Space Force Technical Director

Leidos; United States; Hybrid; USD 131,000 - 237,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos Space Force and Air Force Division seeks a Space Force Technical Director who will partner with Technology and Growth teams to translate customer needs into validated capabilities, white papers, proofs of concept, and initial proposals. You will lead executive discussions with mission stakeholders to shape solutions that differentiate Leidos.

This role requires an active TS/SCI clearance and broad experience across systems engineering, C2 architectures for space operations, and DoW

Qualifications

• BS degree and 12+ years of relevant technical experience.
• Ten years in relevant technical disciplines, including DoW or national security programs.
• Experience in three of the listed areas with expertise in at least one.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead on-contract execution for SF SE&I contracts with focus on technical solutions and validation.
• Engage customers as a technical expert for mission challenges.
• Contribute to white papers, RFIs, proposals, and briefings showing thought leadership.
• Support BD and capture teams to identify and pursue opportunities.
• Assist capture strategy with technical leadership and value propositions.
• Draft OV-1 and initial solution elements; validate with customers.

Skills

Networking Engineering

Cybersecurity

System Development

AI/ML

Data Science

Cloud Architecture

Information Assurance

Systems Engineering

Executive Communication

Education

Bachelor of Science in a technical or scientific field

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

OCI

Job description

The Leidos Space Force and Air Force Division has an opening for a Space Force Technical Director. The position will be primarily remote but will require some onsite work at our Reston HQ, Colorado Springs offices, on-contract sites, and in-person CONUS and OCONUS customer meetings as needed.

POSITION SUMMARY

The selected candidate will work with Technology and Growth personnel to understand customer needs and lead initial capability validation and solution development and verification. They will bring mission vision and respective solutions forward through white papers, proof of concepts, presentations, and initial proposal artifacts. This position requires a broad and deep understanding of technology and our customer’s mission to match solutions to challenges, in order to differentiate Leidos from our competitors. The successful candidate will be able to hold executive level and mission stakeholder discussions with our customers to further advance their appreciation of Leidos’ abilities to meet and exceed their mission needs. In addition to growth support, this position will support Space Force Portfolio Managers and program managers with on-contract execution and growth of various SF agency contracts with a focus on the system requirements, development, and implementation of solutions. This support will enable effective requirements decomposition, repeatable engineering and architecture review processes, Department of War (DoW) compliant configuration management programs, and validation that Leidos on-contract technical and management solutions align with to customer mission needs.

CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS

Must have an active TS/SCI security clearance (US Citizenship Required).

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support on-contract execution of various SF SE&I contract with a focus on the development and implementation of technical solutions to enable effective requirements decomposition, repeatable engineering and architecture review processes, DoW compliant configuration management programs, and validation of Leidos on-contract technical and management solutions alignment to customer mission needs.
• Support customer engagement and opportunity strategy development as a technical expert, bringing an understanding of Leidos capabilities, for application to challenges in customer missions.
• Collaborate on white papers, RFI responses, proposals, and briefings demonstrating the thought leadership capabilities of the organization, as well as supporting various marketing and business development efforts through customer interaction
• Support business development and capture teams to identify, quality, and pursue opportunities.
• Assist capture strategy development through technical leadership, including the creation and marketing of discriminating value propositions
• Support customer meetings and call plan development and execution to understand customer requirements and provide solution presentations to the customer
• Draft OV-1 and initial solution elements and validate with customers
• Support program management and business development reviews and assist in improving the performance of existing projects as required
• Conduct pre-sales engineering activities, to include engaging directly with customers in combination with our Business Development and Operations leadership teams

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Requires Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from an accredited institution in a technical or scientific field of study and 12+ yrs of relevant work experience.
• Minimum ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in relevant technical disciplines, to include support to the DoW, IC, or national security space programs.
• Experience (at least 5 years) in three of the following areas, with expertise in at least one: Networking Engineering, Cybersecurity, System Development, AI/ML, Data Science, Data Warehousing, Data Governance, Hardware Engineering, IT Operations, System Architecture, Cloud Architecture, Information Assurance or ITIL Framework
• Systems Engineering expertise across the entire full acquisition lifecycle, from requirements development through operational sustainment.
• Extensive experience in the architecture, development, and integration of command & control (C2) systems for space operations, including the ability to integrate disparate data sources focused on access and discovery to support faster decision-making in mission environments.
• Experience in running technology analysis, trade studies, product evaluations, or research projects
• Excellent communication skills (writing, speaking, and listening)

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven capability to articulate and champion a forward-looking technical vision that aligns with customer mission priorities, driving innovation and strategic alignment across stakeholders.
• Experience performing or technology oversight
• Experience in customer engagements
• Experience developing digital modernization solutions involving data sciences, machine learning, or artificial intelligence
• Experience in writing for business development and capture: i.e., white papers, RFI responses, and proposals
• Hands on experience with any of the major hyper scalers (AWS, Azure, GCP, or OCI)
• Proactive researcher of technology that wants to always learn more about the latest in the market
• Demonstrated track record of developing and maintaining customer understanding with mid and senior level leaders across the various departments of the Space Force
• Subject matter expert in the Space Force community with a demonstrated ability to discuss, explain, and apply differentiated capabilities in Leidos programs, plans and positions on current and future programs

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.

Original Posting: August 31, 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 $131,300.00 - $237,350.00 The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $17.2 billion for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2026. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

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.