with Docker (image builds, runtime configuration, registries, best practices). Solid understanding of source control and release management (branching, tagging, versioning, hotfix flows). Strong scripting/automation skills