Chief Engineer, Developer Experience

Description

Wanted: The platform engineer who turns a collection of tools into a cohesive platform-and makes it look inevitable.

Leidos is building MissionOS: the unified platform that will power how thousands of engineers build, deploy, and operate mission-critical software across the enterprise.

This isn't about stitching together a few CI/CD pipelines. This is about designing the infrastructure, runtimes, developer tooling, and self-service capabilities that become the foundation for every software team at Leidos. This is about creating golden paths that make it easy to do the right thing-and nearly impossible to do the wrong thing.

This role exists because platforms don't design themselves. Tools proliferate. Architectures drift. Teams optimize locally and integrate painfully. And without a principal-level engineer focused on the big picture, you end up with a pile of capabilities instead of a platform.

You'll be the engineer who fixes that-by defining what MissionOS needs to be, then working relentlessly to make it real.

Why This Role Matters
MissionOS isn't just another platform initiative. It's the foundation for how Leidos builds software for the next decade.

This role is about ensuring we don't just accumulate tools-we build a platform that makes engineering teams faster, safer, and more effective. You'll shape technical decisions that affect thousands of developers and define what "modern software delivery" means at Leidos.

You'll work at the intersection of long-term vision and immediate execution. You'll partner with a sharp product owner and talented engineering teams to turn ambition into reality. And you'll have the scope, autonomy, and organizational support to make a lasting impact.

If you're the engineer who sees the platform others don't yet and knows how to build it, this is your role.

What You'll Do
*Define the platform architecture. Work with the MissionOS Product Owner to design the long-term vision for how infrastructure, runtimes, CI/CD, developer tooling, and self- service portals fit together into a cohesive developer platform.
*Drive technical direction. Lead build vs. buy evaluations, architectural trade-off decisions, and integration design across multiple platform capabilities (pSDO, LSRE, Quiver, and future tools). You're the deep-dive technical voice that informs product decisions.
*Partner with engineering teams. Work closely with engineering managers building individual MissionOS capabilities to ensure implementation aligns with the broader platform vision. Talk shop. Review designs. Solve integration challenges.
*Move fast on emerging needs. Program teams need platform capabilities now. You balance long-term architectural consistency with the urgency of delivering value quickly. You know when to build for the future and when to ship something that works today.
*Represent platform needs externally. Engage with corporate IT (CIOS), security (CIS), and compliance teams to ensure platform decisions align with enterprise standards, security requirements, and regulatory constraints.
*Cover security and compliance. Ensure MissionOS platform decisions account for security, compliance, and operational risk. You speak confidently with security teams about how the platform addresses their concerns.
*Enable self-service at scale. Design infrastructure- and policy-as-code patterns, golden path templates, and developer portal experiences that let teams provision environments, deploy applications, and access services without waiting for tickets.

Who You Are
*An architect who codes. You think clearly about large-scale system architecture, but you're not afraid to get your hands dirty. You can whiteboard a vision, then open a terminal and prove it works.
*A systems thinker. You see how CI/CD, infrastructure, security, observability, and developer experience interact. You design for the whole system, not just individual components.
*Pragmatic and delivery-focused. You balance "perfect" with "good enough to ship." You know when to invest in long-term architecture and when to solve the immediate problem and iterate later.
*A technical peer to engineering managers. You can engage deeply with teams building platform capabilities, talk shop about implementation details, and earn respect through technical credibility.
*Comfortable operating at multiple altitudes. You can zoom out to discuss long-term platform strategy with executives, then zoom in to debug a Kubernetes manifest with an engineer. You move fluidly between vision and execution.
*Experienced with security and compliance. You understand what CIOS and CIS care about. You know how to design platforms that satisfy security requirements without crushing developer productivity.

What You'll Face
*A platform that needs to support diverse workloads-from AI/ML systems to edge autonomy to traditional enterprise applications.
*Pressure to deliver value quickly while building for long-term scale and sustainability.
*Multiple existing capabilities that need to evolve, integrate, or potentially retire as MissionOS matures.
*Security and compliance requirements that can't be ignored but also can't slow anything down.
*Engineering teams optimizing for their immediate needs without seeing the broader platform picture.
And still-you'll deliver. Because you know how to build platforms that matter.

Your Technical Impact
*Define the technical architecture for MissionOS platform-the infrastructure, tooling, and self-service capabilities that enable thousands of engineers to build mission-critical software faster and more reliably.
*Drive build vs. buy decisions, integration strategies, and architectural evolution across CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, developer portals, and runtime platforms. Establish patterns for secure, compliant, self-service developer experiences-from environment provisioning to deployment pipelines to observability.
*Ensure MissionOS platform meets enterprise security, compliance, and operational standards while remaining developer-friendly.
*Work with engineering teams to evolve existing capabilities (pSDO, LSRE, Quiver) into a unified, cohesive platform experience.
*Help Leidos transition from fragmented tooling to golden paths that make the right way the easy way

Required Qualifications
*Master's degree and 15+ years in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field (Master's preferred).
*15+ years of software engineering experience with significant focus on platform engineering, infrastructure, DevOps, or developer tooling.
*Deep hands-on experience designing and building developer platforms-internal developer portals, CI/CD systems, infrastructure-as-code, self-service environments, runtime platforms.
*Strong architectural thinking with proven ability to design systems that balance immediate needs with long-term scalability and maintainability.
*Solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) including compute, networking, IAM, and infrastructure services.
*Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, ArgoCD, or equivalent).
*Proficiency with infrastructure as code (Terraform, Pulumi, AWS CDK, CloudFormation).
*Familiarity with CI/CD platforms (GitLab, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI, or equivalent) and how to design self-service pipelines at scale.
*Strong understanding of security and compliance requirements and satisfying them through policy-as-code in enterprise or regulated environments. Ability to engage credibly with security teams about platform risk, SBOM management, vulnerability scanning, and secure-by-design principles.
*Excellent communication skills-you can explain complex technical decisions to both engineers and executives.
*U.S. citizenship required; ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications
*Prior experience building platforms in defense, aerospace, or federal government contexts with familiarity with FedRAMP, RMF, or DoD IL4/5/6 requirements.
*Experience with developer portal platforms like Backstage, Port, or custom-built internal portals.
*Hands-on experience with Agile tooling (Jira, Azure DevOps) and integration with developer workflows.
*Background in DevSecOps, software supply chain security, or application security.
*Experience evaluating, procuring, and integrating third-party developer tools at enterprise scale.
*Exposure to AI-enabled development workflows or platform support for AI/ML workloads.

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.

#Remote