Principal AI Software Engineer (SWE-4) (Fort Meade)

Description

Leidos has a new and exciting opportunity for a Principal AI Software Engineer in our Intelligence Sector's Cyber & Analytics Business Area (CABA). Our talented team is at the forefront in Security Engineering, Computer Network Operations (CNO), Mission Software, Analytical Methods and Modeling, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and Cryptographic Key Management. At Leidos, we offer competitive benefits, including Paid Time Off, 11 paid Holidays, 401K with a 6% company match and immediate vesting, Flexible Schedules, Discounted Stock Purchase Plans, Technical Upskilling, Education and Training Support, Parental Paid Leave, and much more. Join us and make a difference in National Security!

Job Summary

Our LOE program provides our customer's Operations organization with the best possible solutions for their mission needs. We achieve this through rapid prototyping, new development, and advanced technology research. From leading-edge visualizations to analytic development, we're always pushing the boundaries to find new and better data sources and tradecraft to answer intelligence questions. With a focus on collaboration and a fast-paced environment, our prototype development program is the ideal place to grow your skills and make a real impact.

Job Responsibilities / Qualifications

• Mission Focus : Collaborate closely with customers to drive the rapid development, evaluation, and transition of AI/ML-enabled mission capabilities that enhance operational analysis and intelligence workflows. Leverage emerging technologies, scalable software architectures, and advanced analytics to automate discovery, accelerate insight generation, and deliver production-ready solutions across diverse mission domains. Shape technical strategy and best practices to ensure effective deployment, sustainment, and evolution of AI-enabled mission systems.
• Technical Proficiency : Proficient in current AI/ML technologies such as classification, clustering, collaborative filtering, search, and retrieval using techniques such as deep neural networks (DNN), recurrent neural networks (RNN), attention-based transformers, etc. Experience in current large language models (LLM) for representative and generative tasks.
• Qualifications : Bachelor's degree plus eleven (11) years of relevant experience or equivalent. Proficiency with object-oriented languages (JAVA, Python) and experience with Jupyter Notebooks.
• Security Clearance : Active TS/SCI with Polygraph required to be considered for this role.
• Desirable Skills : Proficiency in retrieval augmented generation (RAG), model context protocol (MCP) and other recent technologies supporting agentic AI. Foundational knowledge of statistics related to parametric probability distributions, nonparametric probability distributions, Bayesian analysis, and covariance matrices. Proficiency in agentic systems that can automatically carry out mission goals with limited supervision.

Qualified candidates are eligible for enhanced incentives including up to a $25K cash sign‑on bonus or a paid time off bonus.

Pay and Benefits

Pay Range: $131,300.00 – $237,350.00. The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Benefits are fundamental to any career decision. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.