Principal Cloud Platform Architect

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.Leidos is seeking a PrincipalCloud & Platform Architect 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 serve as the enterprise platform architect responsible for designing the hybrid cloud infrastructure and platform services that underpin the L-CAP automation platform. 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.What You'll Do:Design the hybrid cloud architecture spanning on-premises and cloud environmentsDefine Kubernetes orchestration strategy for containerized workloads at scaleEstablish Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) governance using TerraformArchitect FedRAMP-compliant platform designs across multiple environmentsDesign and govern CI/CD platform services for engineering teamsLead capacity planning and infrastructure cost modelingDefine platform reliability standards including SLOs and SLIsDesign multi-environment deployment strategy (dev, test, staging, production)Oversee container orchestration patterns and service mesh architectureDrive cloud cost optimization and FinOps practicesDesign platform architecture to host safety-critical ATC applications with deterministic performance characteristics rather than general enterprise IT workloadsEnsure operational resilience and failover capabilities for distributed real-time ATC services across hybrid cloud deploymentsDefine platform requirements for deterministic distributed services including latency guarantees and predictable resource allocationChampion 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 cloud and platform engineering experienceExpert-level cloud architecture experience with AWS or Azure GovCloudProduction Kubernetes experience at scale (100+ nodes)Deep Terraform/IaC expertise for enterprise infrastructure managementPlatform engineering leadership for large development organizationsFedRAMP platform compliance and boundary design experienceContainer orchestration and microservices platform designDistributed systems architecture and reliability engineeringMicroservices platform design supporting hundreds of servicesAbility to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance; US citizenship required; subject to government background investigationExperience supporting deterministic distributed services with strict latency and availability requirementsKnowledge of platform engineering for safety-critical applications versus general enterprise workloadsAbility to obtain and maintain a Public TrustU.S. citizenship requiredSuccessful completion of background investigations as required by the government customerPreferred / Desired Qualifications: AWS Solutions Architect Professional or Azure Solutions Architect Expert certificationGovCloud deployment and operations experienceAir-gapped and disconnected environment architecturePlatform-as-a-Service design for internal developer teamsSRE and reliability engineering practicesHelm, ArgoCD, and GitOps deployment patternsService mesh implementation (Istio, Linkerd)Experience with hybrid cloud deployment of real-time operational systems in aviation or similar safety-critical domainsWhy 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. ATMCIf 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.Original Posting:August 18, 2026For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.Pay Range:Pay Range $131,300.00 - $237,350.00The 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 (but are not limited to) 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.SummaryLocation: Gaithersburg, MD; Eagan, MN; Egg Harbor Township, NJType: Full time