Principal System Engineer

Leidos Security Enterprise Solutions (SES) has an opening for Principal System Engineer to act as an IMS instrument system lead to support the system-level sustainment and advancement of fielded Ion Mobility Spectrometer instruments and the design development integration verification/validation and transition-to-fielding of next-generation analytical instruments based on Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS).

Leidos is seeking an experienced scientist/engineer to lead the instrument systems engineering and system design of advanced IMS/MS-based instruments. The successful candidate will be responsible for technical planning instrument architecture and requirements development multi-disciplinary design coordination and technical leadership across the full product lifecyclefrom concept development through prototype builds and test to sustained engineering support.

This role includes evaluating design alternatives (including technical risk supportability and performance) leading technical trade studies and ensuring alignment across scientific mechanical electrical firmware and software development to deliver robust high-performance instruments.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead system-level instrument architecture and design for IMS instruments including decomposition into subsystems interfaces and verification strategies.
• Coordinate and lead the efforts of science and engineering teams on multidisciplinary projects ensuring alignment across chemistry physics mechanical electrical firmware and software development.
• Translate customer and mission needs into clear testable system requirements including allocation to subsystems and definition of interfaces and performance budgets.
• Develop and maintain an organized engineering roadmap and technical baseline for instrument development and sustaining activities.
• Perform (and/or lead) functional analysis timeline analysis trade studies risk assessments and requirements traceability to guide design decisions.
• Provide system-level design input to scientific mechanical electrical and software teamsensuring that instrument performance reliability and testability are built in from the start.
• Plan and lead integration test verification and validation activities including defining test approaches troubleshooting cross-domain issues and closing performance gaps.
• Establish and manage system configuration baselines versioning and change control; initiate and execute engineering change efforts to sustain and evolve the instrument.
• Mentor and guide other scientists and engineers; promote strong engineering rigor documentation discipline and effective design-review practices.
• Collaborate with program leadership and stakeholders to balance performance cost schedule manufacturability reliability and supportability.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelors degree in a relevant technical discipline (e.g. Chemistry Physics Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Systems Engineering Chemical Engineering or similar) with 1215 years of relevant experience or Masters with 1013 years of relevant experience. (A PhD in a relevant technical domain may be considered.)
• Demonstrated experience leading (or serving as a key technical contributor on) the design build and test of complex analytical instruments or sensing products from concept through prototype and system-level validation.
• Strong background in IMS and/or MS instrument development including applying modern IMS/MS theory and practices to real hardware performance and test outcomes.
• Experience working effectively on multi-disciplinary teams including technical leadership coordination across organizations and mentoring less experienced engineers/scientists.
• Ability to work independently to solve complex ambiguous technical problems and drive decisions through data analysis and engineering judgment.
• Excellent verbal written and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to present technical content to diverse audiences (engineering leadership and customers).
• US Citizen able to obtain relevant public trust and clearances

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Demonstrated experience with ion mobility development including modeling analysis test correlation and performance optimization at the instrument-system level.
• Experience with full lifecycle instrument engineering: requirements architecture subsystem design integration V&V production transition sustaining.
• Familiarity with instrument control data acquisition and analysis workflows (and effectively partnering with software teams to implement them).
• Background in designing for reliability manufacturability serviceability and configuration control in a product-oriented environment.
• Working knowledge of laboratory development environments (e.g. Linux-based workflows and scripting/automation) and test automation approaches.

Come break things (in a good way). Then build them smarter.

Were the tech company everyone calls when things get weird. We dont wear capes (theyre a safety hazard) but we do solve high-stakes problems with code caffeine and a healthy disregard for how its always been done.

Original Posting:

Pay Range:

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.