Lead Software Developer

Lead Software Developer - Early Systems Integration (ESI)

Leidos is seeking a Lead Software Developer - Early Systems Integration (ESI) to be based in Gaithersburg, MD; Eagan, MN; or Egg Harbor, NJ. This position will support the United Kingdom National Airspace System Replacement Product Delivery Team - UK NASR PDT. This effort delivers enhanced capabilities to replace and modernize the current operational system supporting UK air traffic services.

You will join a dynamic engineering team responsible for building and sustaining real-time, high-availability, safety-critical systems that directly support national airspace operations.

This is a U.S.-based position that offers a balanced 50% hybrid schedule between 2-3 days in the office per week.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, execute integration and test plans, procedures, and cases to verify system functionality, and performance, and maintain software for real-time, high-availability systems
• Participate in agile software development activities as part of a collaborative engineering team
• Analyze complex system requirements and translate them into efficient, maintainable software test plans and cases.
• Lead and mentor junior integrators, influencing technical direction and promote best practices in integration and verification
• Participate in Agile ceremonies including daily stand-ups, release planning, and sprint reviews as need in support of the SW teams and the build teams.
• Collaborate with software engineers, system engineers, and program leadership to ensure testability of system design and alignment with project schedules
• Promote cross-program collaboration, and sustainable development practices
• Support system integration activities, including hardware and low-level communications interfaces

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field with 4–8 years of relevant experience. Additional relevant experience may be use in lieu of degree.
• OR Master's degree with 2–6 years of relevant experience
• Strong object-oriented programming experience
• Proficiency in Perl, Python and shell scripting
• Experience developing real-time, multi-threaded, high-availability systems
• Experience leading integration and test activities for complex software systems
• Strong hands-on integration experience with large, distributed, or real-time systems
• Experience with Linux environments (Red Hat), virtual machines, and hypervisors
• Experience with low-level communications protocols (TCP/IP, UDP, SCTP)
• Experience with hardware or complex system integration
• Familiarity with system maintenance and lifecycle concepts
• Experience with source control and configuration management tools
• Ability to plan and prioritize work effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively
• US Citizenship Required
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance
• Successful completion of background investigations as required by the government customer

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with test automation frameworks
• Familiarity with AI/ML tools applied within software development workflows
• Familiarity with Agile life cycle
• Advanced integration experience in one or more of the following areas:
• New system functionality integration
• Regression testing
• Problem determination and root cause analysis
• Data reduction and analysis
• Problem verification and change validation
• Air Traffic domain knowledge or experience supporting air traffic programs
• Experience operating in fast-paced, high-accountability environments requiring independent execution

You'll contribute to software systems where reliability, performance, and precision are essential. This is an opportunity to work on mission-critical infrastructure supporting national airspace operations — collaborating with experienced engineers to modernize complex, real-world systems.

If you are motivated by solving technically challenging problems in regulated, operational environments, we encourage you to apply.

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.