Senior Systems Engineer — Product Owner

Leidos is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer — Product Owner to support development of the Leidos Common Automation Platform (L-CAP) in an Agile/SAFe environment.

Responsibilities

• Own and prioritize the product backlog for one or more Agile teams, sequencing work using stakeholder needs, program priorities, and dependencies; ensure the team builds the right functionality
• Review program requirement documents, system specifications, and applicable FAA standards and orders to extract intent, constraints, and acceptance criteria
• Decompose high-level platform and mission capability needs into specific, testable capability statements (features and stories) with clear acceptance criteria
• Maintain end-to-end traceability from source requirements to features, stories, and verification evidence to ensure compliance outcomes are demonstrable
• Partner with customer stakeholders to identify use cases focused on completeness, testability, alignment with operational workflows, and readiness for validation and field activities
• Define team PI objectives, participate in PI planning and backlog refinement, make timely scope decisions, and accept completed work
• Capture and communicate design decisions, performance trade-offs, compliance rationales, and risk assessments with each release to support reviewer traceability and feedback
• Prepare and review technical documentation, including use cases, user interface specifications, and interface definitions
• Coordinate with the Release Train Engineer, Product Management, systems engineering, and Test and Evaluation to manage dependencies and align delivery with integration and verification milestones
• Lead and participate in structured reviews and inspections

Requirements

• Education: Master’s degree, or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related with 8+ years relevant experience; or Master’s degree with 6+ years relevant experience (equivalent experience acceptable in lieu of degree)
• Experience with Agile methodology, principles, and tools
• Experience in an Agile Product Owner role, including product backlog ownership and prioritization, defining complete backlog items (user stories), making timely scope decisions, and accepting completed work
• Ability to decompose complex requirements into testable work items with verifiable acceptance criteria
• Strong grasp of disciplined engineering processes and attention to detail
• Practical experience writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining software and/or scripts
• Experience designing cloud-based systems
• Experience engaging customers to understand needs, deliver solutions, manage expectations, and maintain an ongoing relationship
• Experience working within a Scaled Agile (SAFe) organization, including PI planning and cross-team coordination
• Clear and effective verbal and written communication
• Public Trust: ability to obtain and maintain
• U.S. citizenship required
• Successful completion of background investigations as required by the government customer

Benefits

• Health and Wellness programs
• Income Protection
• Paid Leave
• Retirement

Job Details

• Location: Eagan, MN (hybrid)
• Hybrid schedule: 3 days onsite and 2 days working from home if located within a commutable distance (less than 1 hour drive one-way during normal traffic) from Gaithersburg, MD, Eagan, MN, or Egg Harbor Township, NJ
• Remote consideration: if not within commutable distance, may be considered for a 100% remote role
• Work within a hybrid cloud data mesh architecture
• Operate under SAFe/Agile as part of an Agile Release Train (ART) delivering iterative value across the program
• Build and modernize real-time, safety-critical systems using traditional systems engineering and AI-augmented software development practices
• Apply AI tools to accelerate development, improve quality, and enhance system reliability

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge and experience with AI-assisted development workflows and tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex)
• Experience with Java, Python, React, and scripting languages
• SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager (POPM) certification
• Knowledge and experience with DevSecOps practices and CI/CD pipelines
• Knowledge of hybrid cloud data mesh architectures and microservices platforms
• Familiarity with MBSE concepts and systems engineering integration
• Knowledge of air traffic control systems, air traffic management, general aviation, and/or flight services
• Practical knowledge of FAA/DoD systems, technical policies, standards, and orders
• Knowledge of FedRAMP, FISMA, or government security compliance frameworks
• Experience supporting verification and validation of safety-critical systems
• Track record of successful delivery on large government programs
• Commutable distance to Gaithersburg, MD; Eagan, MN; or Egg Harbor Township, NJ (desired but not required)

Compensation

• Pay range: USD 107,900 - 195,050 per year

Additional Notes

• Work emphasizes disciplined, responsible AI applied to mission-critical software supporting national infrastructure
• AI used as a force multiplier rather than a shortcut