General program information and/or position overview:
Leidos’ Undersea Systems Division is seeking a Systems Engineer in San Diego, CA to join a fast-paced R&D engineering group. This role is a unique opportunity to drive innovation in underwater vehicle systems, maritime sensors, subsea telemetry, and ISR solutions that support critical defense and national security missions at Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific (NIWC PAC).
Leidos’ USD is a recognized leader in C4ISR technologies, delivering innovative, mission-critical solutions across sensor networks, unmanned systems, and tactical platforms. We’re known for achieving “industry firsts” in the most challenging maritime domains.
The selected candidate will be part of an elite, top-notch group and will be responsible for overseeing and managing the acceptance, testing, and certification of unmanned maritime vehicles for a rapid-paced, high-priority project. This is a high-impact leadership role that bridges the gap between the vehicle R&D team and the onsite production team. The Vehicle Production Lead manages the laboratory/shop environment, directs a team of technicians, and ensures that each unmanned platform meets the government’s rigorous testing requirements and system specifications.
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 Top Secret Clearance.
This position will require the candidate to work a 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:
- Coordinate with NIWC Vehicle SMEs to review vehicle system data and address unforeseen technical issues.
- Support the Test Director with planning and executing at-sea Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs), performance testing, and certification checks.
- Manage and maintain the Master Production Schedule (MPS) along with system software and hardware baseline milestones.
- Engage with industry partners on schedules, issues, and resources that impact NIWC’s ability to deliver fully tested and operational vehicles on schedule.
- Keep NIWC project leadership (PM, DPM, LSE, and Vehicle Lab Lead) informed of risks, issues, and challenges.
- Oversee the configuration of vehicles to support sponsor requirements.
- Generate vehicle readiness reports and track the status of each vehicle’s issues/failures.
- Manage vehicle inventory, materials, parts, and procurement of lab supplies.
- Align the flow of materials to meet production requirements.
- Prepare procurement requests for the production or purchase of components or parts based on the Master Production Schedule, shop load, and inventory requirements.
- Manage vehicle production lab space and test equipment.
- Manage local test procedures, tools, and equipment for conducting vehicle preparation, checkout, and post data offload for each system and at-sea event.
- Coordinate with industry partners to develop in-lab test procedures, plans, tools, and equipment to ensure proper Factory and Government Acceptance Testing.
- Liaison between Engineering/R&D and Production teams.
- Implement, manage, and oversee quality assurance and configuration management programs for the vehicle production effort.
- Maintain current knowledge of the quality control field, relying on current literature pertaining to materials use, technological advances, or statistical studies.
- Analyze data to inform operational decisions or activities.
- Affect significant improvements in projects, processes, and solutions to enhance results.
Basic Qualifications
- U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain TOP SECRET security clearance; active SECRET clearance required.
- Bachelor’s (or higher) degree from an accredited institution and 5 years of relevant experience.
- Process-oriented and attention to detail.
- Strong leadership skills.
- Experience working with and managing small groups.
- Must be flexible and responsive to customer needs.
- Requires frequent movement around piers, docks, and facility spaces.
- Required to transport or lift objects weighing up to 50 pounds across the facility.
- Requires constant use of hands/fingers to operate machinery, tools, or computer equipment.
- Requires ability to move about the warehouse, stoop, kneel, or reach for extended periods.
- Ability to climb ladders up to 20 feet.
- Able and willing to work aboard marine vessels of various sizes, sometimes overnight.
- Requires work in various temperatures and inclement weather.
- Required to work in /or in loud production environments.
- Supervise 1 personnel in their daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly activities and provide mentoring, guidance, and career discussions for direct report employee(s).
- Be responsible for hiring, firing, raises, promotions, and all HR associated actions for direct report employee(s).
Preferred Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
- System production experience
- Excellent written and oral communication skills and teamwork abilities.
- Highly organized and able to prioritize tasks for team members.
- Ability to read, understand, and interpret complex technical documents.
- Strong problem solving and troubleshooting skills
- UUV testing experience (or general at-sea test experience)
- Project management experience
- Experience with Microsoft Office and Visio
- Experience with Open Project is a plus
- Ability to operate crane/davit
- Capable of supporting at-sea testing is a plus
- Small boat certified (or willingness to get certified) is a plus
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:
August 19, 2026
For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.
Pay Range:
Pay Range $82,550.00 - $149,225.00
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.