Operations Engineer Jobs in San Diego, CA
Operations Engineer jobs in San Diego are in strong demand, with openings concentrated in Sorrento Valley, Kearny Mesa, and the Torrey Pines biotech corridor across defense, biotech, and semiconductor manufacturing. Employers hiring right now include PlayStation, Prescient Edge, and Apple. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Description
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.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems is looking for a Systems Modeling & Simulation, Operations Analysis Engineer to support the Systems Engineering organization in Rancho Bernardo, CA.
Our work influences the investment decisions of our senior leadership and customer program offices. The Modeling and Simulation discipline itself is a mesh of many other fields (e.g., Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Software Engineering, etc.) and frequently collaborates across functional disciplines.
In this role, you will be a member of a small, cross-functional team. The team performs the following tasks: developing physics-based models, creating dynamic scenarios, designing focused vignette threads and performing operations analysis. The analysis includes a wide variety of system types and spans multiple domains (friendly and adversary; ground, maritime, air and space). This drives the development of clean-sheet requirements, refines existing program system requirements, and influences the pursuit of future technologies and capabilities. You will work with air vehicle and subsystem engineers, as well as with program and customer leadership, to recommend candidate designs, and to develop Concepts of Operation (CONOPs) and Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) at the system, mission, and campaign levels.
You'll also be responsible for developing new and/or integrating existing system simulation frameworks, performance models and algorithms, threat models and command and control models.
Essential Functions:
- Perform operational analysis and mission effectiveness analysis
- Develop and translate friendly/adversary tactics into mission-level models such as AFSIM
- Model operational environments, perform trade studies via computer simulation, and recommend alternative architectures
- Perform mission engineering activities to ensure continuity between desired operational capabilities and delivered system performance
- Ensure performance capabilities of new systems and architectures are traded against cost and mission requirements; develop mission relevant scenarios; assess operational effectiveness of existing and emerging systems and capabilities in representative operational environments
- Solicit input from various stakeholders, synthesize data, and communicate results to various levels of leadership within the organization
- Develop software to model behavior of systems in real-time and constructive simulations
- Develop, integrate, and use advanced graphical user interfaces and visualization tools
Basic Qualifications:
- Must have a Bachelors of Science degree in a STEM field and at least 2 years of relevant military / professional experience, OR a Master's Degree in a STEM field and at least some of relevant military / professional / academic experience
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Top Secret clearance and Special Access Program (SAP) within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the business.
- Must have experience with tools such as MATLAB, Python, C++, Java, or experience conducting software-based trade studies.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Ability to work with simulation framework tools such as AFSIM, Suppressor, or STK.
- Ability to model operational environments, conduct operations analysis and mission effectiveness trade study analyses.
- Ability to develop advanced data analysis visualization tool sets.
- Proposal development, writing or execution
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Operational military background in any of the following:
- Aircrew (Fighter/Bomber/RPA Pilot/Helicopter)
- Electronic Warfare Officer/Weapons Systems Officer
- Air Battle Manager/Naval Flight Officer/Airborne Tactical Officer
- Intelligence or Communications Officer
- Master’s Degree in a STEM discipline from an accredited university
- Experience with system of systems modeling tools: AFSIM, Suppressor, or Brawler
- Familiarity with AGILE, MBSE, and/or system architecture frameworks
- Effective project management skills and good communication techniques
- Experience with version control tools (Bitbucket, GitHub, or Gitlab, etc.)
- Strong interpersonal and leadership skills
- Excellent communications skills, including the ability to present and brief technical data to all levels of leadership within the organization and U.S. Government
- Current Top Secret clearance
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Find Operations Engineer JobsOperations Engineer Job Market in San Diego
Who's Hiring
- PlayStation32

- Prescient Edge32

- Apple16

- SYNCHRON16

- ICW16

Top Industries Hiring
- Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
Operations Engineer Jobs in San Diego: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a operations engineer job in San Diego?
Focus your search on San Diego's three dominant hiring sectors: defense contracting in Kearny Mesa and Sorrento Valley, biotech and life sciences along the Torrey Pines corridor, and semiconductor manufacturing in Rancho Bernardo. Candidates with hands-on process improvement experience and familiarity with ISO or AS9100 quality standards stand out locally. Targeting mid-size defense subcontractors and biotech contract manufacturers often yields faster traction than pursuing only large primes.
Which companies hire operations engineers in San Diego?
San Diego operations engineer roles are posted by PlayStation, Prescient Edge, and Apple and others right now, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. San Diego's employer mix skews heavily toward defense primes and their subcontractors, life sciences contract manufacturers, and fabless semiconductor companies with local operations teams.
Are there remote operations engineer jobs in San Diego?
Yes, but selectively. Operations engineer roles that involve physical systems, production lines, or lab environments are largely on-site by nature, while analytical, systems, and IT-adjacent operations roles carry more remote flexibility. About 60% of operations engineer openings tied to San Diego are remote or hybrid as of September 2026. Remote availability is highest among software-driven operations and supply chain analytics roles in San Diego's tech sector.
How can I get a operations engineer job in San Diego with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in San Diego is through a junior or associate operations role at a biotech contract manufacturer or a mid-size defense subcontractor, both of which hire entry-level candidates willing to work on-site in Kearny Mesa or Sorrento Valley. Lateral moves from quality technician, manufacturing associate, or supply chain coordinator roles are common local stepping stones. Earning a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt gives candidates a concrete differentiator that San Diego defense and biotech employers recognize quickly.
Which industries hire the most operations engineers in San Diego?
The sectors hiring the most operations engineers in San Diego are Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. San Diego's concentration of defense primes, Navy and Marine Corps installations, and a world-class biotech cluster makes these sectors the consistent anchor of local operations engineering demand.
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