Leidos has a new and exciting opportunity for a Principal Software Engineer in our Intelligence Sector's Cyber & Analytics Business Area (CABA) Our talented team is at the forefront in Security Engineering, Computer Network Operations (CNO), Mission Software, Analytical Methods and Modeling, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and Cryptographic Key Management. At Leidos, we offer competitive benefits, including Paid Time Off, 11 paid Holidays, 401K with a 6% company match and immediate vesting, Flexible Schedules, Discounted Stock Purchase Plans, Technical Upskilling, Education and Training Support, Parental Paid Leave, and much more. Join us and make a difference in National Security!
This is a large, multi-year Leidos-led prime contract supporting the development, integration, deployment, and sustainment of large collection systems. The work performed on this program is mission-critical to the government and focused on solving complex technical challenges within emerging technologies.
Team members operate with autonomy while contributing to a highly technical environment delivering impactful, mission-relevant solutions.
Leidos is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to design, implement, and enhance distributed application orchestration in a cloud-native environment. This role requires a senior engineer who contributes to architectural direction, leads development of scalable deployment solutions, and mentors team members while promoting best practices. The ideal candidate demonstrates ownership of system components, helps guide technical decisions and tradeoffs, contributes to shared tooling and standards, and applies a systems-level mindset across the platform.
Primary Responsibilities
Design scalable workflows for deploying and managing Kubernetes-native applications
Lead development of reusable Helm charts, GitOps templates, and deployment strategies
Build system-aware controllers or agents to automate application lifecycle tasks
Contribute to platform-wide architecture decisions, including deployment strategy, multi-cluster configuration, and observability
Mentor junior engineers and conduct code reviews to ensure reliability, clarity, and best practices
Collaborate with DevOps and platform teams to support secure and compliant deployments
Help shape internal standards, shared tooling, and technical direction through design guidance and tradeoff analysis
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or similar technical discipline with 20 or more years of related experience
Deep experience with Go or Python in cloud-native environments
Strong Kubernetes experience, including CRDs, Helm, GitOps, and multi-tenant application deployments
Experience with event-driven or agent-based systems (e.g., Kafka, controller patterns)
Familiarity with infrastructure automation tools such as Terraform, cloud-init, or Ansible
Experience working in complex environments balancing automation with operator oversight
Demonstrated ability to lead technical efforts and contribute to system-level design decisions
Clearance Requirement: Active TS/SCI with polygraph required
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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.
March 20, 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 $154,050.00 - $278,475.00
The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and 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.
Leidos is a Fortune 500® innovation company rapidly addressing the world’s most vexing challenges in national security and health. The company's global workforce of 48,000 collaborates to create smarter technology solutions for customers in heavily regulated industries. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $15.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2023.
Leidos was cited for the meaningful work employees perform that is challenging, impactful, and aligned with our customers’ missions as reasons professionals want to work and stay at our company. Leidos has also been named to lists including Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity, Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Women, Military Times Best for Vets Employers, and Ethisphere Institute’s World's Most Ethical Companies®.
Employees enjoy career enrichment opportunities available through mobility and development and experience rewarding relationships with supportive supervisors and talented colleagues and customers. Employees appreciate our flexible work environment, allowing for and encouraging a true work-life balance. Our professionals are also excited about our Employee Resource Groups, like the Collaborative Outreach with Remote and Embedded Employees (CORE), which strives to create an environment where every employee, regardless of location, feels fully engaged as a valued employee of Leidos.
Your most important work is ahead, visit careers.leidos.com for our latest opportunities.
