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# Principal Software Engineer (SWE-4)

- **Company:** Leidos, Inc.
- **Location:** Fort Meade, MD, United States
- **Salary:** $131,300.0 - $237,350.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Testing (Software), Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Software Applications, C++ (Programming Language), Compilers, Data Structures, Software Debugging, Memory Management, Python (Programming Language), Object-Oriented Software Development, Program Analysis, Software Architecture, Reverse Engineering, Software Engineering, Software Requirements Analysis, System Programming, Malware, Dynamic Programming
- **Published:** August 13, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.clearancejobs.com/jobs/9005013/principal-software-engineer-swe-4

## About the Role

* Technical Proficiency: Develop and debug software using object-oriented programming languages; perform software engineering and technical design activities; analyze and understand legacy code; develop efficient algorithms utilizing data structures, dynamic programming, heuristics, and modeling techniques; conduct software testing and troubleshooting; work at the operating system level, including file I/O, system interfaces, and low-level programming concepts; and develop advanced tools for binary analysis, shellcode detection, malware analysis, function identification, and reverse engineering of compiled software.
 * Qualifications: Bachelor's degree plus eleven (11) years of relevant experience or equivalent. Proficiency with Python, and ability to read/understand C/C++, and Assembly (x86). Experience with software architecture, operating system design, compilers, and debugging. Comfortable working with operating system internals, low-level software development, file I/O, system APIs, memory management, and executable program analysis.
 * Security Clearance: Active TS/SCI with Polygraph required to be considered for this role.
 * Desirable Skills: Familiarity with malware analysis, reverse engineering, and protocol analysis.

## Description

Seeking a motivated Principal Software Engineer to support the exciting Advanced Analytics Team mission. The engineer will work closely with mission stakeholders to analyze software requirements, design innovative technical solutions, develop software applications, and implement high-performance capabilities supporting advanced mission objectives., * Mission Focus: Design, develop, test, debug, and maintain software applications supporting mission requirements. Analyze customer needs, develop software prototypes, engineer technical solutions, implement algorithms, and translate conceptual designs into scalable software architectures.


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