Defense contractor Northrop Grumman plans to add 500 jobs to its Linthicum-based Electronic Systems sector this year and continue to grow that portion of its business with a new space-based reconnaissance division.
The new employees will be primarily engineers and at high-techpositions, according to Electronic Systems sector President Jim Pitts. The sector accounts for about 8,500 of Northrop Grumman?s 10,500 Maryland-based employees.
“We?re not hiring these individuals for one big activity,” Pitts said. “We?re on the cutting edge in a lot of areas that increase our market position.”
Pitts said the company could see a boost from Base Realignment and Closure process, which will bring customers the sector already works with in Fort Monmouth, N.J., much closer.
The wave of high-tech jobs coming into Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground will create competition in some areas, he said, but also opportunities for the company?s “turnkey” service sections.
“I think you might see movement of other sectors of Northrop Grumman into Maryland,” Pitts said. “I view it more as opportunity.”
Doing so puts Northrop Grumman at the forefront of companies taking advantage of the first tangible signs of BRAC?s coming, said Rick Harris, executive director of the Tech Council of Maryland.
“Now things are starting to spin and take traction, and you?re starting to see companies like Northrop Grumman move their chess pieces around and set themselves up for real growth,” Harris said.
Northrop Grumman represents the “leading edge” of local high-tech companies, said Walt Townshend, president of the Baltimore-Washington Chamber of Commerce, who cautioned that the company?s growth could be stymied by the state?s cost of living.
“What we have to watch is the support positions, the other staff jobs ? the high-tech people don?t work in isolation,” he said. “Looking longer term, as housing becomes more and more expensive and more scarce, we have to be watchful of those dynamics. You?re having to go further and further out [to live] for some of the entry-level jobs.”
Pitts said he had expressed that concern to the company?s political divisionand said it remained an issue.
“That is probably one of the biggest concerns for new employees moving into this area, is the cost of housing,” Pitts said. “It?s a big challenge, and I think it?s something that … government and industry both need to think about.”
