Lead Technical Project Manager

Leidos has an exciting opportunity for a Lead Technical Project Manager (TPM) in our Enterprise Science Business Area specifically supporting our NASA customer.  At Leidos, we offer competitive benefits, including Paid Time Off, 11 paid Holidays, Immediate Vesting in our 401K, Flexible Schedules, Discounted Stock Purchase Plans, Technical Upskilling, Education and Training Support, Parental Paid Leave, and much more.  Join us and make a difference in NASA’s Mission!

The Lead Technical Project Manager leads complex technical initiatives while also overseeing and guiding a team of Project Managers to ensure successful planning, coordination, and execution.

This is a working Lead position, responsible for directly managing complex technical projects while also optimizing team performance, developing the technical capabilities of the TPM team, resolving cross-project challenges, managing resources, and maintaining consistent delivery standards across all efforts. 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Lead technical planning, architecture alignment, schedule management, and execution across one or multiple NASA projects. 

• Ensure project activities integrate engineering constraints, system lifecycles, technical readiness, and solution architecture. 

• Identify and diagnose technical blockers, working directly with engineering and technical SMEs to enable faster issue resolution and to reduce schedule delays. 

• Understand and challenge technical decisions and workflows rather than simply relaying them administratively. 

• Coordinate across Engineering, Service Management, Infrastructure Ops, Security, Logistics, and SACM to ensure project outcomes are technically feasible and aligned with NEST enterprise architecture. 

• Work with SMEs to define requirements, acceptance criteria, dependencies, external interfaces, technical measures, and constraints. 

• Identify risks early (integration, architecture, technical constraints, scheduling) and drive mitigation strategies. 

• Serve as the technical interface to WCS, OCIO, COR, center IT stakeholders, and SMEs, communicating engineering tradeoffs, solution impacts, and technical readiness. 

• Oversee Technical Documentation, Governance, and Compliance; Coordinate Testing, Validation, and Deployment Readiness. 

• Lead project management implementation in accordance with NASA and Leidos governance.  

• Provide technical reporting, risk summaries, dependency flags, and schedule updates to PMO, Chief Engineer, DPM, and COR. 

• Coach and develop existing project managers into technical project managers including upskilling through development of training plans, technical immersion, mentoring, and increased engagement with engineering teams and technical SMEs. 

• Support proposal efforts for on-contract growth opportunities, including project scope definition, schedule, and cost estimation.  

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:   

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field with 12 or more years of experience as a Technical Project Manager, with a demonstrated track record of leading complex, multi‑disciplinary technical projects. Additional years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree. 
• Strong understanding of technical project management principles, tools, and methodologies (such as scheduling, risk management, configuration management, and requirements management). 

• Extensive experience managing complex, multi‑disciplinary technical projects within aerospace, defense, or similarly rigorous engineering domains. 

• Experience collaborating with engineering, program leadership, and cross‑functional stakeholders to ensure technical alignment and timely execution. 

• Ability to coordinate with program leadership, engineering discipline leads, and key customer technical stakeholders to ensure that project plans and technical execution support NASA’s strategic portfolio and mission outcomes. 

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex technical information for diverse audiences, including engineers, program management, and leadership. 

• Demonstrated experience coaching and developing project management or technical professionals, including improving technical capability through mentoring and hands-on engagement. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:    

• Prior NASA experience in leading complex engineering or technology development efforts. 

• Deep technical familiarity with NASA Technical Authority, lifecycle review expectations, and experience preparing products for major milestone reviews such as SRR, PDR, CDR, and ORR. 

• Proven success in shaping project strategy, resource planning, and long‑range technical investment approaches. 

• PMP Certification.

CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS:

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust.

At Leidos, the opportunities are boundless. We challenge our staff with interesting assignments that allow them to thrive professionally and personally. For us, helping you grow your career is good business. We look forward to learning more about you – apply today. 

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.