Systems engineer intern

Join Leidos’ mission-focused engineering team and deliver software that powers data analytics, computer vision, and AI capabilities for national security customers. At Leidos, we don’t just offer internships - we offer career acceleration. This is your chance to work alongside industry-leading experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, and multi-modal information retrieval.

Leidos is looking for a curious and enthusiastic Systems Engineer Intern to join our team in Arlington, VA supporting our national security customer. You’ll work side-by-side with system/software engineers and research/data scientists to help evolve a production platform that combines microservices, data search & analytics, and machine learning services. This is a great role if you enjoy translating real user needs into clear technical requirements, improving processes, and building the engineering documentation that turns ideas into delivered capability.

Primary Responsibilities

• Partner with engineers and stakeholders to capture use cases and decompose requirements
• Research and evaluate technologies to improve performance, usability, reliability, and maintainability
• Support system design and architecture efforts for a platform that includes:
• a user-facing interface for search and analytics
• microservice-based components
• multiple ML-enabled services
• Produce high-quality engineering artifacts such as SysML/UML diagrams and design notes
• Contribute to an iterative delivery environment by communicating progress, risks, and dependencies clearly

Basic Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s in Systems Engineering or related field
• Experience with SysML and/or UML
• Must be U.S. Citizen
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance. Leidos will guide you through the clearance process.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to Agile / Lean-Agile practices
• Familiarity with the software development lifecycle and/or DevOps concepts
• Hands-on experience using Git
• Ability to obtain /maintain Top Secret security clearance with polygraph.

Work location and schedule

Arlington, VA. Hybrid: 4 days on-site, 1 day remote per week.
8–10 week internship, target start May/June 2027.

How to stand out

Share a link to your GitHub/portfolio and briefly describe a project you’re proud of (what you built, technologies used, and your role). If team-based, clarify your individual contributions. 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.