Great if you find your niche or want a 9 to 5, mediocre if you are ambitious/innovative/think different. - Engineer Northrop Grumman Employee Review

3.0
Jul 1, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary, benefits (although theses are eroded every couple years). Like any company, if you manage to find your technical niche or a good team, things can be pretty awesome. Great for folk in areas that don't feel compelled to innovate through bureaucracy or just want a 9 to 5. If you see yourself as an "idea person" that doesn't want to dig into the details, you'll fit in great. Decent starting out point for a career after which you'll get bored in 3 to 5 years. Many opportunities to advance given high attrition.

Cons

A tall and inverted management pyramid. Poor communication at all levels, information withholding. Competition between NG campuses and even between buildings and groups on the same campus. Not a good long term place for technically minded or younger/mid level engineers. High attrition with little loyalty/pride for current employees. The Dead Sea Effect (innovative folk evaporate, raising salinity, killing life) is in full effect. Lack of REAL technical expertise in key engineering areas leaves "leaders" who are glorified accountants or wannabe YouTube vloggers or well practiced sycophants. It's so bad in certain areas, they can't recognize/attract good hires because they don't have anyone truly versed in the state of the art to accurately gauge candidates' expertise. You will be treated as a number, especially every couple years when it's time to cut employee benefits and buy back more stocks/issue dividends. Even the laudable goals like "Diversity" are executed by management in a misguided, very prescriptive way that no one truly buys into, but games to increase their managers' numbers. The culture is not inclusive no matter how many metrics the CEO quotes in his video proclamations: it's an echo chamber. As executed, even as a "person of color" I felt dirty by it. Managers with strong preexisting, but subconscious racial biases subtly advance "their own" to counteract the wave of "diversity hires" they think others are forced to bring in. The culture of "metrics gaming" is so strong, I wouldn't put it past people to submit fake Glassdoor reviews to help out their "Engagement Metrics".

Explore other reviews about Northrop Grumman

5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent Opportunities for Defense and Aerospace

Cons

i can't think of any

2.0
Jul 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent benefits, high quality/moral teammates

Cons

Low pay. Overworked employees (most people are taking on multiple roles (usually would be the work/expectation of two, sometimes three or more employees/roles) with no increase in pay. Practically everyone eats lunch while they work. You are paid hourly and have to track your hours, ensuring every hour is given the appropriate charge code, even if you are a full-time "salaried employee". You are not allowed to work overtime without permission and working overtime is just more hours at your usual pay rate. Management is mostly incompetent. At my last one in one meeting with my manager, he said, "So, I gave essentially this same feedback in everyone's quarterly review. I expect you get more tasks done, to do them on time, and to start investing in AI." I actually called him out and said, "I need to push back on what you are asking of me because... I do an of that and more. Especially in regards to AI. You simply do not have enough time with the employees that you manage and...you don't know what we're doing." All he said was, "That's fair." and said things were changing with his latest project finishing up (it's been done for close to a month now. While there's more I could report on, those are probably the biggest concerns

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All