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Cognitive Software Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

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Cognitive Software Engineer information

See California salary details

$62.7K

$145.6K

$202.8K

How much do cognitive software engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 8, 2026, the average yearly pay for cognitive software engineer in California is $145,592.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $118,400.00 and $170,700.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Cognitive Software Engineer vs Data Scientist?

AspectCognitive Software EngineerData Scientist
Required CredentialsBachelor's or Master's in CS, AI, or related fieldsBachelor's or Master's in CS, Statistics, or Data Science
Work EnvironmentDevelops AI-powered applications, often in tech or research firmsAnalyzes data to extract insights, typically in tech, finance, or healthcare
Industry UsageAI and machine learning product developmentData analysis and predictive modeling

While both roles require strong technical backgrounds, Cognitive Software Engineers focus on building AI systems and applications, whereas Data Scientists analyze data to inform decisions. Both roles are prevalent in tech industries and often collaborate on AI-driven projects.

What job categories do people searching Cognitive Software Engineer jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Cognitive Software Engineer jobs in California are:
What cities in California are hiring for Cognitive Software Engineer jobs? Cities in California with the most Cognitive Software Engineer job openings:
Infographic showing various Cognitive Software Engineer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 88% Full Time, 8% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 88% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $145,592 per year, or $70 per hour.

Software Engineer/Principal Software Engineer - JAVA

Northrop Grumman Corporation

San Diego, CA • On-site

$114K - $171K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Life, PTO

Re-posted 22 days ago


Northrop Grumman rating

8.2

Company rating: 8.2 out of 10

Based on 360 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

88th of 537 rated manufacturers


Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available
CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: Yes
CLEARANCE TYPE: Top Secret
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.
Please note that this opportunity is contingent on program funding. Start dates are determined after funding confirmation.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is looking to add a Software Engineer/Principal Software Engineer - Java Developer to join our team on site in San Diego, CA. The candidate should be a self-starter with familiarity working in an Integrated Product Team construct.
Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Develop, integrate, test and maintain desktop and web applications and backend services as part of an Integration Functional Capability (IFC)
• Collaborate and work in an engineering environment with other teams such as other SW teams, HW team and System Test team.
• Identify technical risks/opportunities and proactively develop mitigation plans.
• Communicate the progress and accomplishments of the team to senior leadership.
• Create and maintain continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines to ensure stability and quality at all stages of the software development life cycle.
• Work in a process-oriented software development environment across the software lifecycle
• Strong desire to learn new things and adapt where required
The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility. There is no remote / hybrid / telework available for this position. Travel up to 25% may be required.
Basic Qualifications:
• Level 2: Bachelor's Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 2 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master's degree in a STEM discipline and 0 years of related engineering experience.
• Level 3: Bachelor's Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline and 5 years of related engineering experience; OR a Master's degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of related engineering experience; OR a PhD in a STEM discipline and 1 year of related engineering experience.
• Experience in developing Java microservices, web services and/or desktop applications
• Experience with XML/XSLT/XSD and XML technologies such as JAXB and XPath
• Experience with Maven
• Strong collaboration and excellent communication skills verbal and written using collaborating tools such as Confluence and Jira
• Familiarity with Agile development approach (sprint planning, retrospective and scrum)
• Your ability to transfer and maintain the final adjudicated U.S. government Top Secret clearance (must be in-scope or enrolled in Continuous Evaluation) and any program access(es) required for the position within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the Company.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Current applicable Special Access Program (SAP) clearance
• Experience working with one or more of these databases: Postgres, CloudNativePG, Elasticsearch, MongoDB and Redis
• Experience interfacing with a messaging service such as JMS, ActiveMQ or Kafka
Experience developing containerized software
• Experience with automating tasks using Ansible, Bash, PowerShell or Python.
• Experience creating/maintaining DevOps CI/CD pipelines: Maven, Bamboo, GitLab, Bitbucket.
#yellow
Primary Level Salary Range: $91,800.00 - $137,600.00
Secondary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00
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.

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About Northrop Grumman

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

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.

Industry

Space research administration

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Falls Church, VA, US

Year founded

1939