Great benefits and growth opportunities, but corporate politics hinder innovation - Senior Software Engineer Leidos Employee Review

3.0
Apr 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good benefits with PTO. They have additional "Flex" PTO, where you get a separate and additional PTO pool that is "use-or-lose it" - Other health benefit packages are awesome - Lots of career options and growth opportunities. The "ceiling" is quite high. - Immense breath in work, giving lots of options to hop around and do other roles/things.

Cons

- The higher you go, the more you'll be fighting corporate policies, as they will obstruct expectations. - It is not a "leading" tech company, that's just corporate bravado. Company culture is about following trends rather than starting them. - Innovators will need to navigate a quagmire of corporate politics that could result in the loss of funding at any moment.

Explore other reviews about Leidos

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible scheduling and work-life balance

Cons

Promotions are hard to come by

3.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Leidos provides opportunities to work on complex government programs with meaningful technical challenges. Depending on the contract and team, there can be exposure to cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, systems engineering, networking, and mission-focused work that is difficult to find elsewhere. The company also has a large footprint, so there may be internal opportunities for people who are able to navigate the organization.

Cons

My experience was that the quality of management varied significantly by program. Communication around expectations, roles, and priorities was often inconsistent, and decisions that affected employees were not always explained clearly or handled in a transparent way. Work-life balance also depended heavily on local management. Flexibility that existed in practice could be changed quickly, and employees were sometimes left trying to reconcile changing expectations with existing workloads and personal obligations. In my view, the company would benefit from stronger oversight of program-level management decisions, especially where employee responsibilities, workplace flexibility, and performance feedback are concerned. I also found that technical decision-making was sometimes driven more by schedule pressure than by sound engineering judgment. On complex government programs, that can create unnecessary risk and frustration for employees who are trying to do things correctly.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All