Senior Software Engineer

The Leidos Defense Sector currently has an opening for a Lead Software Engineer to support advanced image analysis and mission software development efforts within our Space Vehicle Agile Release Train environment. This is a unique opportunity to serve as the primary technical liaison for our Space Vehicle software repository and architecture, supporting multiple Agile teams contributing to a complex image analysis system.

In this role, you will work closely with scientists, software engineers, and integration teams to ensure software development aligns with established architecture standards, Agile processes, and mission objectives.

The selected candidate will help modernize and sustain critical capabilities while mentoring teams in software engineering best practices, code quality, and CI/CD processes. The ideal candidate will bring strong technical leadership, experience working across multi-disciplinary teams, and the ability to guide software modernization efforts in a collaborative Agile environment.

This is a hybrid position that requires several days per week of working in SCIF at Arlington - VA, Huntsville - AL, or San Diego - CA. Candidates are expected to live within commuting distance from 1 of those 3 locations.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead a small team of software engineers supporting an advanced image analysis system
• Serve as the Space Vehicle technical liaison for multiple Agile teams working within the Space Vehicle repository
• Collaborate closely with scientists and algorithm developers to transition and integrate analytical capabilities into operational software systems
• Guide development teams in following Agile methodologies, software engineering best practices, and established architecture standards
• Conduct code inspections and peer reviews as a primary technical reviewer
• Provide technical recommendations on software organization, maintainability, portability, and readability
• Interface with external consumers of the system, including partner software development teams and stakeholders
• Gather system requirements and translate enhancement requests into Agile features and user stories
• Organize, prioritize, and track team activities using Agile workflow management tools such as Jira
• Lead release planning, sprint planning, and iteration review activities
• Ensure rigorous software integration, testing, and validation processes are implemented across the system and its components
• Upgrade, maintain, and improve Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines and development workflows
• Mentor junior software engineers in sound software engineering and development practices
• Support troubleshooting, debugging, and resolution of software defects across integrated systems

Basic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline with 15+ years of relevant software engineering experience, or Bachelor's degree with 17+ years of relevant software engineering experience
• Deep hands-on experience with leading Agile Release Trains or scaled Agile environments for software integration team / multi-disciplinary / cross-functional teams and experience operating within the Scrum framework
• Must have experience with simulation tool (preferably AFSIM)
• Must have experience using MATLAB to model or analyze complex algorithms
• Experience designing and developing complex, modular software systems
• Experience leading or mentoring teams of 3 or more software engineers
• Experience coordinating across multi-domain teams within a large-scale program environment
• Experience with software development lifecycle processes, including code development, testing, and integration activities
• Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills with the ability to systematically isolate and resolve software defects
• Experience with integration and test activities, including automated testing approaches
• Experience developing and maintaining technical software documentation
• Proficiency with version control and collaborative development tools such as GitLab
• U.S. Citizenship required
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a DoD SECRET security clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Jira, GitLab, Visual Studio Code, IDE, C++, and embedded software development environments
• Experience with Docker containerization technologies and container-based development workflows
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipeline modernization and DevSecOps practices
• Experience supporting image analysis, sensor processing, or mission systems software
• Active DoD SECRET clearance

If 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.