Systems Engineer Intern

Leidos LLC; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 48,000 - 87,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and Wellness programs

Paid Leave and Retirement

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a Systems Engineer Intern to join our mission-focused team in Arlington, VA. You will work with system/software engineers and researchers to evolve a production platform combining microservices, data analytics, and ML services.

You’ll translate user needs into technical requirements, contribute to engineering documentation, and participate in an iterative delivery environment supporting a national security customer.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a Bachelor's or Master’s in Systems Engineering or related field
• Experience with SysML and/or UML
• Must be a U.S. citizen
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance
• Familiarity with Agile/Lean-Agile practices
• Hands-on experience using Git
• Ability to obtain/maintain Top Secret clearance with polygraph

Responsibilities

• Partner with engineers and stakeholders to capture use cases and decompose requirements
• Research and evaluate technologies to improve performance, usability, reliability, and maintainability
• Support system design and architecture for a platform with a user-facing search interface, microservice components, and ML-enabled services
• Produce SysML/UML diagrams and design notes
• Communicate progress, risks, and dependencies in an iterative delivery environment

Skills

SysML/UML

Agile methodologies

Security clearance readiness

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Systems Engineering or related field

Tools

Git

DevOps concepts

Job description

Join Leidos’ mission-focused engineering team and deliver software that powers data analytics, computer vision, and AI capabilities for national security customers. At Leidos, we don’t just offer internships - we offer career acceleration. This is your chance to work alongside industry-leading experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, and multi-modal information retrieval.

Leidos is looking for a curious and enthusiastic Systems Engineer Intern to join our team in Arlington, VA supporting our national security customer. You’ll work side-by-side with system/software engineers and research/data scientists to help evolve a production platform that combines microservices, data search & analytics, and machine learning services.

This is a great role if you enjoy translating real user needs into clear technical requirements, improving processes, and building the engineering documentation that turns ideas into delivered capability.

Primary Responsibilities

• Partner with engineers and stakeholders to capture use cases and decompose requirements
• Research and evaluate technologies to improve performance, usability, reliability, and maintainability
• Support system design and architecture efforts for a platform that includes: a user-facing interface for search and analytics microservice-based components multiple ML-enabled services
• Produce high-quality engineering artifacts such as SysML/UML diagrams and design notes
• Contribute to an iterative delivery environment by communicating progress, risks, and dependencies clearly

Basic Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s in Systems Engineering or related field
• Experience with SysML and/or UML
• Must be U.S. Citizen
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance. Leidos will guide you through the clearance process.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to Agile / Lean-Agile practices
• Familiarity with the software development lifecycle and/or DevOps concepts
• Hands-on experience using Git
• Ability to obtain /maintain Top Secret security clearance with polygraph.

Work location and schedule Arlington, VA. Hybrid: 4 days on-site, 1 day remote per week.

8-10 week internship, target start May/June 2027.

Pay Range: Pay Range $48,100.00 - $86,950.00 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.

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.

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.