Principal Systems Engineer
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
Leidos is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer / Product Owner to join the Air Traffic Business Area within the Homeland Sector located in either Gaithersburg, MD or Egg Harbor Township, NJ, supporting the development of the Leidos Common Baseline. Common Baseline is a mission-critical, future-ready automation solution built on a hybrid cloud data mesh architecture. As a member of a large-scale, Scaled Agile software development organization, you will play a central role in shaping next-generation air traffic automation capabilities by bridging mission needs, systems engineering rigor, and Agile software delivery.
In this role, you will serve as the Product Owner for one or more Agile teams, while also acting as the primary Systems Engineer supporting those teams. You will work closely with the Chief Product Owner on system-level design, requirements, and product vision, and partner with the team architect to ensure solutions are technically sound, traceable, and aligned with safety and regulatory constraints. This position is intended for experienced practitioners who can balance innovation with discipline in a highly regulated, safety-critical environment.
Hybrid Schedule is 3 days onsite and 2 days remote., Systems Engineering Leadership
- Lead systems engineering activities across the full lifecycle, including requirements definition, architecture, integration, verification, and validation
- Own and govern system and capability-level requirements, ensuring traceability to mission needs and program objectives as well as verification planning within an Agile delivery framework
- Partner with system and solution architects on architecture runway, trade studies, and technical decision-making
- Identify, assess, and manage cross-team technical risks, dependencies, and constraints
- Provide technical oversight during integration, test, and operational readiness activities
- Ensure systems engineering best practices are applied consistently across teams
Product Ownership & Strategy
- Serve as Product Owner (or Lead PO) for major system components or value streams
- Own and prioritize capability- and feature-level backlogs, balancing mission value, technical risk, and delivery capacity
- Translate complex system requirements into clear, actionable epics, features, and user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria
- Actively participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and retrospectives, ensuring engineering intent and mission value are clearly represented.
- Utilize AI-assisted tools and large language model (LLM) platforms to augment requirements analysis, backlog refinement, design exploration, and documentation, while ensuring human oversight and validation.
- Act as a primary liaison between stakeholders, engineering teams, and program leadership
- Create and maintain systems engineering artifacts, including requirements documentation, interface control documents (ICDs), architecture views, and verification matrices.
- Influence product roadmap decisions and sequencing based on technical and delivery insights
Agile & Team Leadership
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to team members on systems thinking, requirements quality, and Agile best practices.
- Promote Agile and SAFe best practices across teams and value streams
- Support dependency management and alignment across Agile teams and release trains
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience)
- 12+ years of related experience or 10+ years of experience with a Master's degree
- Experience in systems engineering, product ownership, or related technical leadership roles
- Demonstrated experience leading systems engineering efforts on complex, software-intensive programs
- Strong experience working in Agile environments (SAFe)
- Proven ability to translate mission or business objectives into prioritized technical and product backlogs
- Experience collaborating with architects, engineering leads, and program leadership
- Proficiency with Agile and requirements management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Cameo, Jama, or similar)
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust
- US citizenship is required
- Successful completion of any required government background investigations
Preferred / Desired Qualifications
- Experience serving as a Product Owner or Lead Product Owner in a SAFe environment
- Familiarity with SAFe practices, including PI planning, ART coordination, and dependency management
- Experience with distributed, cloud-based, or data-intensive systems
- Knowledge of event-driven architectures (Kafka or similar)
- Air Traffic domain knowledge or experience supporting Air Traffic or transportation-related systems.
- Experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases
- Familiarity with DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines in regulated environments
- Experience with AI-enabled or advanced automation systems
- Agile certifications (CSPO, SAFe POPM)
Benefits & conditions
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 .
