Principal Avionics Systems Architect

Leidos; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 131,300 - 237,350; Full time

Job summary

Leidos Defense is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer to drive architectural design and hardware-software integration for next-generation DoD systems, including avionics and flight instrumentation. You will guide IPTs, manage high-level engineering challenges, and ensure flight-ready hardware across the lifecycle.

The role demands leadership in multi-disciplinary teams, strong background with SoC/FPGA, and experience with military standards.

Qualifications

• Active Top-Secret clearance is required.
• Master’s degree with 10+ years hardware architecture experience or Bachelor’s with 12+ years.
• Proven hardware architect/lead experience for flight-worthy electronics.

Responsibilities

• Architect, lead, and deliver avionics and LRU hardware for missiles, UAVs, and launch platforms.
• Oversee PDN design, high-speed interfaces, and RF modems.
• Direct IPTs across electronics, cabling, grounding, and bonding.
• Translate military standards into hardware requirements; support EVM and CapEx planning.
• Lead verification, HWIL integration, and test planning.

Skills

Active Top-Secret Clearance

U.S. Citizenship

IPT Lead

Scrum/Agile

Travel Availability

Education

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Xilinx Zynq SoCs

Altera FPGAs

MicroBlaze

RTOS environments

MIL-STD-461/704/1472/IPC-D-620/630

Job description

Leidos Defense is seeking a Principal Electrical Engineer to drive architectural design and hardware-software integration for next-generation DoD systems, including avionics and flight instrumentation. You will guide IPTs, manage high-level engineering challenges, and ensure flight-ready hardware across the lifecycle.

The role demands leadership in multi-disciplinary teams, strong background with SoC/FPGA, and experience with military standards.