Chief Engineer

Description

The Chief Engineer serves as the program's primary technical authority and is accountable for integrated technical success across Agile product development, IT operations, and systems/network engineering. This role leads the Engineering Review Board, ensures cross-functional alignment, and mitigates technical risks across the full lifecycle-from initial requirements through steady-state operations.

Core Responsibilities

1) Technical Authority, Strategy & Governance

• Technical delivery accountability:Deliver an integrated technical solution that satisfies requirements per approved plans and the contract; ensure all technical contractual requirements are met.

• Architectural integrity:Define and maintain the program "North Star" architecture; ensure Agile development teams don't create silos that conflict with network or security constraints.

• Disciplined engineering processes:Implement disciplined engineering processes and engineering standards (CI/CD, coding practices, network protocols).

• Technical baselines & approvals:Establish and maintain formal technical baselines; approve technical plans, work products, and deliverables.

• Systems engineering alignment:Execute in accordance with theSystems Engineering Plan(or equivalent) and ensure engineering lifecycle selection is appropriate for the program.

2) Requirements, Design, Integration & Verification

• Requirements leadership:Understand technical requirements; direct engineering execution to ensure the solution meets user needs and contract requirements; review functional analyses, requirements analyses, and requirements flow-down.

• Design & trade decisions:Review alternative design solutions and trade studies; lead technical design and development.

• End-to-end integration:Manage/oversee development, integration, test, and deployment support as required (including coordination across product, infrastructure, and operations).

• Verification support:Ensure requirements are satisfied by an integrated and testable solution; support verification of requirements and interfaces via analysis, simulation, and/or test.

• Reviews:Lead and participate in formal and informal technical reviews.

3) Cross-Domain Operations & Service Delivery Integration

• DevOps/SRE leadership:Bridge Development (Agile squads) and Operations (System/Network administrators) to ensure seamless deployments and high availability.

• Interoperability & performance:Ensure system and network engineering designs support low-latency requirements of modern product applications.

• Subcontractor technical oversight (as applicable):Monitor subcontractor technical efforts for compliance and performance.

4) Leadership, Performance & Risk Management

• Risk management:Contribute to and lead technical risk identification and mitigation across the program lifecycle.

• Incident leadership:Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for high-severity incidents across the stack.

• Technical debt management:Balance rapid feature delivery with long-term health of the network and system infrastructure.

• Program performance visibility:Track and review technical, schedule, and cost performance measures; report status to leadership as appropriate; participate in internal program reviews.

• Mentorship/escalation:Serve as the final escalation point for Lead Engineers and Architects across workstreams.

Required Qualifications

• Experience:12+ years in technical leadership roles, including 5+ years overseeing multi-disciplinary engineering teams.

• Agile expertise:Deep understanding of scaling Agile frameworks (e.g., SAFe, LeSS) and how they interface with infrastructure milestones.

• Network & systems:Proven experience in hybrid-cloud environments and high-availability system design.

• Operations knowledge:Familiarity with ITIL or SRE principles (automated monitoring, alerting, incident response).

• Security:Experience integrating Security-by-Design into the SDLC and network architecture.

Security Clearance Requirements

• Must have:ActiveTop Secret (TS)clearance withSCI eligibilityat time of start.

• Must obtain after start:Counterintelligence (CI) polygraph.

• Ongoing requirement:Must be able tomaintain eligibility for Special Access Program (SAP)access.

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.

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.

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline onlyand 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.

About Leidos

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.

Pay and Benefits

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.

Securing Your Data

Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos' name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system - never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at LeidosCareersFraud@leidos.com.

If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.