Mid-level Software Engineer (Transportation/Computer Vision)

Description Join us in improving and shaping the future of the smart mobility with a group of intelligent, motivated, and dedicated individuals! Leidos operates the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory (STOL), a US Department of Transportation (USDOT) onsite R&D lab located at the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center. STOL’s focus is on improving transportation system operations to achieve USDOT’s safety, mobility, sustainability and equity goals. STOL spearheads a variety of exciting R&D projects involving emerging technologies, including but not limited to infrastructure and vehicle connectivity and automation, everything-in-the loop simulation, and AI/ML modeling in a fast-paced and collaborative laboratory environment to solve novel transportation research problems. Learn about STOL here: https://highways.dot.gov/turner-fairbank-highway-research-center/labs/STOL To promote these efforts, Leidos is looking for an onsite Mid-level Software Engineer (Must have at least a minimum of 1-2 years of experience with C++) to join our team! CANDIDATE MUST: be able to work onsite full time in McLean, VA AND have the Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust security clearance (which includes current three years of immediate residency in the US). Primary Responsibilities: • Analyze and assess the team’s existing ITS software systems to understand their architecture, and how they can be redesigned into more modular, scalable, and maintainable components. • Contribute to internal best practices for software development and lead knowledge sharing to support adoption across development teams. • Work with cross-functional internal team to determine technical feasibility of projects, breakdown project goals into software development tasks, and assist with overall effort and timeline estimation of planned work. • Lead the execution of planned technical work, including design work, addressing unplanned technical challenges, and being responsive to changes in customer needs. • Directly interact with on-site customer representatives and external stakeholders to communicate across technical disciplines as needed throughout a project’s life cycle. • Lead development for research prototypes and proof-of-concepts for various intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications across a variety of ITS devices, including infrastructure, vehicle, and cloud systems. • Participate in and help shape our open-source software process, triaging and addressing issues reported by external users and evaluating 3rd party code contributions. • Identify, document, and formulate approaches to addressing areas of technical debt. • Conduct hands-on test events and demonstrations, on-site at TFHRC and off-site at test facilities. Minimal Qualifications: • A Bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering with a minimum of 4+ years of professional experience in object-oriented software development, or a Master’s degree with at least 2 years of professional experience in object-oriented software development. • MUST have a minimum of 1-2 years of hands-on experience and familiarity with manual memory management in C++ and preferably experience with other programming languages (i.e., C, Java, or Python). • Experience with Git. • Experience with Docker (including docker-compose). • Experience developing in an Agile framework using toolsets such as JIRA and Confluence. • Proficiency in software quality techniques and practices (automated unit testing, test-driven design/development, CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions, static code analysis tools, etc.). • Interest and motivation to develop software to answer valuable research questions to advance transportation technology. (R&D environment) • Understanding of mathematical fundamentals, including geometry, linear algebra, probability, graph theory, set theory, and statistics. • Experience in developing solutions to open-ended research questions and developing novel approaches to solving problems. • Strong ability and interest to learn new problem domains, new skills, algorithms, and concepts. Preferred Qualifications: • This position involves working directly with customers, so candidates need to be approachable and responsive to their needs. The ideal individual should possess strong communication skills and a willingness to assist customers effectively, ensuring a positive experience in every interaction. • Strong preference for experience with transportation programs • Experience with Linux build systems and package management systems. • Experience with Kafka or similar message broker systems. • Experience with Robot Operating System (ROS). • Experience with user interface (UI) and/or front-end development. • Familiarity with distributed computing and cloud computing concepts. • Familiarity with one or more robotics concepts such as localization, path planning, perception, or sensor fusion. • Familiarity with simulation environments s