Chief Engineer, Developer Experience

Leidos•Reston, VA

35d

About The Position

Wanted: The platform engineer who turns a collection of tools into a cohesive platform—and makes it look inevitable. Leidos is building MissionOS: the unified platform that will power how thousands of engineers build, deploy, and operate mission-critical software across the enterprise. This isn't about stitching together a few CI/CD pipelines. This is about designing the infrastructure, runtimes, developer tooling, and self-service capabilities that become the foundation for every software team at Leidos. This is about creating golden paths that make it easy to do the right thing—and nearly impossible to do the wrong thing. This role exists because platforms don't design themselves. Tools proliferate. Architectures drift. Teams optimize locally and integrate painfully. And without a principal-level engineer focused on the big picture, you end up with a pile of capabilities instead of a platform. You'll be the engineer who fixes that—by defining what MissionOS needs to be, then working relentlessly to make it real. Why This Role Matters MissionOS isn't just another platform initiative. It's the foundation for how Leidos builds software for the next decade. This role is about ensuring we don't just accumulate tools—we build a platform that makes engineering teams faster, safer, and more effective. You'll shape technical decisions that affect thousands of developers and define what "modern software delivery" means at Leidos. You'll work at the intersection of long-term vision and immediate execution. You'll partner with a sharp product owner and talented engineering teams to turn ambition into reality. And you'll have the scope, autonomy, and organizational support to make a lasting impact. If you're the engineer who sees the platform others don't yet and knows how to build it, this is your role.

Requirements

Master's degree and 15+ years in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field (Master's preferred).
15+ years of software engineering experience with significant focus on platform engineering, infrastructure, DevOps, or developer tooling.
Deep hands-on experience designing and building developer platforms—internal developer portals, CI/CD systems, infrastructure-as-code, self-service environments, runtime platforms.
Strong architectural thinking with proven ability to design systems that balance immediate needs with long-term scalability and maintainability.
Solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) including compute, networking, IAM, and infrastructure services.
Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, ArgoCD, or equivalent).
Proficiency with infrastructure as code (Terraform, Pulumi, AWS CDK, CloudFormation).
Familiarity with CI/CD platforms (GitLab, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI, or equivalent) and how to design self-service pipelines at scale.
Strong understanding of security and compliance requirements and satisfying them through policy-as-code in enterprise or regulated environments. Ability to engage credibly with security teams about platform risk, SBOM management, vulnerability scanning, and secure-by-design principles.
Excellent communication skills—you can explain complex technical decisions to both engineers and executives.
U.S. citizenship required; ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience building platforms in defense, aerospace, or federal government contexts with familiarity with FedRAMP, RMF, or DoD IL4/5/6 requirements.
Experience with developer portal platforms like Backstage, Port, or custom-built internal portals.
Hands-on experience with Agile tooling (Jira, Azure DevOps) and integration with developer workflows.
Background in DevSecOps, software supply chain security, or application security.
Experience evaluating, procuring, and integrating third-party developer tools at enterprise scale.
Exposure to AI-enabled development workflows or platform support for AI/ML workloads.

Responsibilities

Define the platform architecture. Work with the MissionOS Product Owner to design the long-term vision for how infrastructure, runtimes, CI/CD, developer tooling, and self- service portals fit together into a cohesive developer platform.
Drive technical direction. Lead build vs. buy evaluations, architectural trade-off decisions, and integration design across multiple platform capabilities (pSDO, LSRE, Quiver, and future tools). You're the deep-dive technical voice that informs product decisions.
Partner with engineering teams. Work closely with engineering managers building individual MissionOS capabilities to ensure implementation aligns with the broader platform vision. Talk shop. Review designs. Solve integration challenges.
Move fast on emerging needs. Program teams need platform capabilities now. You balance long-term architectural consistency with the urgency of delivering value quickly. You know when to build for the future and when to ship something that works today.
Represent platform needs externally. Engage with corporate IT (CIOS), security (CIS), and compliance teams to ensure platform decisions align with enterprise standards, security requirements, and regulatory constraints.
Cover security and compliance. Ensure MissionOS platform decisions account for security, compliance, and operational risk. You speak confidently with security teams about how the platform addresses their concerns.
Enable self-service at scale. Design infrastructure- and policy-as-code patterns, golden path templates, and developer portal experiences that let teams provision environments, deploy applications, and access services without waiting for tickets.