Know what you’re getting into. - Security Engineer Leidos Employee Review

1.0
22 Apr 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you learn to play the game you can get by without too much stress. Good company to coast and meet minimum expectations since that’s all the company does with the government to make money. The best benefit is probably the tuition reimbursement which you can start on day 1 and only has a 1 year pay back (goes down every 90 days). If you need a company to pay for a graduate program this is a good one for that single purpose alone. If you get on the right team and have a good manager who actually treats you like a human you can probably have a decent time (won’t know until you start).

Cons

In my opinion this is not a good company to work for if you have any level of ambition to not be a cog in the government machine. There is Abysmal PTO with different accrual amounts for different salary bands (hidden until you start). No sick time, very few holidays. And 401k has a very long vest and a very low contribution. Many meetings about meetings about meetings. Let me be clear. This company does not care about you or it’s employees. You exist purely as a dollar figure even if you aren’t on the line (on a contract or on a customer site). The entire purpose of this company is to get contracts and make them as profitable as possible off of the government. They can’t do that if you are taking a vacation, are sick, or god forbid working 39 hours one week instead of the usual 45. Don’t listen to the lifers who waste away here (who all have wayyy more PTO than you). If you work here, you will at best get a 5% raise if you save the company a million dollars(typically 3%) and will get a 2-4% bonus if you really do well by writing your own review. Yes, as others have said you write your own review. As for professional development, there are some very small opportunities if you’re on the right team. Last year they paid for the entry level AWS cert which is around $100 but won’t pay for continuing cert renewals. Yes there are some programs where you can move around in the company but again, this is to see where they can get the most from you and continue to pay you under market. As for hoping to learn technical things don’t bother. The company has insane security requirements. Whether you agree with that or not, in the end it means you will be working on systems that are behind. These security requirements also punish end users in the form of taking away many basic features of software that you take for granted in other places. I unfortunately can’t say specifics. In summary, it’s my opinion that you should not work here.

Explore other reviews about Leidos

5.0
7 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Large companies. Willingness to work with you.

Cons

Low paying. No hybrid opportunity

3.0
27 May 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.

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