Principal Electrical Engineer

Leidos LLC; Saint Petersburg (FL); On-site; USD 108,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

The Defense Systems Group at Leidos has an opening for a Principal Electrical Engineer in St. Petersburg, FL to lead complex defense system development, integration, and verification across RF, digital, embedded hardware, software, and networked subsystems.

You will oversee architectures, trade studies, and multidisciplinary collaboration to meet performance, reliability, and security goals. Responsibilities include leading technical execution from concept through field deployment, defining

Qualifications

• Bachelors in Electrical Engineering or related field with 8–12 years of relevant experience, or Master’s with 6–10 years.
• Doctorate may be considered in lieu of some experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in RF/microwave, embedded comms, SDR, digital/mixed-signal electronics, power design, antenna systems, and networking.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical execution of complex electrical and electronic system development from concept through integration, qualification, and field deployment.
• Develop system architectures, perform trade studies, and evaluate design alternatives for performance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, risk, and lifecycle support.
• Collaborate with RF, digital, FPGA, embedded software, mechanical, systems, and test engineers to ensure successful integration and verification.
• Interface with customers, subcontractors, and program leadership to resolve technical issues and support program execution.

Skills

RF/microwave systems

Embedded communications

Software Defined Radios (SDR)

Digital/electronics design

System integration & verification

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree

Doctorate considered in lieu of experience

Tools

Schematic capture/PCB layout

FPGA development (VHDL/Verilog)

Matlab/Python/LabVIEW

Environmental qualification testing

Job description

The Defense Systems Group at Leidos has an immediate opening for a Principal Electrical Engineer at our St. Petersburg, FL facility. This position supports the development, integration, and qualification of advanced, mission-critical defense systems for Department of Defense and national security customers. In this role, you will serve as a senior technical contributor and engineering lead, supporting the design, integration, and verification of complex electronic and communications systems. You will collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams to develop system-level solutions spanning RF, digital, embedded hardware, software, and networked subsystems while ensuring performance, reliability, security, and environmental requirements are achieved. The St. Petersburg facility specializes in the design, modeling, simulation, prototyping, integration, and testing of advanced electronic systems, with emphasis on embedded communications, Software Defined Radios (SDR), phased array antenna systems, and secure RF architectures supporting defense and select commercial customers.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the technical execution of complex electrical and electronic system development efforts from concept through integration, qualification, and field deployment.
• Develop system and subsystem architectures, perform technical trade studies, and evaluate design alternatives considering performance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, technical risk, and lifecycle supportability.
• Support system requirements development, decomposition, interface definition, verification planning, and requirements traceability.
• Perform system-level analysis, functional analysis, interface analysis, timeline analysis, and integration planning across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Collaborate with RF, digital, FPGA, embedded software, mechanical, systems, and test engineers to ensure successful system integration and verification.
• Support hardware/software integration, system verification and validation (V&V), environmental qualification, and customer acceptance testing.
• Develop and review technical documentation including system architectures, interface control documents (ICDs), verification plans, test procedures, engineering analyses, and technical reports.
• Participate in technical design reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and customer technical interchange meetings (TIMs).
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior engineers while supporting engineering best practices and design quality.
• Interface with customers, subcontractors, suppliers, and internal program leadership to resolve technical issues and support program execution.
• Support business development activities by contributing to technical proposals, white papers, RFI/RFP responses, Basis of Estimate (BOE) development, and technology roadmaps.

Clearance Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret Security Clearance.
• Active Secret clearance strongly preferred.
• Ability to obtain and maintain Top Secret clearance preferred.
• Willingness to work in classified laboratory environments and support secure program activities as required.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related discipline with 8-12 years of relevant experience, or Master's degree with 6-10 years of relevant experience.
• A Doctorate in a related technical discipline may be considered in lieu of some experience.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in several of the following areas: RF and microwave systems, Embedded communications systems, Software Defined Radios (SDR), Digital and mixed-signal electronics, Power supply and power distribution design, Antenna systems, Wireless communications and networking, System integration and verification.
• Strong understanding of modern communications systems including waveform architectures, modulation techniques, RF propagation, link budgets, spectrum management, bandwidth allocation, and networking concepts.
• Experience performing system-level engineering activities including requirements analysis, trade studies, integration planning, and verification.
• Experience leading technical tasks or engineering work packages across multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience supporting formal technical reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and customer technical meetings.
• Proven ability to evaluate engineering solutions considering technical performance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, and program risk.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interface effectively with customers, program leadership, and multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active Secret or Top Secret Security Clearance.
• Experience with phased array antenna systems, RF front-end architectures, beamforming, or advanced communication waveforms.
• Experience with Model-Base Systems Engineering (MBSE), SysML, or architecture modeling tools.
• Hands-on experience with: RF, analog, and digital hardware design, Schematic capture and PCB layout, FPGA development (VHDL or Verilog), Environmental qualification testing (EMI/EMC, vibration, thermal, shock), MATLAB, Python, LabVIEW, or similar engineering analysis tools.
• Experience using laboratory instrumentation including vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, signal generators, logic analyzers, power meters, and automated RF test equipment.
• Experience supporting DoD acquisition programs, classified development efforts, and system integration laboratories.

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Original Posting: July 15, 2026 For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range

Pay Range: Pay Range $107,900.00 - $195,050.00 The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary.

Pay and 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.

Securing Your Data

Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information at any part of the employment application process. And Leidos will communicate with you only through emails that are sent from a Leidos.com email address. If you receive an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information, please report the email to [e-mail].

Commitment and Diversity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.