Lead Software Engineer

At Leidos Australia, our work goes beyond a job title. We design, build, operate and support the systems, services and capabilities that help protect and advance the Australian way of life.

Backed by a global organisation of more than 40,000 people, our Australian team of around 2,000 has partnered with government, defence and national security customers for more than 30 years. We deliver mission‑critical solutions where reliability, trust and purpose matter.

Benefits

• Flex Your Way – Tailor work to your life with options including Life Days (up to 12 extra days off per year), part‑time arrangements, job sharing, and compressed hours.
• Wellbeing That Matters – Free access to Headspace and MeQuilibrium, plus dedicated wellness spaces to support your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.
• Learn Without Limits – Access over 120,000 on‑demand courses, alongside technical, project management, leadership, and professional development opportunities.
• Work That Makes an Impact – Contribute to nationally significant projects that matter, solve complex challenges, and accelerate your career through unique growth opportunities.
• Build Your Future – Whether you're deepening technical expertise or preparing for leadership, we'll invest in your development every step of the way.
• And Much More – These are just a few of the ways we invest in our people and help them thrive.

About The Team

You’ll join a team where people work with integrity, inclusion, innovation, agility, collaboration and commitment. In practice, that means sharing ownership, solving complex problems together and staying connected to the customer context, the purpose behind the work and how each role contributes to meaningful outcomes.

Mission Software Systems (MSS) brings together expertise across intelligence, software, and cloud to deliver end‑to‑end capability supporting the full intelligence lifecycle, from planning through to dissemination and feedback. The team fosters a culture of innovation, leveraging modern engineering practices and shared infrastructure to rapidly build, test, and deploy software solutions across a range of environments, including cloud. MSS also plays a key role in advancing technology modernisation within Government, delivering scalable and adaptable solutions for complex enterprise challenges.

The Opportunity

This role is an opportunity to contribute to a mission‑critical Defence program by leading the design, delivery and continuous evolution of software solutions that support nationally significant outcomes. You will work closely with product owners, engineers, architects and customer stakeholders to shape technical direction, solve complex challenges and deliver secure, high‑quality capabilities.

In This Role, You Will

• Provide technical leadership across the software engineering lifecycle, guiding solution design, development, integration, testing and deployment activities for a critical Defence capability.
• Lead and mentor cross‑functional Agile teams, fostering engineering excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement while supporting the growth and development of team members.
• Drive architectural decisions, technical roadmaps and modern engineering practices, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, maintainable and aligned to customer priorities.
• Partner with customers, product owners and stakeholders to translate complex requirements into practical solutions, manage technical risks and ensure successful delivery outcomes.

The technical environment includes Java and open‑source frameworks, REST APIs, JSON/XML integrations, NiFi, Kafka, Elastic (ELK) Stack, Solr, Git, Jenkins, Ansible, Linux and Windows platforms, and modern DevSecOps and Agile engineering practices.

About You

We are looking for someone who brings technical leadership, sound judgement and a collaborative approach to delivering software solutions that make a meaningful impact.

Essential For This Role

• Extensive experience leading software engineering teams and delivering complex software solutions within Agile environments.
• Experience in software architecture, systems integration and enterprise‑level application development.
• Ability to guide technical decision‑making, mentor engineers and drive engineering best practice across teams.
• Experience working with Java and associated open‑source technologies, alongside modern DevOps and CI/CD practices.
• Knowledge of integration technologies, REST APIs and data exchange formats including JSON and XML.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Demonstrated capability in planning, estimation, risk management and delivering outcomes within complex programs.

Advantageous, But Not Essential

• Experience with NiFi, Kafka, Elastic (ELK) Stack, Solr, Jenkins, Git and Ansible.
• Exposure to Defence, National Security, Government or other highly regulated environments.
• Experience leading distributed or cross‑functional engineering teams in mission‑critical systems.

This role does require the successful applicant to be an Australian Citizen and hold an NV‑1 security clearance but be willing and able to uplift to an NV‑2 security clearance.

What To Expect When You Apply

Our hiring process is designed to be straightforward, respectful and easy to navigate. If your skills, experience and qualifications look aligned with the role, our Talent Acquisition team will contact you to discuss the next stage. You can expect:

• An initial conversation with our Talent Acquisition team
• An interview with the hiring manager or interview panel
• Any role‑specific assessment, technical discussion or customer step required for the position

We’ll let you know what to expect before each stage, including who you’ll meet and how to prepare. If you need any adjustments or support during the process, please let us know.