Principle Systems Engineer

About Leidos

Leidos is a FORTUNE 500® company bringing a mix of innovative technology and sector expertise to customers in the national security, engineering, and health industries. We deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers' success. Guided by our Mission, Vision, and Values, Leidos empowers its teams, contributes to its communities, and operates sustainably—always with a commitment to doing the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community.

The Leidos Intel Sector combines technology-enabled services and mission software capabilities in the areas of cyber, logistics, security operations, and decision analytics to support Intelligence Community customers as they address evolving national security challenges.

About the Opportunity

Leidos is seeking a Principal Systems Engineer to provide technical leadership and engineering direction across the requirements, architecture, design, integration, verification, and lifecycle management of complex mission systems.

You will guide systems-engineering efforts from stakeholder needs and requirements through architecture, design, integration, verification, deployment, and operations. At this level, you will also provide technical direction across complex hardware/software systems, evaluate and recommend engineering alternatives, maintain technical baselines and configuration integrity, influence system standards and integration strategies, and help guide critical technical decisions.

This role requires extensive systems-engineering experience and demonstrated success planning and leading Systems Engineering efforts.

Why This Role Matters

Complex mission systems require technical leadership that extends beyond individual engineering activities. Requirements, architectures, interfaces, risks, configurations, standards, and lifecycle decisions must remain aligned across interconnected hardware and software components and multiple engineering disciplines.

As a Principal Systems Engineer, you will bring the technical judgment and systems perspective needed to guide those decisions, maintain engineering integrity, and help ensure mission capabilities remain effective throughout their lifecycle.

What You'll Do

Requirements Engineering & Technical Baseline

Analyze user requirements, CONOPS, and high-level system architectures to develop system requirements specifications.

Guide stakeholders in formulating requirements, evaluating alternative approaches, and assessing technical feasibility.

Manage system and derived requirements to support delivery of production systems compatible with defined architectures, including DoDAF and SOA environments.

Develop and allocate system and functional requirements across hardware, software, facilities, and personnel components.

Derive lower-level requirements and ensure they are complete, correct, unique, unambiguous, realizable, and verifiable.

Identify functions implied by stakeholder needs and system requirements that are essential to system effectiveness.

Establish formal requirements-change processes that assess impacts before commitment, maintain traceability, gain stakeholder agreement, eliminate ambiguity, and track open actions through resolution.

Manage and maintain the technical integrity of the system baseline throughout development, deployment, operations, and maintenance.

Develop derived Information Assurance requirements addressing confidentiality, integrity, non-repudiation, availability, identification, authentication, access control, accountability, and applicable security mechanisms.

Architecture, Design & System Analysis

Lead system design and development activities based on system requirements and mission needs.

Generate alternative system concepts, physical architectures, and design solutions.

Develop system design solutions that satisfy system requirements and functional analyses.

Develop comprehensive Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions.

Develop operational, technical standards, and systems/services architecture views using applicable DoDAF standards.

Allocate real-time process budgets and error budgets to system and subsystem components.

Prepare timeline-analysis diagrams illustrating time-dependent system functions.

Develop operational scenarios and threads describing interactions among the system, user, and environment across operational, support, maintenance, and disposal needs.

Develop system-design alternatives considering lifecycle cost, reuse, complexity, risk, system expansion, and growth.

Use validated models, simulations, and prototypes to mitigate risk and reduce system-development cost.

Incorporate new plans, designs, and systems into ongoing operations.

Interfaces, Integration & Configuration

Define and manage interfaces throughout the system lifecycle.

Fully define software interfaces in terms of origination, destination, stimulus, and data characteristics and hardware interfaces in terms of applicable electrical and mechanical characteristics.

Capture interface designs using common interface-control formats and maintain interface information in accessible repositories.

Establish formal procedures for coordinating system-integration activities across multiple teams and ensuring complete interface coverage.

Improve integration strategies based on the rationale and results of previous engineering decisions.

Ensure effective periodic review and control of evolving hardware, software, and associated system documentation.

Establish and support approval of system/component definitions—including requirements, designs, interfaces, and test procedures—to provide a common technical reference for developers.

Coordinate resolution of cross-discipline action items from CCB meetings, design reviews, program reviews, and test reviews.

Serve as a member of the Configuration Control Board.

Participate in Integrated Product Teams developing new capabilities based on development and operational considerations.

Verification, Test & Certification

Define methods, processes, and evaluation criteria for verifying systems, subsystems, and work products against established requirements.

Plan verification activities for new and unproven designs early in the development lifecycle with system stakeholders.

Guide system-development and implementation planning through Systems Engineering Management Plans and system integration and test plans.

Support planning and test analysis for DoD Certification and Accreditation and other applicable Government C&A processes.

Maintain alignment among requirements, architecture, design, integration, verification, and test activities.

Risk, Trade Studies & Lifecycle Engineering

Assess program risks and quantify probability of occurrence and consequences of failure in accordance with approved risk-management plans.

Develop alternative courses of action, workarounds, and fallback positions with recommended responses for identified risks.

Monitor and reevaluate risks at appropriate milestones, including use of Earned Value Management data.

Conduct and/or approve end-to-end system trade analyses to optimize lifecycle operations and appropriately balance non-functional performance characteristics.

Conduct quantitative analysis in areas such as reliability, maintainability, vulnerability, survivability, producibility, and other non-functional performance considerations.

Participate in Analysis of Alternatives efforts and recommend preferred solutions based on applicable selection criteria, assumptions, technology limitations, environmental impacts, and lifecycle costs.

Apply modeling, simulation, prototyping, and engineering analysis to inform technical decisions and reduce development risk.

Standards, Documentation & Acquisition Support

Maintain knowledge of applicable agency, national, and internati