Principal Systems Engineer

Principal Systems Engineer (LEAD)

Leidos is seeking a Principal Systems Engineer (LEAD) to join the Air Traffic Business Area within the Homeland Sector, supporting the development of the Leidos Common Automation Platform (L-CAP). L-CAP is a mission-critical, future-ready automation platform built on a hybrid cloud data mesh architecture, enabling next-generation air traffic management capabilities. You will lead systems engineering across a four-ART engineering organization, providing technical governance for requirements, interfaces, integration, verification, and safety analysis. We are building with an AI-first engineering mindset, embracing emerging AI capabilities and modern development practices to accelerate delivery, improve software quality, and continuously evolve how we design and build mission-critical systems. This position supports government programs and requires the ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust investigation.

This role is part of a growing program, and hiring will depend on available funding. We review applications on a rolling basis, but the timeline for interviews and offers may vary. In some cases, we may extend contingent offers that become active once funding is confirmed.

This position is located in Gaithersburg, MD; Egg Harbor Township, NJ; or Eagan, MN. This is an opportunity to contribute to projects that impact millions of air travelers.

This is a hybrid position requiring 3 days onsite and 2 days remote work. Candidates should reside a commutable distance to one of the above locations.

What You'll Do

• Lead cross-program systems engineering activities across four ARTs
• Establish and govern requirements management processes and standards
• Define and manage interface control documents and integration specifications
• Develop verification and validation (V&V) strategy and execution plans
• Maintain requirements traceability from stakeholder needs through implementation
• Lead system integration planning and execution across the platform
• Conduct safety analysis including hazard identification and mitigation
• Support certification activities and regulatory compliance evidence
• Define and enforce SE process standards and best practices
• Lead technical reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, and TRR
• Ensure cross-ART architectural consistency by establishing shared systems engineering standards and interface governance
• Lead modernization planning from a systems engineering perspective including decomposition strategies and transition sequencing
• Govern interfaces between legacy and modernized services maintaining technical coherence across the program
• Champion an AI-first engineering culture by identifying and applying AI-assisted development capabilities, automation, and emerging software engineering practices that improve developer productivity, code quality, testing, and delivery.

Core Technical Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree with 12+ years of relevant experience or Master's degree and 10+ years of experience or equivalent experience.
• Systems engineering leadership for large-scale, complex programs
• Requirements management expertise including decomposition and allocation
• Verification and validation planning and execution at the enterprise level
• Interface management across multiple subsystems and teams
• MBSE and SysML modeling experience for complex system architectures
• System integration planning and execution for distributed platforms
• Safety-critical systems engineering including hazard and risk analysis
• Aviation or defense domain systems engineering experience
• Proficiency with DOORS, Jama, or equivalent requirements management tools
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance; US citizenship required; subject to government background investigation
• Experience ensuring architectural consistency across multiple development teams or release trains
• Demonstrated leadership in systems engineering for large-scale modernization programs

Preferred / Desired Qualifications

• FAA certification experience (DO-178C, DO-254, DO-278A)
• DO-178 and DO-254 compliance and evidence development
• INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP)
• Large program SE leadership across 100+ engineers
• Model-based systems engineering approaches
• Formal verification and validation methods
• Experience governing interfaces between legacy and modernized services in complex system-of-systems environments

Why Leidos?

You'll work on systems where performance, precision, and reliability matter — every second. This is not experimental AI for prototypes. This is disciplined, responsible AI applied to mission-critical software that supports national infrastructure.

If you're excited by solving complex problems in regulated, real-world environments — and using AI as a force multiplier rather than a shortcut — we'd like to talk.

ATMC

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.