Lead Systems Engineer

Lead Systems EngineerLeidos is seeking Lead Systems Engineers to join the Air Traffic Business Area within the Homeland Sector, supporting the development of next-generation flight service and air traffic systems. This work aligns with the FAA's broader initiative to modernize legacy flight service capabilities, replacing aging infrastructure with scalable, cloud-based platforms designed to improve safety and operational efficiency—particularly in remote and high-dependency aviation environments. These efforts focus on delivering mission-critical, future-ready solutions that provide safety-critical flight services to the pilot community.Please note, this exciting position is currently unfunded and is anticipation of future work.As a member of a Scaled Agile software development organization, you will contribute to the technical execution of a program that integrates proven, globally deployed technologies with modern cloud-native capabilities. You will work alongside cross-functional teams and technical leaders to deliver predictable outcomes in a highly regulated, safety-critical environment.In this position, you will serve as a Product Owner for a development team in an Agile/SAFe environment, assisting in the design and implementation of software solutions alongside your team while working with program architects, stakeholders, product delivery, and DevSecOps teams. This position supports government programs and requires the ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust investigation.Primary Responsibilities:Review FAA requirement documents, advisory circulars, and applicable regulations (e.g., 14 CFR parts) to extract intent, constraints, and acceptance criteria.Manage the backlog for one or more Agile teams, prioritizing features based on stakeholder needs, and ensuring the development team builds the right functionality.Engage with customer stakeholders to identify use cases with an emphasis on completeness, testability, alignment with operational workflows, and readiness for validation trials.Decompose high-level regulatory requirements into specific, testable capability statements (Agile features) with clear acceptance criteria mapped to FAA compliance outcomes (e.g., performance thresholds, safety margins, required reporting formats).Systematically capture and communicate design decisions, performance trade-offs, regulatory compliance rationales, and risk assessments with each release, enabling reviewers to trace your decision-making process and provide informed feedback.Prepare and review technical documentation, including use cases, user interface specifications, and requirements traceability.Participate in structured reviews and inspections.Required Qualifications:Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field with 4-8 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree with 2-6 years of experienceExperience and familiarity with Agile methodology, principles, and toolsFamiliarity with the role of the Agile Product Owner, including owning and prioritizing the product backlog, defining complete product backlog items (user stories), making timely decisions on scope, and acceptance of workStrong understanding of disciplined engineering processes, including attention to detailPast practical exposure to writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining software or scriptsClear and effective verbal and written communicationExperience with the design of cloud-based systemsExperience in engaging customers to understand needs, deliver solutions, manage expectations, and maintain an ongoing relationshipAbility to obtain SF-85 Public Trust suitability determinationUS CitizenshipPreferred Qualifications:Experience with Java, Python, React, and scripting languagesKnowledge of AI-assisted development workflows and tools (i.e. Claude Code, Codex, etc.)Knowledge of DevSecOps practices and CI/CD pipelinesKnowledge of air traffic control systems, general aviation, and/or flight servicesPractical knowledge of FAA/DoD systems, technical policies, standards and ordersExperience with leveraging requirement-management tools (CAMEO, DOORS, Jama, Jira with traceability plugins, etc.) and documentation platforms that support linking, reviews, and exportable RTMsATMCIf 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.