Description

General program information and/or position overview:

Candidates will join an experienced and motivated group responsible for the design and prototyping of embedded electronics systems used in autonomous ocean applications. This position will collaborate within a medium-sized team of electrical, computer, and mechanical engineers, contributing to systems currently under development, as well as future systems. This person will directly support the team in designing, developing, and testing software by using a variety of Linux computers or microcontrollers. Candidates will be involved in the complete development process: initial concept, rapid prototyping, development, integration, verification, and at-sea testing.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with an integrated government/industry/academia team to identify software requirements and evaluate design approaches for solving technical problems.

• Architect, design, and implement maintainable, robust, and performant software, build, and test processes.

• Integrate, test, and verify software implementations on target hardware platforms.

• Creatively recognize performance gaps and suggest possible improvements.

• Participate in activities to secure and harden Linux systems according to Department of Defense (DoD) standards.

• Operate autonomous systems in the lab, or at sea, to accomplish the above.

• Post Mission Analysis (PMA) for autonomous systems including validation of control laws, characterization of navigation performance, and modification of behaviors.

• Communicate regularly across the engineering team to coordinate development efforts, anticipate design changes, prioritize feature implementations and bug fixes, and solicit team feedback.

Basic Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain minimum SECRET security clearance; active clearance preferred

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or Mathematics (with a software background), or other STEM fields

• 1+ years of experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Linux application development, embedded and user facing, using tools such as: x64 and/or ARM environments

• Virtual machines

• VS Code, or similar, Integrated development environments (IDEs)

• Valgrind, or similar, memory debuggers

• CMake, or similar, software build tools

• Cross compilation

• Unit testing and/or regression testing

• Subversion (SVN) and/or Git repositories

• Continuous integration (CI) / Continuous deployment (CD) pipelines

• Linux system hardening and security best practices:

• Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG)

• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for SSH or similar frameworks

• Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) disk encryption

• Proficiency in one or more of the following languages:

• C; C++, Python, Java

• Hardware in the loop testing using instruments such as power supplies, multi-meters, etc.

• Familiarity with or ability to read, understand, and interpret complex technical documents such as Software Requirements

Specifications (SRSs) or Interface Control Documents (ICDs).

• Proficiency with basic office software (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Teams, SharePoint).

• Able to lift objects up to 40 pounds.

• Able to travel domestically or internationally, estimated at 1-2 weeks per trip up to 4 times per year.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Agile and Scrum project management practices.

• Working knowledge of low-level communication protocols (SPI, I2C, RS-232, CAN, Ethernet, etc.).

• Experience with Real-time Operating System (RTOS) or bare-metal microcontroller firmware development using tools such as:

• Microchip MPLAB X IDE, or similar

• Microchip In-Circuit Debugger/Programmer (ICD5), Segger J-Link JTAG Debugger/Programmer, or similar

• Laboratory instruments such as power supplies, multi-meters, oscilloscopes, logical analyzers, electronic loads, and the like

• Altium Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design software, or similar

• Experience with other Linux environment tools such as:

• OpenCV computer vision algorithms

• Nvidia Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform

• Bash scripting

• Octave, MatLab, or similar software packages for data analysis

• Experience with Navy standard platforms for autonomous vehicles such as:

• OpenAUV framework

• PCX framework

• Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware

• Experience with Raspberry Pi, or similar, low power embedded computers.

• Familiarity with basic oceanographic instruments like depth sensors, altimeters, long or short baseline systems, doppler velocity logs, altitude & heading reference systems (AHRS), and similar.

• Experience with small boat operations and at-sea testing.

At Leidos, we don’t want someone who "fits the mold"-we want someone who melts it down and builds something better. This is a role for the restless, the over-caffeinated, the ones who ask, “what’s next?” before the dust settles on “what’s now.”

If you’re already scheming step 20 while everyone else is still debating step 2... good. You’ll fit right in.

Original Posting:
August 20, 2025
At Leidos, we don’t want someone who "fits the mold"-we want someone who melts it down and builds something better. This is a role for the restless, the over-caffeinated, the ones who ask, “what’s next?” before the dust settles on “what’s now.”

If you’re already scheming step 20 while everyone else is still debating step 2... good. You’ll fit right in.

Pay Range:
Pay Range $85,150.00 - $153,925.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and 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.