Great big company - Embedded Software Engineer Northrop Grumman Employee Review

3.0
Jul 25, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Big company with lots of resources. Good place for young engineer to learn corporate life. Interesting and sometimes challenging technical work for software engineer - mostly C#, C++ and C using Visual Studio, although some Linux work as well. Lots of online training opportunities. Pays reasonably well, especially with overtime (if available). Good benefits.

Cons

Corporate culture is focused on stockholder value, meaning profit margin. Lots of corporate hoops to jump through, yet focus is nominally getting quality work done on tine and within budget. Not surprisingly Northrop Grumman has an uptight atmosphere. Lots of Government, especially defense contract work for US Navy. Multiple layoffs in 2010 and 2011 contribute to low morale with workforce cut nearly in half. Likely more layoffs to come if defense contracting does not pick up soon.

Explore other reviews about Northrop Grumman

1.0
Jul 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mission driven, smart engineers who understand and believe in the mission. Low cost insurance compared to other primes. Great experienced resources across sectors. Big company with opportunities to transfer into different positions and sectors.

Cons

Only applies to the local site in Northridge. Chaotic, last minute changes. Leadership or leads are running it all to the ground and resisting changes to assimilate into Northrop grumman culture. Inadequate process/procedures, and resistant to positive changes for years has made the site unbearable. Worst employment retention as years go by and HR or leadership at top do not care. Most of the talent has joined other internal sites, other companies, retired due to burn out, stress and workload. Unkept promises, low or no raise and ok bonuses. Mass exit happening every week and supercedes the inexperienced hires being added. Corporate wants to change the site but the leaders and few legacy employees are fighting to preserve their toxic work culture. The very few who should leave are rude, unprofessional, bullies, protected by their leaders, HR doesn't care at the site level. Join other sectors and sites do not come here. It's mostly young inexperienced engineers and few legacy talent left. Learning is expected on the job, expectation can be impossible due to old inadequate policies, overwhelming workload wearing multiple hats.

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