Solutions Architect/Lead, Top Secret

Description

The company runs a national cyber defense program covering critical infrastructure, state, local, tribal and territorial partners, and federal civilian agencies, and is modernizing its cyber command center.

This role is the technical lead for the architecture behind that center, covering how infrastructure, operational and threat data is taken in, standardized, linked and delivered to operators.

You will be the main technical contact for government leadership and direct three delivery teams: data engineering, cloud platform and authorization, and application delivery.

Clearance: you must currently hold an Interim Secret and be able to obtain a Top Secret/SCI clearance. No public trust position is required. Job family: IT infrastructure and operations.

Responsibilities

• Own the full architecture, covering data flow, integration patterns and the boundaries between processing layers.
• Define and maintain integration designs linking data sources, analytics and operator applications.
• Set interface and schema standards for the operator application.
• Make and record architecture decisions on the authorization boundary, hosting model and long-term sustainment.
• Set technical standards and run design reviews and governance.
• Direct the unified data model for infrastructure, operational and threat information.
• Choose normalization and correlation methods that follow open standards.
• Oversee ingestion and enrichment pipelines, including onboarding, data quality and lineage.
• Direct how analytic services are designed and which controls govern their output.
• Own cloud architecture: hosting, networking, identity, orchestration and infrastructure as code.
• Define how data of different sensitivity levels is handled.
• Drive ATO-related decisions on boundary definition, control inheritance and monitoring.
• Work with security and authorization teams to build an architecture that holds up under review.
• Set the architecture for deployment, environments and releases.
• Direct application design and how it connects to the underlying data and event layer.
• Make sure the operator experience serves mission needs rather than the shape of the data.
• Own integration contracts and trace them back to requirements.
• Lead delivery teams, set priorities, resolve dependencies and keep the design coherent.
• Give technical direction and mentoring across data, platform and application engineering.
• Align technical sequencing with operational milestones.
• Identify and reduce technical risks, including integration and authorization risks.
• Present architecture and trade-offs to government leadership.
• Support technical exchanges, demos and design reviews.
• Coordinate integration work with partners, vendors and third-party providers.

Requirements

• Experience as a lead or principal architect on enterprise systems that bring together several data sources.
• Demonstrated cloud architecture experience in regulated environments.
• Experience with data integration and normalization to open standards.
• Working knowledge of RMF and of architecture decisions that shape an authorization boundary.
• Experience directing engineering teams across several disciplines.
• Ability to present technical decisions to senior government stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of relevant experience.
• Active Top Secret clearance.
• Optional: experience supporting national-level cyber programs.
• Optional: experience with advanced data modeling or graph-based architecture.
• Optional: experience linking entities across heterogeneous sources at scale.
• Optional: familiarity with ICS/OT data and critical infrastructure modeling.
• Optional: experience designing or deploying analytics or ML in accredited environments.
• Optional: experience leading a system through its initial ATO.
• Optional: certifications such as CISSP or advanced cloud architecture.
• US citizenship is required.

Conditions

Location: Arlington, Virginia, USA. Hybrid work model.

Scheduled hours: 40 per week. Travel: less than 10%.

Pay range: $153,000 to $207,000. This is a likely range only, not a guaranteed figure. Final pay depends on experience, geographic location and possibly contract terms, and may fall outside this range.

Identity verification is part of hiring and uses biometrics and AI. You must be on camera for virtual interviews, and you consent to the collection and use of your biometric data for verification and security.

Equal opportunity employer, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

Benefits

• Medical plans, some with Health Savings Accounts, plus dental and vision plans.
• 401(k) with pre-tax and post-tax contributions up to IRS limits and a company match.
• Full flex work weeks where possible, and paid time off for vacation, sick and personal days, holidays, parental, military, bereavement and jury duty.
• Short- and long-term disability, life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness and business travel accident insurance, provided or available.
• An AI-based career tool that suggests next steps and learning, an internal mobility team, and a military-friendly culture.