Systems Engineer

Leidos LLC; Gaithersburg (MD); On-site; USD 87,000 - 157,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a Lead Systems Engineer to join an Agile/SAFe team within the Air Traffic Business Area, supporting next-generation flight service and air traffic systems modernization for FAA initiatives. The role emphasizes translating regulatory requirements into testable system capabilities and ensuring traceability across development lifecycle in a safety-critical environment.

As part of a Scaled Agile software organization, you will collaborate with Product Owners, architects, software

Qualifications

• Translate regulatory and operational requirements into detailed, testable system requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Maintain requirements traceability across stakeholder needs, system requirements, architecture, and verification.
• Prepare system specifications and interface definitions for integration and testing.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and technical reviews to ensure alignment with program goals.
• Collaborate with Product Owners, architects, and developers to refine backlog items and ensure traceability.

Responsibilities

• Review FAA requirements and applicable regulations to extract intent and acceptance criteria.
• Translate requirements into testable system capabilities and verifiable criteria.
• Decompose high-level requirements into specific capability statements with measurable performance criteria.
• Develop and maintain requirements traceability across artifacts and tests.
• Coordinate with software, test, cybersecurity, and DevSecOps teams to ensure full implementation and validation.
• Prepare technical documentation including specifications, use cases, and verification plans.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and structured reviews.
• Capture design decisions, trade-offs, and risk assessments for transparency.

Skills

Agile

Requirements analysis

Traceability

Systems engineering

Cloud-native

Cross-functional collaboration

Public Trust

Education

BS in CS/Engineering

MS in related field

Tools

Cameo

DOORS

Jama

Jira (traceability plugins)

Job description

Lead Systems Engineer – Agile Team Systems Engineering

Leidos is seeking Lead Systems Engineers to join the Air Traffic Business Area within the Homeland Sector, supporting the development of next-generation flight service and air traffic systems. This work aligns with the FAA's broader initiative to modernize legacy flight service capabilities, replacing aging infrastructure with scalable, cloud-based platforms designed to improve safety and operational efficiency - particularly in remote and high-dependency aviation environments. These efforts focus on delivering mission-critical, future-ready solutions that provide safety-critical flight services to the pilot community. Please note, this exciting position is currently unfunded and is in anticipation of future work. As a member of a Scaled Agile software development organization, you will contribute to the technical execution of a program that integrates proven, globally deployed technologies with modern cloud-native capabilities. You will work alongside cross-functional teams and technical leaders to deliver predictable outcomes in a highly regulated, safety-critical environment. In this position, you will serve as the dedicated Systems Engineer for an Agile/SAFe development team, partnering closely with Product Owners, architects, software engineers, testers, DevSecOps engineers, and customer stakeholders to define, refine, and validate system capabilities. You will ensure that operational needs, regulatory requirements, and system-level behaviors are fully understood, traceable, testable, and aligned to program objectives throughout the development lifecycle. This position supports government programs and requires the ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust investigation.

Primary Responsibilities

• Review FAA requirement documents, advisory circulars, and applicable regulations (e.g., 14 CFR parts) to extract intent, constraints, interfaces, and acceptance criteria.
• Translate operational and regulatory requirements into detailed, testable system requirements, features, and acceptance criteria that support Agile development activities.
• Collaborate with Product Owners and development teams to refine backlog items, clarify system behaviors, and ensure technical completeness and traceability.
• Engage with customer stakeholders, operators, and subject matter experts to identify use cases with an emphasis on completeness, testability, alignment with operational workflows, and readiness for validation trials.
• Decompose high-level regulatory and operational requirements into specific capability statements with measurable performance criteria and traceability to FAA compliance outcomes.
• Develop and maintain requirements traceability between stakeholder needs, system requirements, architecture artifacts, implementation tasks, and verification activities.
• Support system design discussions by evaluating technical approaches, documenting trade-offs, identifying integration impacts, and assessing operational or regulatory risks.
• Prepare and review technical documentation, including system specifications, interface definitions, use cases, operational workflows, verification plans, and requirements traceability matrices.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, technical interchange meetings, structured reviews, and system inspections.
• Coordinate with software engineering, test, cybersecurity, and DevSecOps teams to ensure system requirements are fully implemented, validated, and operationally supportable.
• Assist in defining verification and validation strategies, including support for demonstrations, integration testing, operational assessments, and customer reviews.
• Systematically capture and communicate design decisions, performance trade-offs, compliance rationales, and risk assessments to support program transparency and technical governance.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, systems engineering, or a related field with 4-8 years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree with 2-6 years of experience.
• Experience working within Agile development environments, including familiarity with Agile methodologies, principles, and tools.
• Experience performing systems engineering activities across the system development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, decomposition, traceability, integration, and verification.
• Strong understanding of disciplined engineering processes and attention to detail in highly regulated or mission-critical environments.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional technical teams, customers, and stakeholders to define and refine system capabilities.
• Experience preparing and maintaining technical documentation and requirements artifacts.
• Familiarity with software development concepts, architectures, interfaces, and integration considerations.
• Clear and effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience with cloud-based systems and modern software architectures.
• Ability to obtain SF-85 Public Trust suitability determination.
• U.S. Citizenship.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Java, Python, React, and scripting languages.
• Knowledge of AI-assisted development workflows and tools (i.e., Claude Code, Codex, etc.).
• Knowledge of DevSecOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.
• Knowledge of air traffic control systems, general aviation, and/or flight services.
• Practical knowledge of FAA/DoD systems, technical policies, standards, and orders.
• Experience leveraging requirements-management and model-based engineering tools (e.g., Cameo, DOORS, Jama, Jira with traceability plugins, etc.).
• Experience supporting verification and validation activities in regulated environments.
• Familiarity with systems integration, interface management, and operational testing in large-scale distributed systems.

Pay and Benefits

• Pay Range: $87,100.00 - $157,450.00. 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.
• 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.

About Leidos

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.

Original Posting

June 24, 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.