Leidos · 5 hours ago
Principal Software Engineer, AI Development
United States
Full-time
Remote
Lead/Staff
$154K/yr - $278K/yr
15+ years expLeidos is a company focused on reshaping software systems that support critical missions in various sectors. They are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of AI-enabled software platforms, driving modernization and improving outcomes while ensuring safety and reliability.
ComputerGovernmentInformation ServicesInformation TechnologyNational SecuritySoftware
Responsibilities
Provide Thought leadership in the future opportunities in AI and agentic-enabled tools, capabilities, and challenges
Serve as the architectural lead for AI- and agentic-enabled tooling, establishing patterns, reference implementations, and best practices
Design scalable, secure, and resilient software systems that integrate LLMs, multi-agent workflows, code intelligence, and automation
Own and drive the technical roadmap for next-generation software acceleration tools—including IDE extensions, code-analysis agents, refactoring engines, and developer-assistive AI
Lead architecture reviews, evaluate new technologies, and set engineering standards for AI safety, quality, reliability, and observability
Build high-quality software with modern languages and frameworks (e.g., Python, TypeScript, Go, Java)
Develop pipelines and services that enable AI reasoning, code analysis, static/dynamic analysis, and automated transformation of legacy systems
Prototype early concepts rapidly and transition successful prototypes into robust, production systems
Integrate AI/ML models (commercial, open-source, or custom) into enterprise environments and developer workflows
Design and build agentic orchestration, tool-use interfaces, embeddings systems, context windows, and retrieval-augmented workflows
Implement “human-in-the-loop” safety and review patterns
Develop mechanisms for grounding, guardrailing, and evaluating AI performance and correctness
Leverage AI to analyze, modernize, and refactor large, complex codebases (e.g., Java, .NET, COBOL, C++)
Partner with product, UX, and platform teams to define features, user journeys, and developer experience goals
Act as a technical mentor to senior and mid-level engineers; cultivate a culture of excellence and continuous learning
Collaborate closely with research, data, and cybersecurity teams to ensure solutions are safe, secure, and aligned with mission needs
Represent the engineering team in internal and external forums, contributing to thought leadership in AI and software engineering modernization
Qualification
Required
15+ years experience in software engineering, including significant experience at the senior/principal/architect level
Expertise in designing and building distributed systems, developer tools, or platform engineering products
Hands-on experience implementing AI/ML systems or integrating large language models into production workflows
Strong knowledge of agentic frameworks, orchestration tools, RAG, vector databases, API design, and microservices
Deep understanding of software design patterns, CI/CD, DevSecOps, and cloud-native architectures (AWS/Azure/GCP)
Strong coding proficiency in at least two modern languages (Python, Go, Java, C#, etc.)
Ability to drive technical strategy, influence cross-functional teams, and communicate complex ideas clearly
Must be authorized to work in the U.S
Preferred
Experience modernizing legacy systems (e.g., mainframe, Java monoliths, .NET)
Background building developer experience (DevX) tools, IDE integrations, or code-intelligence systems
Experience with AI/ML model fine-tuning, prompt engineering, or evaluation frameworks
Familiarity with cybersecurity, secure-by-design principles, or government/missions systems
Prior role as a thought leader, principal engineer, architect, or technical founder
Company
Leidos
Leidos is a Fortune 500® innovation company rapidly addressing the world’s most vexing challenges in national security and health.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Leidos has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (65)
2024 (58)
2023 (77)
2022 (65)
2021 (56)
2020 (89)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
unknown2025-02-20Post Ipo Debt
2013-09-17IPO
Leadership Team
James Carlini
Chief Technology Officer
Theodore Tanner
Chief Technology Officer
Recent News
MarketScreener
2025-12-16
2025-12-16
Company data provided by crunchbase