Autonomous Mission Systems Software Engineer

Build software for UUVs that navigate in the dark think independently and must complete the mission. Failure is not an option.

Leidos is seeking an Autonomous Mission Systems Software Engineer to help develop and evolve the Sea Dart UUV product line a family of undersea autonomous systems built to operate independently coordinate with operators and execute complex missions in denied environments.

This role sits at the intersection of autonomy mission planning and command-and-control. You will work across both vehicle-side autonomy and topside mission systems helping define how Sea Dart vehicles plan execute communicate and adapt across a range of operational scenarios. This is product development not one-off prototype work. Your contributions will shape reusable frameworks shared mission software and platform capabilities that persist across programs and customers.

Youll be part of a team that values engineering ownership fast iteration with discipline and building software that performs when deployed not just when demonstrated.

Why This Role Is Different

• Youll work on a Leidos-owned UUV product line not just a single program.
• Your software will define how missions are planned and executed underwater.
• Youll bridge autonomy and mission systems influencing vehicle behavior end-to-end.
• Youll build reusable long-lived capability not throwaway prototypes.
• Youll see your work deployed tested refined and fielded.

If you want to help define the software backbone of a modern undersea autonomy product line this is the role.

Primary Responsibilities

• Design and implement autonomy and mission-planning software in modern C supporting Sea Dart UUVs executing complex missions with minimal human intervention.
• Develop mission planning and orchestration logic that converts operator intent into executable behaviors for autonomous undersea vehicles.
• Build and evolve command-and-control capabilities that monitor mission execution manage vehicle state and adapt plans across intermittent or degraded communication links.
• Contribute directly to vehicle-side autonomy frameworks including behaviors state machines planners and mission execution logic.
• Engineer software for isolation accounting for lack of GPS unreliable RF/acoustic communications latency and partial situational awareness.
• Define and maintain clean software interfaces between mission systems autonomy components and vehicle control layers across the Sea Dart product line.
• Support integration test and field operations debugging real interactions between autonomy software mission planning tools and deployed vehicles.
• Participate in product-level architecture decisions ensuring Sea Dart software remains modular scalable and reusable across programs.
• Collaborate across disciplines including autonomy RF/comms systems hardware and test engineers to deliver cohesive product capability.
• Help mature the Sea Dart software ecosystem improving tooling workflows and technical standards as the product line evolves.

Basic Qualifications

• Education & Experience - Bachelors degree in Computer Science Software Engineering or related field with 8-12 years of experience or a Masters degree with 6-10 years of experience.
• Security Eligibility - Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret clearance.
• Primary Software Expertise - Strong proficiency in modern C development on Linux with solid fundamentals in performance memory management concurrency and code quality.
• Autonomy & Mission Systems Awareness - Experience or familiarity with autonomy concepts such as behaviors planners state machines or mission execution logic.
• Distributed & Degraded Systems Thinking - Ability to design software that coordinates across components tolerates partial failure and operates under intermittent communications.
• Python for Support & Tooling - Working experience with Python for scripting tooling testing or integration tasks.
• Development Environments - Experience developing and deploying software in Linux environments using containers or virtualized systems (e.g. Docker VMware).
• Agile Engineering Practices - Experience working in iterative development environments with tools such as Jira Confluence Bitbucket or similar.
• Communication & Collaboration - Ability to communicate clearly across engineering disciplines and contribute constructively to technical discussions and design reviews.
• Professional Integrity - Demonstrated ownership accountability and respect for teammates and mission outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Mission Planning & Orchestration - Hands-on experience developing mission planners task orchestration systems or autonomy frameworks for robotic or distributed systems.
• Autonomous Vehicle Experience - Experience with robotic maritime or undersea autonomous platforms including integration with vehicle control software.
• Embedded or Edge Systems - Familiarity with software running in resource-constrained or embedded environments.
• Polyglot Engineering - Experience across multiple languages (Java Python C Rust etc.) and the ability to integrate with heterogeneous software stacks.
• Messaging & Interfaces - Experience with publish/subscribe architectures message serialization (e.g. Protocol Buffers) or distributed data models.
• Product-Line Engineering - Experience contributing to shared platforms or product lines where reuse consistency and long-term evolution matter.

Toolchain Familiarity - Experience with ROS Protocol Buffers VS Code SCons or similar tooling is a strong plus.

SUBSEAMSS

At Leidos we dont want someone who fits the moldwe want someone who melts it down and builds something better. This is a role for the restless the over-caffeinated the ones who ask whats next before the dust settles on whats now.

If youre already scheming step 20 while everyone else is still debating step 2 good. Youll fit right in.

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.