Flight Software Architect

Leidos•Huntsville, AL

6d•$154,050 - $278,475•Onsite

About The Position

Leidos’ Airborne Systems Business Area is hiring a Senior Embedded Flight Software Architect for its Huntsville office. The position focuses primarily on designing robust, innovative, modular software for real-time embedded airborne systems, with a secondary focus on software supporting fielding, operations, support, and maintenance. The architect works across embedded flight software, analysis tools and simulations, mission-planning software, and components of mission-critical systems, involving a range of embedded computing technologies, hardware, interfaces, and development and debugging tools. The role also provides technical advice to program and capture teams, customers and stakeholders, talent acquisition specialists, and senior business leaders. The architect provides hands-on technical leadership throughout software development, from architecture and implementation through integration and testing on target platforms. The role involves evaluating architectural options and tradeoffs, guiding teams in applying standards and practices, maintaining the technical integrity of designs, collaborating with systems and electrical engineers, and supporting project execution and customer engagement. Candidates are evaluated on architectural competency, technical judgment, design experience, leadership, versatility, and career growth. The candidate must be a U.S. citizen eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret-level U.S. Department of Defense security clearance, and must be willing to perform some work in person at the company site. The listed pay range is $154,050 to $278,475; compensation depends on factors including responsibilities, education, experience, skills, internal equity, and market data.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, or an equivalent technical field.
U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense Secret security clearance.
12 or more years of relevant technical experience; relevant academic, internship, research, or professional technical experience may count. Advanced degrees and specifically relevant architecture training or certification may reduce the experience requirement.
Prior technical experience developing, integrating, testing, and/or troubleshooting embedded software or embedded-adjacent applications that interface with, operate, monitor, support, simulate, control, or communicate with embedded systems.
Extensive knowledge of disciplined software engineering practices, including requirements analysis, configuration management, version control, coding standards, peer review, unit and integration testing, automated testing frameworks, and software verification.
Strong competency in expressing software architectures using one or more industry-recognized design techniques or notations, and ability to learn and apply unfamiliar techniques quickly.
Ability to evaluate architectures against functional requirements, system-level quality attributes, performance constraints, integration risks, and lifecycle considerations, and to document and communicate decisions and rationale.
Competency with one or more architectural design patterns, detailed design patterns, and object-oriented design principles.
Familiarity with embedded processor architectures and their use in microcontrollers, SoCs, SoMs, or similar implementations.
Substantial knowledge of performance-constrained and real-time embedded-system design considerations, including several of: RTOS-based designs, safety-critical software, hardware/software integration, deterministic memory management, concurrency and multithreading, headless operation, real-time scheduling, hard and soft real-time constraints, and embedded communications protocols such as MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429, or CAN.
Strong competency in at least one relevant embedded programming language: C, C++, or Rust; and understanding of software-design tradeoffs in these or other high-level languages such as Java, C#, or Python.
Aptitude with one or more architecture tools or IDEs, such as Cameo Systems Modeler, Rhapsody, Visio, PlantUML, or diagram-as-code tools.
Strong quantitative, analytical, technical leadership, and communication skills, including ability to work across technical disciplines and multiple product teams.
Strong character, professionalism, and technical judgment; willingness to advocate for technically sound decisions, challenge assumptions constructively, and uphold accuracy and quality.
Ability to participate effectively in peer reviews by submitting work for review, incorporating constructive feedback, and providing constructive reviews of others’ work.
Willingness to perform a portion of the work in person at the company site.

Nice To Haves

Experience with one or more Government Reference Architectures.
Experience with applicable industry standards, frameworks, and process models, such as ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207, CMMI, DO-178, DO-278, RMF, MIL-STD-882, or MISRA.
Experience developing software technical data and deliverables in accordance with applicable software Data Item Descriptions (DIDs).
Experience using AI to assist with software specification, design, coding, testing, or technical-document generation.
Experience using AI/ML models in an integrated solution, such as autonomous behaviors or adaptive algorithms.
Experience with FPGA-based systems, including hardware/software partitioning and integration with programmable logic.
Experience designing and implementing time-critical software for integrated systems, such as real-time control software, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, sensors, vehicles, medical devices, or IoT components.
Experience with hardware/software integration, bootloaders, and tools such as JTAG debuggers, logic analyzers, logs, oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and RTOS-specific build, trace, or profiling tools.
Aptitude with Linux and Windows operating systems and their administrative features.

Responsibilities

Design modular, composable, open, testable, reusable, scalable embedded software structures, interfaces, and behaviors for airborne systems, while accounting for evolving requirements and applicable standards.
Provide hands-on technical leadership throughout software development, including implementation in C, C++, or Rust; guide firmware development; support initial integration and testing on target embedded platforms; and contribute directly when appropriate.
Develop and evaluate conceptual flight software architectures for primary and supporting systems, considering new development, reuse, hybrid approaches, and technical, cost, schedule, and risk tradeoffs.
Identify relevant standards, practices, processes, and deliverables; guide teams in following them; and conduct hands-on reviews and mentoring.
Collaborate with software developers, program teams, solution architects, and corporate technical leadership.
Maintain accountability for the technical integrity of assigned architectures and designs; seek independent reviews, challenge assumptions, and incorporate constructive feedback.
Advise Software IPT Leads, Technical Leads, and Test Leads on project execution, estimation, development, verification, validation, and customer or stakeholder presentations.
Collaborate with systems engineers to model and maintain software architectures using MBSE techniques, applicable standards, frameworks, methodologies, and reference architectures.
Assist electrical designers with solution formulation, trade studies, and selection of electrical systems and embedded computing hardware platforms.
Support working groups and consortia with software architecture expertise, requests for comments, and contributions.
Support Agile planning and execution, including writing epics and high-level stories, estimating tasks, and reporting progress.
Participate in requirements and design reviews to maintain architecture and solution consistency and quality, and share relevant architectural knowledge with the team.
Contribute solutions, software architectures, and evidence-based estimates to proposals; advise capture teams as a software subject-matter expert.
Communicate directly and regularly with customers, end users, and other team members.
Perform other software architect-related technical duties as assigned; remain flexible toward work assignments.