Technical Lead

Leidos; Rockville (MD); On-site; USD 131,000 - 237,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos Health & Civil Sector is recruiting a Technical Lead to shape AI/ML strategy for NIH/NCI programs. You will guide architecture, engage government leadership, and deliver scalable, secure AI capabilities supporting cancer research and precision medicine.

The role requires deep expertise in AI, cloud computing, and biomedical informatics, with strong customer engagement and strategic influence across multidisciplinary teams.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressively responsible technical leadership in large federal health, biomedical research, or scientific computing programs.
• 10+ years designing and leading enterprise AI/ML in healthcare, life sciences, or federal environments.
• Experience advising NIH, NCI, or similar federal biomedical organizations.
• Ability to obtain Public Trust/ADPII clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy, architecture, and implementation of AI-enabled solutions for cancer research and precision medicine.
• Serve as principal technical advisor to NIH leadership on AI, ML, and digital modernization.
• Partner with stakeholders to define priorities, evaluate technologies, and deliver mission-focused solutions.
• Oversee AI model development lifecycle, including NLP, LLMs, computer vision, and predictive analytics.
• Guide scalable AI and cloud architectures using AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and MLOps.
• Ensure Responsible AI with governance, explainability, bias mitigation, and privacy compliance.
• Lead architecture reviews, executive briefings, and roadmaps; communicate to executives and researchers.
• Mentor AI engineers, data scientists, and cloud architects to ensure high-quality delivery.
• Evaluate emerging AI tech to accelerate scientific discovery and operational efficiency.

Skills

Technical Leadership

AI/ML Strategy

Cloud & HPC

MLOps

NLP/LLMs

Biomedical Informatics

Education

Master's degree

PhD preferred

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Kubernetes

Hugging Face

Job description

Description

The Leidos Health & Civil Sector is seeking a Technical Lead to support the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI)

** This posting is for future business – not yet awarded **

The Technical Lead will provide strategic technical leadership, scientific consulting, and executive-level advisory support to Government leadership for the development, integration, and operationalization of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and data science capabilities that accelerate cancer research, clinical decision support, and precision medicine.

Serving as the Government's trusted technical advisor, the Technical Lead will collaborate closely with NCI leadership, principal investigators, biomedical researchers, clinicians, informaticians, and multidisciplinary engineering teams to develop innovative AI-enabled solutions supporting clinical research, scientific data management, and enterprise research platforms.

The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, biomedical informatics, cloud computing, and modern software engineering with exceptional customer engagement and communication skills to guide technology strategy, influence architectural decisions, and ensure delivery of scalable, secure, and scientifically rigorous AI capabilities aligned with NIH and NCI strategic priorities.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy, architecture, and implementation of AI-enabled solutions that support cancer research, precision medicine, clinical research, and enterprise biomedical informatics.
• Serve as the principal technical advisor to NCI leadership, providing strategic guidance on AI, ML, biomedical informatics, and digital modernization initiatives.
• Partner with Government stakeholders, scientific leadership, and multidisciplinary Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to define technical priorities, evaluate emerging technologies, and deliver innovative, mission-focused solutions.
• Provide technical leadership across AI model development, deployment, and lifecycle management, including machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), large language models (LLMs), computer vision, predictive analytics, and multi-agent AI systems.
• Oversee the design and integration of AI capabilities supporting biomedical imaging, radiomics, genomics, multi-omics analysis, precision oncology, clinical trial optimization, semantic search, knowledge management, and decision support.
• Guide the development of scalable AI and cloud-based architectures leveraging high-performance computing (HPC), AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, and modern MLOps practices.
• Ensure AI solutions adhere to Responsible AI principles, including model governance, explainability (XAI), bias mitigation, security, privacy, and compliance with NIH policies, Executive Orders, and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
• Lead technical reviews, architecture discussions, executive briefings, and technology roadmaps while effectively communicating complex technical concepts to Government executives, researchers, and business stakeholders.
• Mentor engineering teams and provide technical oversight to AI engineers, software developers, data scientists, cloud architects, cybersecurity specialists, and biomedical informatics SMEs to ensure successful delivery of high-quality technical solutions.
• Evaluate and recommend emerging AI technologies and innovative approaches that accelerate scientific discovery, improve operational efficiency, and advance NCI's strategic research mission.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Biomedical Informatics, Bioinformatics, Data Science, Computer Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 15 years of progressively responsible technical leadership supporting large-scale Federal health, biomedical research, or scientific computing programs.
• Minimum 10 years designing, implementing, and leading enterprise AI and ML solutions within healthcare, biomedical research, life sciences or federal research environments.
• Demonstrated experience supporting NIH, NCI, or other Federal biomedical research organizations.
• Extensive expertise in deep learning, machine learning, generative AI, NLP, LLMs, computer vision, predictive analytics, biomedical informatics, and cloud-native AI architectures.
• Demonstrated experience advising executive Government customers on AI strategy, enterprise architecture, and digital modernization initiatives.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams consisting of AI engineers, data scientists, software engineers, cloud architects, cybersecurity specialists, and biomedical subject matter experts.
• Experience with HPC, cloud-native AI platforms, Kubernetes, DevSecOps, and MLOps.
• Familiarity with TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, Hugging Face, MLflow, Kubeflow, LangChain, vector databases, graph databases, and AI orchestration frameworks.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust / ADPII Clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. in AI, Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, Computational Biology, or related field preferred.
• Experience supporting NCI organizations.
• Experience with cancer informatics, biomedical imaging, radiomics, genomics, precision oncology, clinical trials, and translational research.
• Expertise with FHIR, OMOP, FAIR data principles, biomedical ontologies, semantic interoperability, and research data ecosystems.

Desired Characteristics

• Strong customer focus and mission orientation.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams in a collaborative environment.
• Commitment to quality, innovation, and continuous process improvement.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and executive audiences

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 25, 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 onlyand 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.

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 $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. 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 at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Securing Your Data

Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos’ name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system – never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at [e-mail].

If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

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.

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