Junior Software Engineer

About the Role

Leidos is seeking a talented Junior Software Engineer to join the Chinook Program supporting an Intelligence Community (IC) customer. This role involves evolving an application that plays an important role in national security. You will work alongside experienced engineers, architects, testers, and DevSecOps professionals, gaining hands-on experience developing, integrating, testing, and delivering modern software capabilities. The position may be performed in Tucson, AZ; Gaithersburg, MD; Alexandria, VA; Chantilly, VA; Englewood, CO; or St. Louis, MO.

Clearance Level Required

• Active Top Secret/SCI with the ability to successfully pass a Polygraph examination.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, modify, test, and deploy software solutions that support the customer’s GEOINT mission under the guidance of senior engineers.
• Implement software features based on established requirements and technical designs.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code.
• Participate in code reviews and incorporate feedback from senior engineers.
• Develop and execute unit and integration tests.
• Troubleshoot software defects and assist with root-cause analysis.
• Support integration of application components and services.
• Work with REST APIs, databases, and application services.
• Participate in agile development sprints and contribute to daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives.
• Collaborate with mission users and product managers to refine requirements and improve user experience.
• Use Git and established CI/CD processes to manage and deliver software.
• Maintain technical documentation and development artifacts.
• Support deployment and sustainment activities for the application.
• Build and maintain secure, containerized applications using technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS.
• Support DevSecOps pipelines and ensure code meets security and accreditation standards.
• Resolve various tasks as prioritized by the team product owner.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• US citizenship is required per contract.
• Understanding of modern software design patterns and coding standards.
• Experience architecting, developing, and delivering complex software systems into production.
• Experience with CI/CD tools (GitLab CI, Jenkins) and agile collaboration tools (JIRA, Confluence).
• Familiarity with cloud environments such as AWS (C2S or GovCloud) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Understanding of secure coding practices and government system accreditation processes (e.g., RMF, STIGs).
• Strong, self-motivated desire to learn new programming languages, tools, frameworks, and techniques.

Technologies

• Web: HTML, CSS, JSON, Ajax, and REST APIs
• Object-oriented Programming: Python, Java, or JavaScript
• Front-end and Back-end Frameworks: React, Angular, Vue.js, jQuery, Spring Boot, Django, Node.js, Flask, or Svelte
• Cloud Development: AWS, Azure, or similar cloud platforms
• Relational Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server
• Operating System: Windows, Linux
• Version Control System: Git

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field and 2-4 years of prior relevant experience, or Master’s with less than 2 years of prior relevant experience. Equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on a customer contract or in the Intelligence Community (IC).
• Frontend Web Development: UI/UX.
• NoSQL Database: OpenSearch/Elasticsearch.
• Cloud Exposure: Multi-cloud architectures: AWS, IBM, Google, Azure, and Oracle.
• Specific AWS Services: S3, SQS, SNS, EC2, CloudFormation and RDS.
• Familiarity with geospatial tools and standards: GeoServer, PostGIS, OGC APIs, ESRI ArcGIS.
• Exposure to Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Ansible).