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Sonar Tactical Decision Aid Subject Matter Expert

Bethesda, MDOnsiteFull Time$73,450–$132,775 /yrPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • Sonar Tactical Decision Aid
  • ASW
  • acoustic
  • oceanographic
  • IUSS
  • STK
  • STK-N
  • undersea warfare
  • acoustic sensors
  • beamforming

Nice to have

  • Fleet acoustic analysis tools
  • mathematics
  • physics
  • acoustics
  • oceanography

Role summary

Leidos seeks a Sonar Tactical Decision Aid Subject Matter Expert with extensive ASW operational experience to support the design, development, and delivery of advanced sonar TDAs for the U.S. Navy. This role requires deep knowledge of ASW, acoustics, and oceanography, with a focus on ensuring tactical realism and operational relevance in simulation and training products. Responsibilities include serving as a primary SME for IUSS and secondary for STK/STK-N, participating in testing, collaborating with development teams, providing operational insights, and managing project tasks. The position involves interfacing with government customers and fleet representatives, with up to 25% travel. A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and 10+ years of ASW operational experience, or 12+ years of fleet operational experience in lieu of a degree, is required. Familiarity with recent undersea warfare tactics, acoustic sensors, beamforming, and experience at an IUSS site are also necessary. The role emphasizes strong working relationships and the ability to obtain an interim security clearance.

Leidos’ High Fidelity Simulation Business Area designs and delivers cutting-edge system-of-systems solutions that power world-class simulation, training, and analysis products for the U.S. Navy. In this role, you will leverage your Naval operational and acoustic expertise to support the design, development, and delivery of advanced sonar tactical decision aids (TDAs) and related tools. You will collaborate with software developers, analysts, and fleet users to ensure tactical realism, operational relevance, and technical excellence in Leidos’ undersea warfare products.

This position offers a unique opportunity to directly impact Fleet readiness and undersea dominance by applying your anti-submarine warfare (ASW) knowledge to real-world mission systems.

What You’ll Work On

  • Serve as the primary subject matter expert (SME) for Integrated Undersea Surveillance System and secondary SME for other TDA systems such as STK and STK-N.

  • Participate in development planning, functional system testing, and program verification tests (PVTs) at development or fleet facilities.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional development teams to ensure operational accuracy in acoustic models, sensors, and system interfaces.

  • Prepare and deliver detailed briefings and analyses to fleet stakeholders and external organizations.

  • Provide operational insight into ASW system performance, sonar data interpretation, and tactical employment strategies.

  • Apply project and team management skills to coordinate tasking, track progress, and ensure on-time delivery of system upgrades, documentation, and training.

Primary Responsibilities

  • Apply in-depth ASW, acoustic, and oceanographic knowledge to system design, testing, and evaluation.

  • Perform functional and verification testing of sonar tactical decision aid software across multiple system configurations.

  • Collaborate with developers to troubleshoot, verify, and validate system functionality and user interface improvements.

  • Develop and maintain training materials, user guides, and operational procedures.

  • Interface with government customers, fleet representatives, and partner organizations to gather feedback and align capabilities with user needs.

  • Travel (up to 25%) to fleet sites or test facilities for demonstrations, training, and system testing.

Basic Qualifications

  • 12+ years of fleet operational experience directly related to ASW operations, systems, and theory in lieu of degree; OR bachelor’s degree in mathematics, physics, acoustics, oceanography, or engineering and 10+ years of directly related ASW operational experience.

  • Experience working at an IUSS site supporting mission operations.

  • Familiarity with recent undersea warfare tactics, acoustic sensors, and beamforming principles.

  • Background in acoustic theory or oceanography.

  • Proven ability to build strong working relationships across multi-disciplinary teams.

  • Ability to obtain an interim security clearance.

Desired Qualifications

  • Excellent oral and written communication skills, including technical documentation and stakeholder briefings.

  • Knowledge of Fleet acoustic analysis tools.

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:

October 7, 2026

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:

Pay Range $73,450.00 - $132,775.00

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.

Sample Leidos interview questions

  • 1

    What are the key considerations when designing a highly available and consistent service registry?

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  • 2

    Buildings with an Ocean View Find all buildings that have an ocean view. Input: heights = [1,2,3,4] Output: [3] Explanation: Since the ocean is to the right, only the rightmost tallest building (index 3) is not blocked by any others.

    codingmedium
  • 3

    Merge K Sorted Linked Lists Merge K sorted linked lists. Input: lists = [[2,2,3],[1,5]] Output: [1,2,2,3,5] Explanation: Extracts the smallest current node iteratively using a priority queue to build a single merged and sorted linked list.

    codingmedium
  • 4

    Optimal Meeting Point Calculate the optimal meeting point for multiple people on a 2D grid. Input: grid = [[1,0],[0,1]] Output: 2 Explanation: The optimal meeting point is either (0,1) or (1,0), requiring exactly 1 step from each person resulting in a total distance of 2.

    codingmedium
  • 5

    Maximize the minimum distance between aggressive cows in stalls. Input: stalls = [0,4,3,7,10,9], cows = 3 Output: 4 Explanation: Placing the cows at positions 0, 4, and 10 yields a maximum possible minimum distance of 4 between any two cows.

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