Leidos internships

Dated role · 2026-09-04
The most important recruiting rule is that mission context matters. A software internship supporting a defense program can carry citizenship or clearance requirements that do not appear on a commercial or internal role. A non-technical program-operations internship can still sit on a classified government contract. Candidates should therefore read the customer, sector, clearance and citizenship fields on each requisition rather than infer eligibility from the company name.

Leidos’s capability map includes trusted mission AI, cybersecurity, digital modernization, integrated systems, mission operations, mission software systems and rapid prototyping/manufacturing. Those categories help students understand where technical work sits, but the exact project is controlled by the contract or internal team.

Students interested in operations, communications, technical writing, business or project management can target roles where they translate complex information into usable artifacts. Strong candidates should show document discipline: version control, review workflows, structured writing and deadline management.

The best portfolio might be a concise project brief, a process map, a documentation system or a cleaned-up technical report. The candidate should be able to explain how the artifact reduced ambiguity or prevented error.

Leidos’s internship inventory changes continuously. Set alerts and search by both internship terms and discipline. Do not rely on a single annual campus page because contract-driven staffing can create additional postings throughout the cycle.

Dated role · 2026-09-04
When a job is tied to a named contract, research enough to understand the mission without pretending to know non-public details. Use only public information and focus your application on the capabilities requested by the requisition.

For project stories, avoid stopping at “I built X.” Explain architecture, why you chose a tool, the hardest failure, how you tested it, and what you would redesign. Government and mission software often values reliability and traceability, so technical judgment matters as much as novelty.

The role is non-technical by job category but connected to a large global defense program. The intern supports documentation and contract deliverables, including work around CDRLs, compliance, coordination and document quality. Desired exposure includes report writing, editing, documentation, project coordination, administrative support, SharePoint and familiarity with IT/software terminology. This is a useful reminder that defense technology companies need program-management and documentation talent in addition to engineers.

Dated role · 2026-09-04
The requisition is labeled 100% remote with a primary focus on Eastern and Central U.S. time zones and lists Secret clearance in the posting metadata. It also displayed a pay range of $41,600–$75,200 as a general job-level guideline. Students must not assume that every Leidos internship is remote or uses the same compensation.

Leidos maintains a dedicated intern-and-new-graduate career page and direct internship inventory. The company presents early talent as a recurring program rather than sporadic one-off hiring. That is useful because students can search all internships, then filter by discipline, location and mission area.

The company’s market breadth means students can target different environments. Aerospace and space work can involve simulation, embedded systems or mission software. Healthcare can involve data and systems. Energy and industry can involve engineering and modernization. Defense and intelligence work can be heavily customer- and clearance-dependent.

A systems candidate should be comfortable explaining requirements and interfaces. A hardware candidate should show how a design was tested. An aerospace candidate should be able to connect modeling assumptions to physical behavior. Mission engineering often rewards candidates who can work across disciplines rather than optimize only one component.

The contract context can shape daily work. Ask whether the internship is at a Leidos facility, government/customer site or another location; what access restrictions apply; and whether the project depends on obtaining or maintaining a clearance.

Leidos is a strong target for software, engineering, cybersecurity, AI/data, systems, technical writing and program-operations students who want work connected to government and mission systems. Its scale gives students access to projects that can be difficult to encounter in ordinary commercial internships.

It is less straightforward for candidates who cannot meet the citizenship or clearance conditions of their target roles. It can also be less suitable for someone who wants one standardized tech-company campus process.

The strongest application is mission-aware and role-specific. Explain why the system or program problem interests you, show a project that proves the relevant capability, and demonstrate that you can operate with documentation, reliability and stakeholder constraints.

For each role verify citizenship, clearance status, start/end dates, worksite, travel, remote schedule, pay, benefits, equipment, manager, customer environment and conversion path. If the role names a contract, preserve that name in your tracker.

Choose a non-sensitive fictional client need and define requirements, test evidence and the limits of the proposed solution. Explain what you would need to learn before committing to delivery. Keep technical capability, contract scope and access eligibility separate. A strong project account does not require claiming classified work or assuming that every role has the same clearance conditions.

Hypothetical preparation exercise, not an employer assessment or a verified internship assignment.

Leidos is a large technology and engineering company serving government and commercial customers across defense, intelligence, aviation, healthcare, energy, homeland security, science and space. Its current early-career page describes roughly 47,000 global employees and a business centered on digital and mission innovations. For students, that means internship titles can range from software and AI to systems engineering, cybersecurity, program operations, documentation and science.

The recruiting observations below retain the dates in the underlying research. They are not a live vacancy list.