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Systems Engineer SME

Leidos


Job Location:

Tucson, AZ - USA

Monthly Salary: $ 131300 - 237350
Posted: 21 August 2026 (Yesterday)
Application Deadline: 18 November 2026
Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Job Description:

Lead the Technical Vision. Shape the Future.

Leidos is seeking an experienced Systems Engineer Subject Matter Expert (SME) to provide technical leadership for the Chinook Program supporting the customers application. This is a high impact leadership role for an engineering expert who enjoys solving enterprise-scale challenges influencing technical strategy and mentoring high-performing engineering teams.

As a Systems Engineering SME youll serve as the technical authority for systems engineering activities helping shape the architecture and future direction of a mission-critical application while ensuring engineering excellence across the program. You are expected to monitor systems and troubleshoot system anomalies. Systems are monitored throughout the day. You will interact with end users and other contractors that provide support services required for the system. This includes security cloud provisioning and external interfaces with other systems.

Youll also be expected to provide feedback to the system technical development leads and test engineers to make the software and testing more effective and reliable and maintain system documentation and make presentations to end users and Government managers.

Why Join Leidos

This is more than a systems engineering position its an opportunity to influence the technical direction of a high-visibility program while mentoring exceptional engineers and solving some of todays most complex engineering challenges. At Leidos youll work in a collaborative environment where innovation technical excellence and mission success go hand in hand.

Position may be performed in the following locations below.

  • Gaithersburg MD
  • Alexandria VA
  • Chantilly VA
  • Englewood CO
  • St. Louis MO
  • Tucson AZ
Clearance Level Required:

Active Top Secret/SCI with the ability to successfully pass a Polygraph examination.

Primary Responsibilities:

  • Serve as the technical lead and systems engineering authority for the customer application.
  • Define system architecture engineering standards technical roadmaps and modernization strategies.
  • Manage and maintain cloud-based application systems to ensure high availability reliability and performance.
  • Troubleshoot complex technical issues and develop effective solutions to support system functionality and operational needs.
  • Evaluate opportunities in the use of AI tools and how they can be applied to troubleshooting and system monitoring.
  • Lead requirements analysis system design integration verification and validation activities.
  • Guide technical decision making across cross-functional engineering teams.
  • Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend innovative solutions to improve system capabilities.
  • Lead technical risk identification mitigation planning and engineering trade studies.
  • Mentor systems engineers and promote engineering best practices across the program.
  • Partner with program leadership and stakeholders to align technical solutions with mission objectives.
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance system performance scalability security and maintainability.

Basic Qualifications:

  • US citizenship is required per contract.
  • Bachelors degree in Systems Engineering Computer Science or related field and 12-15 years of prior relevant experience or Masters with 10-13 years of prior relevant experience. May possess a Doctorate in a technical domain.
  • 12 years of progressive systems engineering experience supporting software-intensive systems or enterprise systems.
  • Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and influencing engineering strategy.
  • Deep knowledge of systems architecture integration lifecycle engineering and systems thinking.
  • Experience leading engineering efforts within Agile and DevSecOps environments.
  • Exceptional leadership communication collaboration and technical mentoring skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience supporting large-scale government or mission-focused programs.
  • Demonstrated use of AI tools to optimize systems or ideas of how AI tools could be deployed to manage tasks described in the job description.
  • Expertise in cloud-native architecture distributed systems and enterprise modernization.
  • Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) INCOSE CISSP Security certification or similar credentials.
  • Proficient in Python or C software development automation and system support.
  • Experience working with Linux operating systems in support of application deployment automation and systems support.
  • Proven success leading multidisciplinary engineering teams across complex technical programs.

#Chinook

#NSBA

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:
August 5 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:
Pay Range $131300.00 - $237350.00

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.


Required Experience:

IC


About Company

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Leidos is an innovation company rapidly addressing the world's most vexing challenges in national security and health. Our 47,000 employees collaborate to create smarter technology solutions for customers in these critical markets.

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