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).

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.
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* Location:

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

Responsibilities:

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 developmentAI-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.

Basic Qualifications:

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 development7+ years of combined experience supporting Git Ops/Dev Ops/Dev Sec Ops7 + 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 integration, RAG, context engineering, AI evals/guardrails)
Experience working in Agile software development environments.

Candidate must be able to obtain/maintain a Public Trust, which requires US Citizenship or Permanent Residency Willingness to travel up to 25% as needed

Required Skills:

Proven expertise in architecting, designing, and implementing solutions adhering to best practices for operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, cost optimization, and sustainability.

Experience in communicating with and presenting solutions to Executive Management  Hands-on experience with vetting and implementing new technologies and processes Solid experience with PaaS using Red Hat Open Shift (or other Kubernetes platforms), Docker/Podman containers, and Helm Experience in architecting and developing Dev Ops/Git Ops solutions at an enterprise level using CI/CD tools such as Git Lab, Argo CD, Argo Workflow Argo Rollout, Argo Events, and Git Extensive understanding and experience with designing and developing software with Java and at least one additional language such as C++, or Python Experience applying AI-assisted software development practices to improve developer…