AHT - Software Engineer: Automation/AI - Level 2 or 3 (Chandler)

$79K - $123K Chandler, AZ, US Mid Level AI Software Engineer

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Skills & Technologies

AwsAzureGcpGolangLangchainPython

About This Role

AI job market dashboard showing open roles by category

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance available CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No CLEARANCE TYPE: None TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the TimeDescription

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. Expand your horizons, advance your career, and contribute to a secure future for generations. Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector invites you to bring your pioneering spirit to our collaborative teams. As a Software Engineer – Level 2 or 3 located in Chandler, AZ, you’ll be a linchpin in missions of paramount importance, defining the art of the possible from day one. This position is 100% onsite and cannot accommodate telecommute work.

We are seeking a highly motivated Software Automation Engineer with expertise in C++ and Python development to join our dynamic team. You will play a key role in designing, developing, and maintaining software solutions while also managing DevOps processes, automating workflows with CI/CD pipelines, and supporting containerized development environments and infrastructure.

This role combines hands-on software engineering expertise with the opportunity to work on cutting-edge DevOps workflows and infrastructure support. Join us and be part of a team driving innovative solutions at the intersection of software, automation, and systems deployment.

This position will work a 9/80 schedule, with every other Friday off.

Your Role and Impact:

  • Design, develop, document, test, and debug application software and systems
  • Automate workflows and processes by building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and AI applications within a DevOps environment.
  • Develop and maintain containerized applications to ensure portability, scalability, and reliability.
  • Provide infrastructure support by troubleshooting, optimizing performance, and maintaining high availability of systems.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Other duties as assigned

If this job description reads like it was written specifically for you, consider joining our team!

This position is contingent upon the candidate obtaining final clearances and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company.

This role can be filled at either a level 2 or level 3.

Basic Qualifications for Level 2:

  • Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 3 years of professional experience – OR – PhD with 1 year of professional experience. Will consider an additional 4+ years of experience in lieu of degree.
  • Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government DoD Secret security clearance
  • Hands-on experience working in Linux environments, including scripting and system configuration.
  • Proficient in Python or GOLang with a strong background in software development, debugging, and testing.
  • Experience with GitLab CI/CD, version control systems, and automated pipelines for application deployment.
  • Demonstrated experience developing and deploying AI and/or Machine Learning (ML) solutions.
  • Familiarity with APIs and integrating models into applications or agentic frameworks such as Mastra, LangChain, or other similar toolkits for building autonomous agents.
  • Strong understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs), including fine-tuning, hosting, and inference optimization.
  • Experience with developing and hosting AI/ML models in cloud-based environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, or GCP) or on-premise containerized infrastructure.
  • Familiarity with vector databases, retrieval-augment

Basic Qualifications for Level 3:

  • Bachelor’s degree with 5 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 3 years of professional experience – OR – PhD with 1 year of professional experience. Will consider an additional 4+ years of experience in lieu of degree.
  • Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government DoD Secret security clearance
  • Hands-on experience working in Linux environments, including scripting and system configuration.
  • Proficient in Python or GOLang with a strong background in software development, debugging, and testing.
  • Experience with GitLab CI/CD, version control systems, and automated pipelines for application deployment.
  • Demonstrated experience developing and deploying AI and/or Machine Learning (ML) solutions.
  • Familiarity with APIs and integrating models into applications or agentic frameworks such as Mastra, LangChain, or other similar toolkits for building autonomous agents.
  • Strong understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs), including fine-tuning, hosting, and inference optimization.
  • Experience with developing and hosting AI/ML models in cloud-based environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, or GCP) or on-premise containerized infrastructure.
  • Familiarity with vector databases, retrieval-augment

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Active DoD Secret Security Clearance or higher

Curious about all the exciting developments with the Northrop Grumman Space Sector? Click the link below:

https://www.northropgrumman.com/space

Working at Northrop Grumman is more than just a paycheck. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards and benefits package designed to help you thrive at work and in life. For more information on our Total Rewards package, please visit our Total Rewards site.

Northrop Grumman Total Rewards

Primary Level Salary Range: $79,300.00 - $118,900.00 Secondary Level Salary Range: $98,400.00 - $123,000.00 The 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.

Salary Context

This $79K-$123K range is in the lower quartile for AI Software Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $193K across 172 roles with salary data).

Role Details

Title AHT - Software Engineer: Automation/AI - Level 2 or 3 (Chandler)
Location Chandler, AZ, US
Category AI Software Engineer
Experience Mid Level
Salary $79K - $123K
Remote No

About This Role

AI Software Engineers build the applications and systems that AI models run inside. They own the API layers, data pipelines, frontend integrations, and infrastructure that turn a model into a product users interact with. Every AI company needs engineers who can build the software around the AI.

The challenge is building reliable systems around inherently unreliable components. Models are probabilistic. They'll give different answers to the same question. They hallucinate. They're slow. They're expensive. Your job is to build an application layer that handles all of this gracefully while delivering a product that users trust and enjoy.

Across the 9,653 AI roles we're tracking, AI Software Engineer positions make up 5% of the market. At Northrop Grumman, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.

AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.

What the Work Looks Like

A typical week includes: building API endpoints that serve model inference with caching and fallback logic, designing the data pipeline that feeds context to a RAG system, implementing streaming responses in the frontend, debugging a race condition in the async inference pipeline, and optimizing database queries for the vector search layer. It's full-stack engineering with AI at the center.

AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.

Skills Required

Aws (9% of roles) Azure (8% of roles) Gcp (5% of roles) Golang Langchain (3% of roles) Python (17% of roles)

Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.

Knowledge of vector databases, embedding APIs, and LLM integration patterns (function calling, structured outputs, retry logic) differentiates AI software engineers from general software engineers. Understanding cost optimization (caching strategies, model routing, batched inference) is valuable since inference costs can dominate application economics.

Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.

Compensation Benchmarks

AI Software Engineer roles pay a median of $220,000 based on 1,448 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $193,200. This role's midpoint ($101K) sits 54% below the category median. Disclosed range: $79K to $123K.

Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,275; VP: $235,000.

Northrop Grumman AI Hiring

Northrop Grumman has 14 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across Research Scientist, AI Software Engineer, AI/ML Engineer, Data Scientist. Positions span WV, US, Chandler, AZ, US, Remote, US. Compensation range: $123K - $321K.

Location Context

Across all AI roles, 6% (568 positions) offer remote work, while 9,010 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,878 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,413 roles, $264,500 median); Los Angeles (1,340 roles, $210,000 median).

Career Path

Common paths into AI Software Engineer roles include Software Engineer, Full-Stack Developer, Backend Engineer.

From here, career progression typically leads toward Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager.

If you're a software engineer, you're already 80% there. Learn the AI integration patterns: RAG, streaming inference, function calling, structured outputs. Build a project that demonstrates you can wrap an AI model in a production-quality application with proper error handling, caching, and user experience. That's the portfolio piece that gets you hired.

What to Expect in Interviews

Technical screens look like standard software engineering interviews with an AI twist. Expect system design questions about building reliable applications around probabilistic models: handling streaming responses, implementing retry logic for API failures, and designing caching strategies for LLM outputs. Coding rounds test standard algorithms plus practical integration patterns like async processing and rate limiting.

When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.

AI Hiring Overview

The AI job market has 9,653 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 193 entry-level, 4,500 mid-level, 3,455 senior, and 1,505 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (568 positions). The remaining 9,010 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.

The market median for AI roles is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 roles).

AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.

The AI Job Market Today

The AI job market spans 9,653 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (7,301), Data Scientist (441), AI Software Engineer (438). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.

The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (193) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,500) and senior (3,455) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,505 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.

Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (568 positions), with 9,010 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.

AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,400. Top-quartile roles start at $264,230, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,400. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.

Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.

The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,605 postings), Aws (916 postings), Azure (724 postings), Rag (634 postings), Gcp (522 postings), Pytorch (495 postings), Kubernetes (384 postings), Claude (383 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Based on 1,448 roles with disclosed compensation, the median salary for AI Software Engineer positions is $220,000. Actual compensation varies by seniority, location, and company stage.
Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.
About 6% of the 9,653 AI roles we track offer remote work. Remote availability varies by company and seniority level, with senior and leadership roles more likely to offer location flexibility.
Northrop Grumman is among the companies actively hiring for AI and ML talent. Check our company profiles for detailed breakdowns of open roles, salary ranges, and hiring trends.
Common next steps from AI Software Engineer positions include Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager. Progression depends on whether you lean toward technical depth, people management, or product strategy.

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