Technical Lead

Leidos is seeking an experienced Technical Lead (Systems Engineering) to play a pivotal role on a critical national infrastructure Programme, one of Leidos UK’s flagship delivery programmes supporting a high-profile government customer.

The Technical Lead will provide hands-on technical leadership across complex, multi-supplier systems, applying systems engineering best practice to the design, integration, change and assurance of mission-critical IT services. Working closely with the Chief Engineer, Architects, Project Managers, Infrastructure, Networks and Software teams, the role ensures that solutions delivered by Leidos are technically sound, secure, and fit-for-purpose.

This is a leadership role that combines deep technical expertise, systems thinking, and stakeholder engagement, with accountability for guiding teams through change, risk and technical decision-making.

What will I be doing?

Technical Leadership

• Act as Technical Lead for systems engineering activities within assigned workstreams or projects.
• Provide authoritative technical direction across on-premise and cloud-hosted systems, ensuring coherence across infrastructure, networks, applications and services.
• Lead technical decision-making, trade-offs, and design assurance in line with programme and customer requirements.

Systems Engineering & Design

• Apply Systems Engineering principles across the full engineering lifecycle (V-Model), including requirements, design, integration, verification and transition to service.
• Own and assure key engineering artefacts, including impact assessments, high-level and low-level designs, and technical change documentation.
• Ensure designs are aligned with programme architecture, security constraints, and operational needs.

Change & Impact Assessment

• Lead the technical impact assessment of Requests for Change (RFCs) and new requirements.
• Clearly define technical scope, dependencies, risks and estimates for change delivery.
• Support Project Managers with technically robust inputs to planning, costing and scheduling.

Stakeholder & Customer Engagement

• Work directly with customer technical stakeholders to elicit, clarify and refine requirements.
• Act as a trusted technical authority, able to explain complex technical topics clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborate effectively across Leidos engineering disciplines and third-party suppliers.

Governance, Quality & Assurance

• Ensure compliance with Leidos engineering standards, programme governance, and security policies.
• Identify technical risks early and define mitigation strategies.
• Support technical reviews, audits, and assurance activities as required.

Mentoring & Capability Development

• Provide technical mentoring and coaching to junior and mid-level engineers.
• Promote good engineering practice, reuse of patterns, and continuous improvement across the programme.
• Contribute to the development of common ways of working and engineering maturity within the programme.

• Proven experience as a Technical Lead or Senior Systems Engineer on large-scale, complex IT programmes.
• Strong grounding in Systems Engineering concepts and lifecycle management.
• Broad technical understanding across:
• Infrastructure (compute, storage, virtualisation)
• Networks
• Applications and integrations
• Hybrid and/or cloud environments
• Experience leading technical design, integration and change in a controlled, high-assurance environment.
• Ability to assess technical risk, manage dependencies, and make sound engineering decisions.
• Excellent communication skills, with experience engaging customers and senior stakeholders.

Desirable

• Experience working on UK government, defence or critical national infrastructure programmes.
• Familiarity with IT service delivery environments and operational constraints.
• Knowledge of security-driven design and working within secure environments.
• Experience influencing technical strategy across multi-supplier ecosystems.

Personal Attributes

• Confident technical leader with strong systems thinking.
• Pragmatic, delivery-focused, and able to balance risk, cost and quality.
• Collaborative and comfortable working across organisational boundaries.
• Passionate about engineering excellence and developing others.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to work on one of Leidos UK’s most significant and visible programmes.
• Exposure to complex, mission-critical systems with real national impact.
• A collaborative engineering culture with clear technical career pathways.
• Competitive salary, benefits, and flexible working arrangements.

Clearance Requirements:

• Must be eligible for UK Security Clearance

What we do for you:

At Leidos we are PASSIONATE about customer success, UNITED as a team and INSPIRED to make a difference. We offer meaningful and engaging careers, a collaborative culture, and support for your career goals, all while nurturing a healthy work-life balance.

We provide an employment package that attracts, develops and retains only the best in talent. Our reward scheme includes:

• Contributory Pension Scheme

• Private Medical Insurance

• 33 days Annual Leave (including public and privilege holidays)

• Access to Flexible benefits (including life assurance, health schemes, gym memberships, annual buy and sell holidays and a cycle to work scheme)

• Flexi-Time Working, 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 .

Leidos UK & EUROPE (http://www.leidos.com/company/global/uk-europe) - we work to make the worldsafer,healthier, andmore efficient through technology, engineering andscience.

Leidos is a growing company delivering innovative technology and solutions focused on safeguarding critical capabilities and transformation in frontline services, our work in the United Kingdom includes addressing some of the most complex problems in defence, healthcare, government, safety and security, and transportation.

What Makes Us Different:

Purpose: you can use your passion and abilities at Leidos to keep the people you care about safe. We are at the forefront of machine learning, AI, cyber security and solutions. Using your skills in the technology frontline by helping to build a safer world. You can inspire change.

Collaboration: having flexibility to do your job is one of our core benefits, enabling you to become part of our extraordinary team. We have been empowering our people to work flexibly for years. Whether you work from home, the office or on customer sites, we will give you the digital tools and the flexibility to work smarter and align your needs and ours.

People: Leidos empowers people from every background to be themselves and gives you the tools to learn new skills by enabling growth whilst developing . We believe that extraordinary people need opportunities to grow, to be inspired and to inspire others. At Leidos, we invest in technical academies, career rotations and a career development plans that enhance your future.

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., 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 .