Product Owner/ Software Manager

Leidos • San Diego, CA

1d

About The Position

Looking for an opportunity to make an impact? At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers’ success. We empower our teams, contribute to our communities, and operate sustainably. Everything we do is built on a commitment to do the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community. Our Mission, Vision, and Values guide the way we do business. Are you ready for your next challenge? Leidos’ Defense Systems Mission Assurance organization is seeking an Agile Software Product Owner to join our Space Systems team in Huntsville, AL. This role will primarily support the Wide Field of View (WFOV) program—an optical payload on a missile warning and tracking satellite. You will play a critical role in shaping, prioritizing, and delivering mission-critical software capabilities that support complex spaceflight and ground systems. What’s in it for you? We are looking for Product Owners who thrive in fast-paced environments and are passionate about delivering high-impact software solutions to demanding customers. While experience supporting space systems and working within organizations such as SDA, RCO, DARPA, or other DoD space programs is highly valued, we are most excited about candidates who have demonstrated success translating mission needs into actionable, high-quality software delivered on aggressive timelines. If this sounds like the kind of environment where you can thrive, keep reading! About Leidos Defense Systems The Leidos Defense Systems Sector delivers a diverse portfolio of systems, solutions, and services across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace for customers worldwide. Our work includes enterprise and mission IT, intelligence systems, command and control, geospatial and data analytics, cybersecurity, logistics, training, and intelligence operations support. We solve the world’s toughest security challenges in support of “can’t fail” missions. Ready to make an impact? Share your resume with us today! As an Agile Software Product Owner of the Ground Software Team on this program, you will serve as the primary interface between stakeholders, customers, and the development team. You will be responsible for defining and prioritizing product features, maintaining the product backlog, and ensuring delivered software meets mission, technical, and quality requirements. Working within an Agile / DevSecOps framework, this role supports all phases of the software development lifecycle, including capability definition, backlog refinement, sprint planning, system integration, and delivery acceptance. You will partner closely with software engineers, systems engineers, test teams, and program leadership to ensure alignment between mission objectives and software execution.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or related technical field with 12+ years of relevant experience.
• 3+ years of experience serving as a Product Owner, Technical Product Manager, or equivalent Agile role supporting software development.
• Strong understanding of Agile principles and the Scrum framework, including backlog management and sprint execution.
• Experience working with multi-domain engineering teams, including software, firmware, electrical, optical, systems, and test engineers.
• Ability to understand technical software concepts well enough to make informed prioritization and trade decisions.
• Experience supporting embedded software, mission systems, or space/defense programs.
• Familiarity with DevOps / DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and version control tools such as GitLab.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage effectively with technical teams, leadership, and external stakeholders.
• Experience supporting SDA, MDA, AFRL, or U.S. Air Force space programs is highly desirable.
• Must able to work out of the San Diego OR Huntsville facility
• U.S. Citizen and must be able to obtain and maintain a DoD SECRET clearance.

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge of embedded software development and challenges.
• Knowledge of adaptive image processing, trackers, RTOS’s a plus.
• Knowledge of configuration management, document control.
• Knowledge of Jira, Azure Devops, etc.

Responsibilities

• Owning and managing the product backlog, including writing, refining, and prioritizing user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Translating customer, mission, and system requirements into clear, actionable software requirements for Agile development teams.
• Serving as the primary voice of the customer to the development team, ensuring delivered capabilities meet operational and mission needs.
• Participating in Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily standups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams including software, firmware, electrical, optical, systems, and test engineers across multiple programs.
• Supporting development of embedded software, ground support software, test software, and simulation environments (SWIL/HWIL) from a requirements and prioritization perspective.
• Coordinating with systems engineering and integration & test teams to support end-to-end verification and validation.
• Reviewing completed work and formally accepting or rejecting features based on defined acceptance criteria.
• Supporting release planning and roadmap development aligned with program milestones.
• Operating within CI/CD and DevSecOps environments to enable reliable and timely software delivery.

Benefits

• Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers.
• Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement.
• More details are available here.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level