Director Operations AI & Analytics

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: No relocation assistance available

CLEARANCE TYPE: None

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

**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 Insights & Intelligence (i2) is hiring a strategic leader to own AI, analytics and data-driven decision making for our operational functions across the digital thread (engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, etc).

This director position will report to the Sr. Director, Insights & Intelligence (i2).

This role is based in Falls Church, VA and hybrid options may be considered for the right candidate.

Insights & Intelligence (i2) is reimagining decision making at Northrop Grumman.

As part of our Chief Information & Digital Office (CIDO), i2 works with all enterprise domains and businesses to drive our data, analytics & AI transformation.

This role partners closely with our Global Operations Council and associated functional leadership councils.

The right candidate balances strategic vision with hands-on delivery, has deep experience implementing advanced analytics/AI at scale, and can influence senior leaders to adopt data-driven ways of working.

The Director, Operations AI & Analytics will define and deliver the data, analytics and AI strategy for operational functions.

This leader will translate business priorities into analytics/AI roadmaps, build and scale embedded analytics/AI capability, and lead cross-functional transformation that embeds data-driven decision making into day-to-day operations.

This is a high-visibility role with a direct line to executive stakeholders and an opportunity to shape the organization’s long-term competitive advantage through AI and analytics.

**Impact / What success looks like in 12–18 months:**

+ Clear analytics strategy aligned to operational functional priorities and approved by the respective leadership councils.
+ Functional analytics teams operating with common standards and governed data, producing trusted metrics.
+ Measurable improvements in decision velocity and insight adoption (e.g. faster reporting cycles, higher forecast accuracy, or demonstrable time freed for business leaders).
+ At least one high-impact AI/ML solution deployed to production that delivers quantifiable business outcomes (e.g. cost savings, revenue lift, process automation, or risk reduction).
+ A sustainable operating model for analytics that includes training, governance, and stakeholder accountability.

**Key responsibilities:**

+ Co-create and execute an AI & analytics strategy in partnership with functional operations councils.
+ Drive data driven optimizations through embedded analytics teams across functions such as Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality and Engineering.
+ Establish a technical roadmap for Operations AI & analytics.
+ Translate complex business problems into analytics and AI solutions; own delivery from scoping to production and impact measurement.
+ Drive organizational adoption: present insights to senior leaders, run stakeholder workshops, and implement change-management plans to embed new capabilities.
+ Partner with the broader i2 organization to establish data governance, quality, and lineage standards to drive standard business metrics
+ Recruit, develop and retain top analytics talent; define hiring priorities and bench strength for key skills (data analysis, data science, analytics storytelling).

**Basic Qualifications:**

+ Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, Computer Scienceor related field.

Advanced Degree preferred.
+ At least 10 years of progressive experience in analytics, data science, AI/ML, or business intelligence.
+ Demonstrated track record of delivering enterprise-scale analytics or AI products that produced measurable business value.
+ Strong stakeholder influence and executive-level communication skills; experience partnering with COOs or operations leadership.
+ Practical experience implementing analytics operating models.
+ Hands-on understanding of analytics/ML lifecycle, data engineering, cloud analytics platforms, and modern BI tooling.
+ Proven ability to hire, develop and retain cross-functional analytics teams.
+ Familiarity with enterprise business systems such as SAP S/4, PLM, MES, QMS or similar.

**Preferred Qualifications:**

+ Experience leading analytics within supply chain, manufacturing, quality and engineering contexts and driving standardization across domains
+ Experience using generative AI or similar tools within analytics
+ Familiarity implementing solutions using Databricks or similar
+ Strong change management skills and experience driving cultural adoption of data-driven decision making.
+ Track record of pragmatic prioritization: delivering quick wins while building long-term sustainable capability.

Primary Level Salary Range: $179,600.00 - $296,400.00

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.

Required Skill Profession

Other General