Software Engineer I

The Undersea Systems Division at Leidos currently has an opening for a Software Engineer I in San Diego, CA.  Candidate will join a fast-paced engineering group rapidly prototyping a variety of ocean systems. Collaborate across our medium-sized team holding complete technical responsibility for custom development and prototyping across many technical disciplines. Team prototyping efforts span from real-world problem-solving, all the way through concept development, followed by iterative design and testing, and conclude with product demonstrations. Ideal candidates will bring deep experience in firmware and software design and design processes.

Join us and be part of a world-class team delivering unmatched solutions for today's most pressing maritime missions.

This position will require the candidate to maintain a Secret Clearance.

This position will require the candidate to work an onsite 9/80B schedule (80 hours of work into nine days over a two-week period, allowing for every other Friday off) to align with the NIWC government team.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with a small engineering team and customers to identify software requirements and evaluate candidate design approaches for solving wide-ranging technical problems.

• Work directly with customers to understand mission needs, translate operational objectives into technical requirements, demonstrate software capabilities, and incorporate feedback throughout development.

• Design and develop maintainable, robust, and performant software applications, services, data pipelines, and user interfaces.

• Develop Python-based software for data processing, analytics, hardware integration, automation, and test applications.

• Build and integrate web-based and desktop user interfaces that enable users to configure systems, visualize data, and monitor operational performance.

• Implement, test, integrate, and verify that software solutions satisfy project and customer requirements for functionality, reliability, performance, and usability.

• Develop and maintain engineering documentation, interface control documents, software requirements specifications, test procedures, and user documentation.

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

• Support laboratory, field, and at-sea testing of prototype systems, including troubleshooting software, hardware interfaces, and operational data flows.

• Present technical concepts, development progress, test results, and product demonstrations directly to customers and other stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications:

• U.S. Citizen with an active SECRET security clearance or the ability to obtain one.

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or another related STEM field.

• Relevant professional, internship, academic, or project experience developing and integrating software applications.

• Proficiency in Python and experience using Python to develop applications, automation tools, data-processing solutions, or hardware-control software.

• Experience designing, developing, and integrating REST APIs.

• Proficiency in software version-control processes and tools such as Git and GitHub.

• Working knowledge of Linux command-line tools and shell scripting.

• Experience testing software and debugging applications that integrate multiple data sources, services, or hardware components.

• Ability to work effectively within a small, multidisciplinary team and contribute across multiple phases of the software-development lifecycle.

• Ability to interact directly and professionally with customers, including gathering requirements, communicating technical tradeoffs, presenting demonstrations, and responding to feedback.

• Ability to understand complex technical documents and communicate technical ideas effectively in writing, orally, and visually.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with C++ and integrating software with purpose-built electro-mechanical or embedded systems.

• Experience developing modular test architectures that support live hardware, recorded data, simulation, or other test inputs.

• Experience integrating operational telemetry, environmental data, or external web services into software applications.

• Experience developing interactive dashboards, data visualizations, geospatial maps, or configurable filtering capabilities.

• Experience with test automation, build automation, static analysis, and continuous integration processes.

• Familiarity with common embedded or network communications protocols such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, or serial communications.

• Familiarity with embedded electronics test equipment, including power supplies, oscilloscopes, and hardware debuggers.

• Experience supporting laboratory, field, pier-side, or at-sea system integration and testing.

• Experience working directly with government, defense, or technical customers in a rapid-prototyping environment.

• Ability to operate independently, manage changing priorities, and assume broad technical responsibilities within a small team.

SUBSEAMSS

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

September 17, 2026

Pay Range:

Pay Range $57,850.00 - $104,575.00

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.