Leidos is hiring a Transportation Engineering Lab Intern in McLean, VA for January through July 2026, to support ongoing research and software development efforts at the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. The intern will assist a multidisciplinary research team focused on developing, testing, and validating next-generation analytical tools that support traffic operations, connected and automated vehicle (CAV) research, and data-driven transportation system management.

This position provides a hands-on opportunity to engage in applied transportation research involving data analysis, software prototyping, system testing, and visualization of transportation datasets.

This is an in-person position based in McLean, VA. The intern is expected to work 20 to 30 hours per week on-site. While the position requires regular presence at the lab, reasonable flexibility will be provided to accommodate the intern’s class schedule. The intern is expected to coordinate work hours in advance and be available to attend scheduled in-person meetings and project activities as required.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Assist researchers and software developers in defining, testing, and refining tool functionalities for data importation, visualization, and analysis.
• Support data preparation, validation, and preprocessing of large-scale vehicle trajectory and traffic datasets.
• Participate in software testing and quality assurance, ensuring functionality and performance meet project requirements.
• Contribute to the design and evaluation of user interfaces and data visualization workflows to enhance usability and analytical insight.
• Conduct data-driven analysis and visualizations using Python, or similar tools.
• Support the preparation of technical documentation, progress reports, and presentations.
• Assist in system setup, troubleshooting, and configuration of laboratory computing and testing environments.
• Collaborate with team members during regular meetings to review progress, share results, and discuss technical challenges and solutions.

Basic Qualifications:

• Study Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering, or a related field to obtain Master's or PhD. degree level.
• Must be currently enrolled in a postgraduate degree program (Masters/JD/PhD).
• Coursework or experience in transportation engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field.
• Programming experience in Python or MATLAB.
• Familiarity with data analysis or visualization tools such as Pandas, Plotly, Matplotlib, or similar.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel).
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance, requiring three years of continuous residency in the United States.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without company sponsorship.
• Valid driver’s license.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Coursework or internship experience in intelligent transportation systems (ITS), data analytics, or connected vehicle technologies.
• Experience with graphical user interface (GUI) development or interactive data visualization.
• Knowledge of open-source software workflows (e.g., Git/GitHub).
• Understanding of software testing, validation, and documentation best practices.
• Expertise in developing and calibrating simulation models and implementing algorithms using programming (e.g., Python or C++).

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.

Original Posting:

November 25, 2025

Pay Range:

Pay Range $55,250.00 - $99,875.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.