Lead Systems Engineer

Leidos•Gaithersburg, MD

About The Position

Leidos is seeking Lead Systems Engineers to join the Air Traffic Business Area within the Homeland Sector, supporting the development of the Alaska Automation Capability (AAC). AAC is part of the FAA’s broader initiative to modernize legacy flight service systems, replacing aging infrastructure with a scalable, cloud-based platform designed to improve safety and operational efficiency—particularly in remote and high-dependency aviation environments like Alaska. AAC is a mission-critical, future-ready, cloud-based solution providing safety-critical flight services to the pilot community. 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.

Requirements

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 experience
Experience and familiarity with Agile methodology, principles, and tools
Familiarity 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 work
Strong understanding of disciplined engineering processes, including attention to detail
Past practical exposure to writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining software or scripts
Clear and effective verbal and written communication
Experience with the design of cloud-based systems
Experience in engaging customers to understand needs, deliver solutions, manage expectations, and maintain an ongoing relationship
Ability to obtain SF-85 Public Trust suitability determination
US Citizenship

Nice To Haves

Experience with Java, Python, React, and scripting languages
Knowledge of AI-assisted development workflows and tools (i.e. Claude Code, Codex, etc.)
Knowledge of DevSecOps practices and CI/CD pipelines
Knowledge of air traffic control systems, general aviation, and/or flight services
Practical knowledge of FAA/DoD systems, technical policies, standards and orders
Experience with leveraging requirement-management tools (CAMEO, DOORS, Jama, Jira with traceability plugins, etc.) and documentation platforms that support linking, reviews, and exportable RTMs

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.