Job Description

Description

Embark on a career putting innovative, reliable, and agile products and ideas into orbit, and beyond. Northrop Grumman has opportunities waiting for you that play a vital role in human space exploration, national defense, and scientific discovery, supporting multiple programs across the universe. With us, you rsquo;ll discover a culture of curiosity and collaboration that will have you Defining Possible from the day you start. Our space systems connect and protect millions of people on earth every day, now and for the future. Explore your future and launch your career today.

The Communications function at Northrop Grumman rsquo;s historic Space Park campus in Redondo Beach, CA is looking for a world-class writer with a nose for finding and telling great stories about amazing technologies and the people who make them happen to both internal and external audiences.

As our Editorial amp; Content Lead, you rsquo;ll serve as a brand journalist, an unflinching content editor, and a strategic adviser on how to turn complex stories about highly technical topics into ldquo;sticky rdquo; content targeted at a wide range of audiences, and delivered via digital, traditional and customer-specific channels.

Excellent writing abilities are a given, and you should be as comfortable drafting social media posts, blog entries and employee comms content as you are writing inverted pyramid news stories and in-depth technical features.

A good candidate can investigate, research and write compelling features that help key audiences learn about our cutting-edge work, form favorable opinions, and become partners in our quest to define possible. Prior experience in defense or tech journalism is by no means required, but the ability to learn complex new subjects and the curiosity to explore them is.

A better candidate can do all those things and also has a history of by-line publication in top-tier aerospace amp; defense outlets like Defense News, Space News amp; Aviation Week, and/or tech-focused outlets like Wired, Popular Science, Axios and Ars Technica.

The best candidate offers all those things, and is also comfortable using their writing skills to help our business development team create customer proposals that tell a vivid, cohesive story about the capabilities and solutions we offer.

All candidates should know how to collaborate with a complex team, influence others, guide decision-making, and ldquo;manage up. rdquo; We rsquo;ll give you all the resources you need to do great work. But you rsquo;ll own your role and the work you do.

We rsquo;re more concerned with the quality and timeliness of that work than where you do it, so we rsquo;re fine with remote work on a regular basis. But you rsquo;ll also need to be on site when necessary, so all candidates must reside in the area. Relocation assistance is available for ideal candidates willing to give the SoCal lifestyle a try.

If you read all of the above and think this would be an awesome opportunity, apply and consider joining our team!
Responsibilities:

* Find, research and write innovative, compelling stories that include primary and secondary sources both internal and external
* Repackage all content for targeted and micro-targeted amplification on all digital and traditional channels
* Write and edit copy for internal and employee engagement messaging
* Partner with internal and external campaign leads to identify editorial opportunities and develop ongoing, cadenced editorial plans that support campaign goals and amplify campaign messaging
* Partner with sector- and corporate-level editorial teams and represent our division during weekly content and editorial meetings
* Edit content and copy written by others for good storytelling, proper grammar and spelling, and AP style
* Serve as a content coach by helping others sort the good story ideas from the bad ones, and strategize how to turn the bad story ideas into good ones
* Develop and maintain an editorial calendar for our division, and ensure our calendar items are shared with/included on the sector- and corporate-level editorial calendars
* Work with graphics, photography and media production teams to create or source compelling visual content to accompany written content

This role will be filled at a Principal Public Relations Rep (level 3) or a Senior Principal Public Relations Rep (level 4) based on the qualifications listed below.

Qualification

Basic Qualifications for a Principal Public Relations Rep:

* A bachelor rsquo;s degree and at least 6 years of professional writing and editing experience; or a master rsquo;s and at least 4 years of professional writing and editing experience. Four additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
* Excellent writing and editing skills with clips and examples that demonstrate a wide range of writing styles and topical coverage abilities
* Digital/social media experience and a deep understanding of how communicate via digital channels
* Strong research and story-sourcing skills
* Ability to work independently while managing multiple deliverables
* Ability to influence editorial strategy across long-term campaign plans
* High tolerance for ambiguity
* Highly skilled at delivering and receiving constructive criticism
* Top-notch presentation and speaking skills
* Intellectual curiosity and a willingness to learn about complex, highly technical topics
* Must be a U.S. Citizen
* Must be able to obtain and maintain a government security clearance
* Althogh infrequent, domestic and international travel may be required

Basic Qualifications for a Senior Principal Public Relations Rep:

* A bachelor rsquo;s degree and at least 10 years of professional writing and editing experience; or a master rsquo;s and at least 8 years of professional writing and editing experience. Four additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
* Excellent writing and editing skills with clips and examples that demonstrate a wide range of writing styles and topical coverage abilities
* Digital/social media experience and a deep understanding of how communicate via digital channels
* Strong research and story-sourcing skills
* Ability to work independently while managing multiple deliverables
* Ability to influence editorial strategy across long-term campaign plans
* High tolerance for ambiguity
* Highly skilled at delivering and receiving constructive criticism
* Top-notch presentation and speaking skills
* Intellectual curiosity and a willingness to learn about complex, highly technical topics
* Must be a U.S. Citizen
* Must be able to obtain and maintain a government security clearance
* Although infrequent, domestic and international travel may be required

Preferred Qualifications:

* Experience with SEO optimization
* Experience with creating multiple versions of the same story for audience targeting and micro-targeting purposes
* Experience with business proposal and/or technical writing and editing
* Active Secret or TS/SCI clearance

About Us:
Our team is responsible for all internal and external communications activities supporting the Strategic Space Systems division of Northrop Grumman rsquo;s Space Systems business, including:

* Employee amp; Site Communications
* Public Relations amp; Media Engagement
* Marketing, Advertising amp; Branding
* Public Affairs
* Executive Communications
* Thought Leadership
* Editorial amp; Content Production
* Proposal Design amp; Content
* Animation, Videography, Photography amp; Graphic Design
* Events, Trade Shows amp; Presentation Facilities
* The ldquo;Space in Motion rdquo; On-Site Museum