Software Engineering Manager – Developer Portal

Leidos•Reston, VA

About The Position

Software Engineering Manager — Developer Portal This is not a maintenance role. This is a reinvention role. We are seeking a Software Engineering Manager who combines deep technical expertise with strong architectural instincts and the ability to drive innovation across teams. In this role, you will serve as a thought leader and lead engineer in the design and development of an Internal Developer Portal that exposes templated offerings to developers for quickly provisioning resources and creating environments, as part of a standardized developer experience across all of Leidos. You will define technical direction, evaluate emerging technologies, prototype new capabilities, and guide engineering teams in building production-ready systems. This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of AI, developer experience, and platform engineering , and who enjoys shaping strategy as much as writing code. This is a role for builders who bias toward action, who believe disruption can coexist with rigor, and who want to apply cutting-edge AI to the problems that matter most.

Requirements

Bachelors Degree and 12+ years experience in software engineering, including significant experience at the senior/principal/architect level.
Expertise in designing and building distributed systems, developer tools, or platform engineering products.
Hands-on experience implementing automated development pipelines and CI/CD infrastructure.
Strong knowledge of Kubernetes architectures, Infrastructure as Code, and software automation.
Strong knowledge of software security, RMF controls, and secure development practices
Deep understanding of software design patterns, CI/CD, DevSecOps, and cloud-native architectures (AWS/Azure/GCP).
Strong coding proficiency in at least two modern languages (Python, Go, Java, TypeScript, etc.).
Ability to drive technical strategy, influence cross-functional teams, and communicate complex ideas clearly.
Must be authorized to work in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

Experience deploying and utilizing GitOps platforms (e.g., ArgoCD, Fleet).
Background building developer experience (DevX) tools, integration of pipelines, and cloud/on-prem deployments.
Experience with hardening containers and providing versioned artifact baselines for enterprise use
Familiarity with cybersecurity, secure-by-design principles, or government/missions systems (if relevant).
Prior role as a thought leader, principal engineer, architect, or technical founder.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture Serve as the architectural lead for developer platforms, establishing patterns, reference implementations, and best practices.
Design scalable, secure, and resilient software systems that integrate Infrastructure as Code, containerization, and development best practices for security, compliance, and architecture.
Drive technical roadmap for next-generation software acceleration tools—including developer platforms, tooling, containers, and CI/CD.
Lead architecture reviews, evaluate new technologies, and set engineering standards for developer productivity and environment management.
Hands-On Engineering Build high-quality software with modern languages and frameworks (e.g., Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps).
Develop pipelines and services that enable developer acceleration and speed of delivery.
Prototype early concepts to rapidly and transition successful prototypes into robust, production systems.
Integrate COTS and open source software into mature, robust offerings for developers to utilize.
Collaboration & Influence Partner with product, UX, and platform teams to define features, user journeys, and developer experience goals.
Act as a technical mentor to senior and mid-level engineers; cultivate a culture of excellence and continuous learning.
Collaborate closely with research, data, and cybersecurity teams to ensure solutions are safe, secure, and aligned with mission needs.
Represent the engineering team in internal and external forums, contributing to thought leadership in development and software engineering modernization.