Quality Assurance Engineer Lead

Leidos has an opening for a Quality Assurance Engineer Lead to support the U.S. Army C5ISR Center, Defensive Cyber Solutions Branch (DCSB) Cerberus Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) Support program in Adelphi, Maryland. This is an opportunity to lead Quality Engineering and Mission Assurance for a complex, mission-critical cyber program supporting the U.S. Army and Department of Defense. As the program's senior quality subject matter expert and primary quality advisor to the Program Manager, you will help ensure contractual and mission requirements are translated into effective quality controls, measurable performance, and objective evidence of successful execution. You will partner with program leadership, technical teams, functional leads, subcontractors, and Leidos QEC leadership to identify performance risks early, drive effective corrective action, strengthen program execution, and lead continual improvement across the program.

Location: Hybrid - 3 days on site at Adelphi, MD

Clearance: U.S. Citizenship with an active Secret clearance

The Quality Assurance Engineer Lead will be responsibile for:

• Serve as the lead Quality Engineering subject matter expert and primary quality advisor to the Program Manager.

• Lead implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of the DCSB Cerberus DCO Support Quality Control Plan (QCP).

• Establish and maintain traceability between the Performance Work Statement (PWS), Performance Requirements Summary (PRS), Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRLs), program quality controls, performance measures, and objective evidence.

• Monitor program performance against the Government's PRS performance requirements and identify emerging risks and adverse trends before they affect mission or contractual performance.

• Develop and maintain quality and performance measures, dashboards, trend analyses, and management-level reporting.

• Plan and conduct internal quality reviews, process assessments, audits, inspections, and other quality-control activities.

• Coordinate internal quality reviews of contractual deliverables and CDRLs prior to Government submission.

• Evaluate nonconformities, requirement escapes, recurring deficiencies, Government/customer concerns, and other quality or performance issues.

• Lead or facilitate Causal Analysis and Root Cause Analysis (CA/RCA) for significant, systemic, or recurring issues.

• Develop, monitor, and verify corrective actions through implementation, effectiveness verification, and closure.

• Maintain quality records and objective evidence supporting contractual compliance and Government performance surveillance.

• Support and/or facilitate Quality Management Reviews (QMRs), Performance Management Working Groups (PMWGs), Monthly Operating Reviews (MORs), and other program governance activities.

• Provide independent assessment and escalation of significant quality, technical, contractual, schedule, staffing, security, property, procurement, and performance risks.

• Support subcontractor quality and performance oversight in coordination with Program and Subcontract Management.

• Identify and lead continual improvement, risk-reduction, and process-improvement initiatives using data-driven quality methodologies.

• Support internal and independent QMS assessments and ensure findings and resulting actions are effectively resolved.

• Collaborate with QEC and Mission Assurance leadership and escalate significant unresolved quality or performance concerns through appropriate governance channels.

Success in this role means:

• Program leadership has timely, objective visibility into quality and performance.

• PRS performance is proactively monitored, and emerging risks are identified before they become contractual deficiencies.

• Contract deliverables are complete, accurate, timely, and supported by appropriate quality reviews.

• Quality issues are identified early, causes are understood, and corrective actions are effective.

• Quality records provide clear objective evidence of program performance.

• Technical and functional teams view Quality as an integrated partner in mission execution rather than a final inspection function.

• Lessons learned, performance data, and customer feedback result in measurable improvements to program execution.

• Leverage enterprise tools and platforms (e.g., SharePoint, Configuration Management repositories, AI-enabled analytics tools, and program governance systems) to enhance reporting transparency, operational visibility, and decision support.

• Contribute to enterprise-level quality strategy development, governance alignment, and program maturity progression initiatives.

• Partner closely with Program Manager and functional leaders to reinforce operational discipline, strengthen governance rigor, and ensure alignment during program transition or contract structure changes.

• Proactively identify areas where early engagement can prevent downstream impacts, reinforcing a prevention-first quality culture.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline with 4-8 years of professional experience; or a Master’s degree in a related discipline with 2-6 years of professional experience. Additional experience can be considered in lieu of a degree.

• Currently possess a DoD Secret Security Clearance.

• Experience working with SharePoint and MS Office Products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

• Experience with Microsoft Power BI, Power Automate, Visio, Microsoft Project, Jira, and Confluence.

• Strong customer engagement skills.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Excellent documentation skills

• Ability to multi-task and function in a dynamic, fast-paced environment

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification

• Experience leading internal audits, quality investigations, Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Corrective Action Requests (CARs), and continual improvement initiatives.

• Experience developing executive dashboards, quality metrics, and performance reporting.

• Knowledge of requirements traceability, configuration management, and quality verification throughout the system development lifecycle.

• Knowledge of procurement documentation [e.g. PO, packing slips, MIRRs], experience with material inspections and traceability practices, familiarity with RMA processes, and attention to detail in documentation review.

• Experience conducting site visit inspections, familiarity with configuration management, ability to interpret engineering drawings and technical specifications, and effective communication with stakeholders in field environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Quality Engineering or Quality Management experience supporting DoD, Army, cybersecurity, IT, engineering, or mission-critical programs.

• Working knowledge of ISO 9001, quality-management principles, risk-based thinking, and continual improvement.

• Experience with Government QASPs, PRSs, CDRLs, PWS requirements, and performance-based service contracts.

• Experience supporting Defensive Cyber Operations, cybersecurity, IT service delivery, software/engineering, or technical integration programs.

• Experience with Lean Six Sigma, DMAIC, structured problem solving, or comparable continual-improvement methodologies.

• Experience performing or facilitating Root Cause Analysis using techniques such as 5 Whys, Fishbone, Pareto, Change Analysis, or similar methods.

• Experience supporting subcontractor quality and performance management.

• Relevant quality certification such as ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent.

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:

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:

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.