Lead Systems Engineer

Leidos Defense is seeking a Lead Systems Engineer to join the IFPC Inc 2 systems engineering team. The IFPC Inc 2 is a ground-based, mobile system that aims to combat cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft systems. As part of the Indirect Fire Protection Capability program (IFPC), the system protects and defends civilian and military infrastructure and bridges the gap between tactical short range air defense systems and our strategic systems.  The Lead Systems Engineer will play a critical role in driving technical excellence and innovation while ensuring program success through effective leadership and stakeholder management. The Lead Systems Engineer will supervise the technical work of a large team of systems engineers, including a requirements lead, verification lead, and architecture lead, while managing and reporting on team output and progress including requirements burndown, verification burndown, model development, and process improvement. This Lead Systems Engineer will guide the vision for the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) model and weapon system architecture, leverage artificial intelligence to improve and optimize systems engineering processes, support proposals and new program efforts as the program works towards fielding, and serve as a technical liaison with customer representatives. This position requires providing monthly team status reports to Program Leadership, ensuring systems engineering effort remains within budget constraints, and guaranteeing that Systems Engineering objectives are achieved according to the program schedule. The Lead Systems Engineer will oversee the development and management of critical systems engineering artifacts including Requirements Specifications, Verification Objectives, Verification Closure Notices, and SE-related action item tracking, burndown charts, and task management, while ensuring technical rigor and quality across all engineering deliverables and maintaining alignment between technical execution and program objectives. Additionally, this Lead Systems Engineer will coordinate systems engineering activities across functional areas, drive integration of new technologies and methodologies into existing processes, and support program milestones and fielding objectives and serve as a technical liaison with customer representatives. This position is highly visible to assist in delivering new capability for an innovative and revolutionary ground-based defense system. The Lead Systems Engineer will work in a matrixed organization, which supports multiple programs at once in a variety of engineering fields with all different team environments. When the ground-based defense program ends, the Lead Systems Engineer will have the opportunity to support a different program in the matrixed engineering portfolio. A candidate with experience in other systems engineering areas such as Model-Based Systems Engineering, Safety Engineering, and Reliability Analysis will be treated preferentially. However, a strong background in traditional systems engineering and technical leadership is what is required for this position. Basic Qualifications 3Bachelors degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent degree from an ABET-accredited university with 8+ years of experience or an MS with 6+ years. 3Experience in deriving and managing requirements for complex electrical, electro-mechanical, mechanical, and software systems. 3Experience creating verification and test plans, and coordinating system integration and test activities to support verification of system level requirements. 3Basic understanding of radar systems or at minimum sensor system operations 3Experience leading cross-discipline and product teams 3Demonstrated experience effectively communicating within a team environment, including leading and conducting Technical Design Reviews 3Resident of the North Alabama area or willing to relocate to the Huntsville - North Alabama, AL area. 3Possess a secret clearance, or have the ability to obtain a secret clearance. Preferred Qualifications Preference shown to candidates who possess a Master of Science in System Engineering from an ABET-accredited university, and/or have at least 2-4 years of direct systems engineering experience. Preferred candidates will also have experience and/or working knowledge with: 3Requirements management tools, such as DOORS, JAMA, or Cameo/MagicDraw. 3Demonstrated experience effectively leading a team of engineers. 3Demonstrated experience accurately estimating the engineering effort (i.e. hours) associated with Systems Engineering tasks. 3DOORS and/or other requirements database tools 3Understanding of the DoD acquisition processes and methods 3Experience supporting one or more DoD programs 3Object Management Group (OMG) Certified System Modeler Professional (OCSMP) certification 3INCOSE Systems Engineering Professional (SEP) certification (ASEP or CSEP) Original Posting:November 6, 2026 Pay Range:Pay Range $107,900.00 - $195,050.00 The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline onlyand 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.