Sr Principal Engineer

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No CLEARANCE TYPE: None TRAVEL: No 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. Role Summary The Sr Principal SMT Production Engineer will serve as a technical leader for Surface Mount Technology (SMT), Circuit Card Assembly (CCA), and conformal-coating manufacturing processes. This individual will oversee production-process performance, provide Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFM/DFA) input, and ensure CCA designs can be produced safely, reliably, repeatedly, and cost-effectively.   The engineer will lead efforts to improve quality, yield, throughput, capacity, and manufacturing cost through process optimization, automation, and the evaluation and implementation of new equipment and technologies. The role will also support product and program execution through manufacturing planning, build documentation, production readiness activities, issue resolution, and coordination across Engineering, Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and Program Management.   Key Responsibilities SMT and Conformal-Coating Technical Leadership • Serve as a senior technical lead and manufacturing-process owner for SMT, CCA production, conformal coating, automated soldering, and associated inspection processes. • Provide hands-on technical support to production personnel, manufacturing supervision, process engineering, quality engineering, and design engineering. • Monitor and improve process capability, first-pass yield, defect rates, throughput, equipment utilization, and overall production performance. • Troubleshoot complex equipment, material, process, and product issues; lead structured failure investigations, root-cause analysis, and corrective-action implementation. • Establish and maintain robust process controls using applicable tools such as Statistical Process Control, Design of Experiments, Process FMEA, mistake-proofing, measurement-system analysis, and equipment qualification. • Support manufacturing compliance with applicable J-STD, IPC, MIL-STD, customer, program, safety, and configuration requirements. • Develop and maintain process documentation, work instructions, build books, manufacturing plans, equipment settings, inspection criteria, and training materials. • Partner with production and quality organizations to ensure manufacturing processes are repeatable, controlled, properly documented, and sustainable.   Design for Manufacturability and Producibility • Review new and existing CCA designs and provide DFM/DFA feedback related to component selection, PCB layout, panelization, solder-joint formation, thermal considerations, inspection access, conformal coating, testability, repairability, and automation. • Interface with electrical, mechanical, components, quality, and test engineering to resolve producibility risks before release to manufacturing. • Participate in design reviews and Manufacturing Readiness Reviews, identifying process risks, capacity constraints, tooling need