Principal Solution Architect – National Security & Innovation

Description

The National Security Sector at Leidos has an exciting and strategic opening for a
Principal Solution Architect & Innovation Lead
to work in our
Reston, VA or Gaithersburg, MD
offices. This is a unique opportunity to use your deep technical expertise and leadership experience to help shape the future of mission-critical systems for the Intelligence Community. We are seeking a visionary technical leader who thrives on complex challenges, takes ownership of them, and drives their success with innovative solutions that push the envelope. In this dynamic role, you will be a go-to technical leader, deployed to solve our customers' most pressing problems and to architect their future-state systems.

If you are passionate about solving the nation's toughest security challenges and inspiring teams to deliver groundbreaking results, this role is for you.

• Technical Strategy & Innovation:Champion and architect innovative, next-generation system solutions. You will lead technical planning, trade studies, and analyses to evaluate alternatives, considering cost, risk, and supportability for total system life cycle.
• Proposal & Business Development Leadership:Serve as the technical visionary and lead for high-priority proposal efforts, including RFPs and RFIs. You will shape winning strategies and solutions that align with customer needs and differentiate Leidos in the marketplace.
• Program Execution & Recovery:Act as a technical "first responder" to diagnose and resolve complex issues on challenged programs. You will provide expert-level diagnostics, recovery planning, and hands‑on leadership to guide teams back to success.
• Architect Next‑Gen Solutions:Design end‑to‑end solutions that integrate emerging technologies (Generative AI, Computer Vision, Edge Compute) into mission‑critical workflows.
• Customer Engagement & Inspiration:Engage directly with senior government customers, program managers, and stakeholders to understand their challenges, build trust, and inspire confidence. You will translate their mission needs into actionable technical requirements and roadmaps.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship:Lead and mentor dynamic, multi‑disciplinary teams, often in transient settings. You will foster a culture of innovation, ownership, and technical excellence, coaching other technical staff to elevate their performance.

• Modern Technical Fluency:While you have extensive tenure, your recent experience (last 5+ years) must demonstrate hands‑on leadership in modern architectures:
• Cloud Native:Architecting solutions on AWS/Azure (Serverless, Containers/Kubernetes, Microservices)
• Data & AI:Experience integrating Data Fabrics, AI/ML pipelines, or automated GEOINT processing.
• Capture & Proposal
  
  Experience:
  
  Demonstrated track record of leading technical responses for federal acquisitions. You must be able to deconstruct an RFP L&M (Section L and M) and architect a compliant, winning technical solution.
• Large Development Program
  
  Experience:
  
  Proven leadership experience in technical planning, system design, and full life cycle systems engineering (requirements analysis, functional analysis, integration, verification, and validation).
• Education & Tenure:Bachelor's degreein Computer Science or related field with 17+ years of relevant experience or Master's degree with 15+ years of relevant experience
• Clearance:Must possess an active TS/SCI security clearance with a polygraph.

• Complex Solution Landscapes:Demonstrated experience resolving highly complex, multi‑dimensional problems that require consideration of variables impacting multiple aspects of a program.
• Gov Con & Domain Expertise:Deep, proven understanding of the Intelligence Community (IC) landscape, specifically GEOINT / TCPED missions. You must understand the constraints and requirements of classified environments.
• Excellent Writing and Communication
  
  Skills:
  
  Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with a proven ability to engage and influence senior executive leadership and customers.
• GEOINT Domain
  
  Experience:
  
  Direct, hands‑on experience supporting GEOINT and/or related programs and a deep understanding of…