Leadership lacks vision - Chief Systems Engineer Leidos Employee Review

2.0
Dec 26, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

At the Division level and lower, there is a very good dedicated, technical staff that strives for excellence in the work they perform.

Cons

A very risk adverse, upper management at the Operations, Group and Sector levels lack vision and leadership skills. The primary corporate vision appears to be returning value to the major shareholders and top management with heavy stock holdings via the recent IPOs (split of SAIC and Leidos) and a potential merger/acquisition in the near future. The company unfortunately lacks identity and almost all levels due to the nature of our business. Leidos is a portfolio company of a wide range of government contracts and services. If you ask upper management if they support a particular business, industry, initiative, or opportunity, they will inevitably look at a spreadsheet to answer the question. The lack of trust of the individuals that actually write the proposals, bring in the work, execute the work and ensure customer satisfaction is highly evident as one engages management at the Operations level and higher. The company is managed by lackluster, visionless process pushers. It has evolved into a company where those that perform real work serve the process management drones instead of process serving those that carry on the real work. Unfortunately, it appears that the company will be in for much more downside as working staff gets reduced and upper management stays the same or expands. The top heavy feeling at Leidos will eventually be the downfall as it has in so many companies jam packed with middle management. Leidos (formerly SAIC) used to be a great company to work at but the lack of support and commitment from upper management at multiple levels makes it highly undesirable these days.

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5.0
May 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great culture, supportive management, encouragement for self development

Cons

Some decisions move too slowly.

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.

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