Principal Software Developer

Leidos is seeking a Principal Software Dev Ops Developer to join a high performing team leading the digital modernization of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) platform. TFDM is a critical FAA Next Gen program that improves aircraft surface and terminal operations by enabling more efficient runway and airspace management, helping reduce congestion across the National Airspace System (NAS).

Leidos is seeking a Principal Software Dev Ops Developer to join a high performing team leading the digital modernization of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) platform. TFDM is a critical FAA Next Gen program that improves aircraft surface and terminal operations by enabling more efficient runway and airspace management, helping reduce congestion across the National Airspace System (NAS).
We are a team of forward‑looking professionals in need of a strong candidate with these key required skills
:
Software Development (Java/C++/Python), Dev Ops / Git Ops (Gitlab, ArgoCD), Containerization, Open Shift/Kubernetes, AI/AI Assisted Development, AWS/Cloud development.
Travel: 25% travel is required for this position. Travel will be to various airports across the country as the TFDM system is deployed to 89 airports. The travel will generally be between 1 to 2 weeks per trip.

• Location:
  
  This position is in our Gaithersburg, MD office 3 days a week and 2 days a week from home office.

• Architect, design, develop, and implement next-generation application using software engineering best practices in the latest technologies:
  • Dev Ops and CI/CD tooling (Git Lab, ArgoCD, Docker, Sonar Qube)
  • Infrastructure-as-Code (Cloud Formation / Terraform, Ansible)
  • Containerization and Platform-as-a-Service (Docker, Open Shift/Kubernetes)
  • AWS/Cloud development
  • AI-Leveraged Development (agentic coding tools like Claude Code, multi-agent orchestration, MCP-based tool integration, RAG, context engineering, AI evals/guardrails)
• Use extensive knowledge in multiple development languages, software development and system design best practices, continuous integration, continuous delivery, automation and configuration tools, testing, tool integrations, AI, and communication to modernize TFDM platform.
• Provide hands‑on experience developing customer integration for enterprise CI/CD architecture.
• Provide architectural oversight to support the development team’s software development, integration, test automation, security testing, and deployments.
• Provide architectural oversight, hands‑on software expertise, and mentoring in these areas: modern application integration, service oriented architectures (SOA), security, business process management/business rules processing, CI/CD pipeline and containerization, reporting, and user experience (UX).
• Investigate and repair application defects regardless of component: CI/CD pipeline, front‑end, business logic, middleware or backend.
• Brief executive leadership (internally or client) regarding matters of significant importance to the organization/project using written or oral skills at appropriate technical level for audience.
• All other duties as assigned or directed.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, mathematics, engineering, or related technical discipline. Master’s or Doctorate degree may substitute for required experience.
• 12+ years of experience with full lifecycle development
• 7+ years of combined experience supporting Git Ops/Dev Ops/Dev Sec Ops
• 7+ years of combined experience of software development (Java, C++, or Python)
• Experience with AI-Leveraged Development (agentic coding tools like Claude Code, multi-agent orchestration, MCP-based tool…