Leidos is seeking an Enterprise Data Architect to join the Air Traffic Business Area within the Homeland Sector, supporting the development of the Leidos Common Automation Platform (L-CAP). L-CAP is a mission-critical, future-ready automation platform built on a hybrid cloud data mesh architecture, enabling next-generation air traffic management capabilities. You will lead enterprise data architecture for a hybrid cloud data mesh platform supporting real-time air traffic management and next-generation aviation services. We are building with an AI-first engineering mindset, embracing emerging AI capabilities and modern development practices to accelerate delivery, improve software quality, and continuously evolve how we design and build mission-critical systems. This position supports government programs and requires the ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust investigation. 

This role is part of a growing program, and hiring will depend on available funding. We review applications on a rolling basis, but the timeline for interviews and offers may vary. In some cases, we may extend contingent offers that become active once funding is confirmed. 

This position is located in Gaithersburg, MD; Egg Harbor Township, NJ; or Eagan, MN. This is an opportunity to contribute to projects that impact millions of air travelers. 

This is a hybrid position requiring 3 days onsite and 2 days remote work.  Candidates should reside a commutable distance to one of the above locations. 

What You'll Do 

• Define the data mesh architecture including domain boundaries and data products 

• Establish the enterprise data governance framework and standards 

• Design real-time streaming data pipelines for operational aviation data 

• Architect event-driven data integration patterns across platform services 

• Define data product standards including contracts, quality, and discoverability 

• Develop the data integration strategy across legacy and modern systems 

• Plan and oversee legacy data migration to the new platform architecture 

• Establish data quality standards, monitoring, and remediation processes 

• Coordinate cross-ART data architecture decisions and dependencies 

• Implement metadata management and data cataloging solutions 

• Define data architecture for operational ATC data including real-time processing pipelines and low-latency data access patterns 

• Establish schema governance and data contract management ensuring interoperability across modernized and legacy services 

• Design latency management strategies for time-critical ATC data flows supporting real-time operational decisions 

• Implement data lineage tracking providing traceability from source operational systems through processing to consumption 

• Champion an AI-first engineering culture by identifying and applying AI-assisted development capabilities, automation, and emerging software engineering practices that improve developer productivity, code quality, testing, and delivery. 

Core Technical Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree with 12+ years of relevant data architecture experience or 10+ years with a Master's degree or equivalent experience.

• Enterprise data architecture leadership for large-scale platforms 

• Data mesh architecture design and implementation experience 

• Data governance framework development and enforcement 

• Event streaming expertise (Apache Kafka or equivalent) at scale 

• Real-time data pipeline design for mission-critical applications 

• Expertise across SQL and NoSQL database technologies 

• Distributed data systems architecture and performance optimization 

• Advanced data modeling for complex operational domains 
• Experience with real-time data processing architectures and low-latency streaming systems 

• Knowledge of operational data semantics in complex system environments 

• Experience with schema governance, data contracts, and data lineage implementation 
• ​Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust 
• U.S. citizenship required
• Successful completion of background investigations as required by the government customer 

Preferred / Desired Qualifications 

• Aviation or FAA data systems experience 

• Graph database design and implementation 

• Data lake architecture and governance 

• Master data management (MDM) strategy and tools 

• GDPR and data privacy compliance experience 

• Cloud-native data services (AWS/Azure) 

• DataOps and data pipeline automation 

• Experience with ATC or aviation operational data systems and real-time processing requirements 

• Knowledge of data architecture patterns for safety-critical operational environments 

Why Leidos? 

You’ll work on systems where performance, precision, and reliability matter — every second. This is not experimental AI for prototypes. This is disciplined, responsible AI applied to mission-critical software that supports national infrastructure. 

If you’re excited by solving complex problems in regulated, real-world environments — and using AI as a force multiplier rather than a shortcut — we’d like to talk. 

ATMC 

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:

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.