Director, Partnerships & Strategy - Reston, VA | leidos Job

This role sits at the intersection of strategic planning, partnerships, and corporate development for the Leidos Energy line of business, reporting directly to the Leidos Energy CFO with a dotted line to the Leidos Energy Business Area Leader (SVP). The core mandate is to be proactive: own ongoing competitive intelligence on the energy infrastructure engineering market, continuously scout for tuck-in acquisition targets that align with Leidos Energy's strategy, and — just as importantly — cultivate long-term relationships with the key companies in this market, developing and maintaining ties with executive teams and owners of potential targets and partners well before any transaction is in play. The role will support the Leidos Corporate Development group, who will lead due diligence and deal execution, and will work as a key collaborator with BD on shared priorities. This role will ensure the BA Leader and CFO are aligned on strategic fit at every stage and will partner with Finance and integration leadership to support valuation, synergy modeling, and post-close handoff.

This role is a fit if you can move fluidly between:

Strategy / Market Intelligence

• Sizing markets and segments (T&D engineering, power generation, gas integrity, automation, EV/grid-edge, electric and gas infrastructure)

• Tracking competitor and PE platform moves continuously, not just at deal time

• Shaping 3–5 year growth plans with the CFO and sector leadership

Corporate Development & Partnerships

• Proactively sourcing and qualifying tuck-in targets before they're on the market

• Cultivating long-term relationships with key companies in the market — target or not — to build trust and access ahead of any transaction

• Contacting and maintaining relationships with management teams and owners of potential targets

• Driving potential commercial partnerships to drive business and position Leidos for a future acquisition

• Judging strategic and market fit — the “should we” question, not just the “can we”

• Building the investment thesis and executive materials, in partnership with Finance

Key Responsibilities

• Target relationship building. Identify candidate tuck-in acquisition targets across the energy infrastructure engineering landscape (engineering, consulting, integrity/inspection, automation firms serving gas and electric utilities) and proactively build direct, lasting relationships with their leadership and owners — well before any transaction is contemplated — so Leidos is a known, trusted counterpart whenever they're ready to engage. This is the core of the role, not a byproduct of deal activity.

• Competitive intelligence. Own an ongoing, current view of the utility infrastructure engineering landscape — who's acquiring, who's raising capital, who's exploring a sale, and how competitors and PE-backed platforms are positioning — and turn that into a standing intelligence product for the CFO and the Energy BA Leader (SVP), shared regularly with BD.

• Market & partnership cultivation. Extend the same relationship-building approach to other key companies in the market that aren't near-term acquisition targets — including firms with no M&A prospects today — creating commercial partnership opportunities and keeping Leidos positioned for the future.

• BA Leader partnership. Work hand-in-hand with the Energy BA Leader on where the business should grow inorganically — testing targets against the BA Leader's operating priorities, customer relationships, and growth plan, and surfacing opportunities early enough to shape strategy rather than just execute it. Collaborate closely with BD as a key input, without formal reporting overlap.

• Collaborate with corporate M&A group. Work collaboratively with Corporate Development group to support the diligence and execution of related acquisitions as well as support the evaluation of any potential opportunities that come into the Corporate Development group through third parties (i.e. bankers and brokers).

• Deal support. Lead the strategic and market-fit workstream of due diligence — is this target the right capability, geography, or customer base for Leidos Energy's strategy — while partnering with Finance, who leads valuation and financial modeling.

• Business case development. Build the strategic rationale and market narrative behind each opportunity, working with Finance to make sure that narrative holds up once the numbers are stress-tested.

• Integration handoff. Stay engaged from signing through early integration planning so lessons from prior deals (real estate rationalization, SOX readiness, org design) inform how the next one is structured and priced.

• Organic growth strategy. Support build-vs-buy decisions and capability gap analysis alongside the core M&A mandate — not every growth lever is an acquisition.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 12+ years of relevant experience
• 5+ years in corporate strategy, industry/sector consulting, or corporate development, with a track record in the merger and acquisition space, including identification of targets, cultivating relationships, and building the business case to support the acquisition

• Working knowledge of the energy infrastructure engineering market — gas and electric T&D, power generation, integrity/inspection, automation, grid modernization — and the players, capital flows, and demand drivers shaping it

• Comfortable initiating and holding relationships with target company management and owners to get early market visibility

• Comfortable operating with ambiguity across a matrixed organization

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience inside a utility, engineering services, or AEC company — not just advising one

• Familiarity with the specific competitive set (ENTRUST/Leidos, WSP, Burns & McDonnell, Black & Veatch, NDT/integrity players, PE-backed platforms) and how they're each positioning

• Prior involvement in post-merger integration, not just deal sourcing

• MBA or equivalent

• Familiarity with government-adjacent or highly regulated commercial businesses

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.

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