Team Lead – Principal Software Engineer

The Defense Sector at Leidos is currently seeking a Team Lead Principal Software Engineer with 12 years of professional experience to lead multiple Agile teams and drive the technical and organizational success of our software development this role you will provide strategic technical leadership people management and delivery accountability for software products built using Java Rust JavaScript and React.

You will be responsible for developing engineering leaders shaping long-term technical direction and partnering with product design and executive stakeholders to ensure the continuous delivery of high-quality user-centered software.

This position does allow the ability to telework but the chosen candidate must be within a reasonable driving distance to one of the following four locations - Morgantown WV Orlando FL Omaha NE or Huntsville AL. Weekly on-site work at one of these four locations is required.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Organizational & Technical Leadership
  • Define and drive long-term technical strategy and architectural direction across teams
  • Oversee the design and delivery of scalable secure and maintainable software solutions
  • Serve as a senior technical authority and escalation point for cross-team and cross-domain issues
  • Champion engineering excellence including automated testing CI/CD reliability and security
  • Establish standards best practices and governance for software development
  • Guide the responsible adoption of generative AI tools across engineering teams
• People Management & Leadership Development
  • Lead manage and develop engineering managers and senior engineers
  • Own performance management career development succession planning and talent growth
  • Build and sustain a high-performing inclusive engineering culture
  • Partner with leadership on hiring strategy workforce planning and organizational design
  • Coach leaders on effective team management delivery and technical decision-making
• Delivery & Execution
  • Own delivery outcomes across multiple Agile teams ensuring predictability and quality
  • Partner with product and business stakeholders to align roadmaps priorities and execution
  • Ensure effective Agile practices metrics and continuous improvement using Jira
  • Balance near-term delivery with long-term platform and technical investments
  • Incorporate customer feedback operational insights and data to drive product improvements
• Cross-Functional & Executive Collaboration
  • Act as a key engineering representative in cross-functional and leadership discussions
  • Communicate technical vision risks and progress to senior leadership
  • Influence product strategy through deep understanding of users and technical constraints
  • Drive alignment across engineering product design and operations

Basic Qualifications:

• US Citizen with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance with 365 days from the start of your employment with Leidos.

• Bachelors degree in a relevant field and 12 years of professional software development experience or a Masters degree with 10 years of experience. Additional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
• Strong technical foundation in Java Rust JavaScript and/or React
• Proven track record of leading multiple teams and delivering complex software systems
• Deep experience with Agile development and tools such as Jira
• Demonstrated experience driving architecture and solution design across teams
• Strong background in automated testing CI/CD and modern software delivery practices
• Exceptional leadership communication and stakeholder management skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• US Citizen with an active Top Secret clearance.

• Experience in senior engineering leadership roles
• Experience owning large platforms or mission-critical systems
• Experience with cloud-native distributed or high-availability architectures
• Experience formalizing engineering processes metrics and career ladders
• Experience scaling or governing the use of AI-assisted development tools
• Strong understanding of usability accessibility and user-centered design

What We Offer

• Senior leadership role with broad influence over technology and engineering culture
• Opportunity to shape long-term technical and organizational strategy
• Collaborative executive environment with high visibility and impact
• Investment in modern engineering practices tools and innovation
• Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits package

If youre looking for comfort keep scrolling. At Leidos we outthink outbuild and outpace the status quo because the mission demands it. Were not hiring followers. Were recruiting the ones who disrupt provoke and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. Were already at step 30 and moving faster than anyone else dares.

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.