Cloud Architect

• Design and implement EKS cluster topology, VPC layouts, subnet architectures, IAM role structures, security group definitions, and cross-region connectivity paths

• Ensure 100% of multi-region infrastructure is provisioned and managed through Terraform IaC with configuration parity across all environments

• Design and implement Route 53 traffic management strategies including health-check-driven failover, latency-based routing, and weighted routing policies at the application and API level

• Design and implement S3 Cross-Region Replication configurations for mission-critical data with versioning, FIPS 140-3 encryption, and strict IAM controls

• Design database replication architectures accommodating GovCloud RDS limitations including independent per-region instances, change data capture, streaming replication, and periodic snapshot export

• Implement and configure AWS Backup and VA-approved Kubernetes-native backup tooling for centralized cross-region backup with independent per-region encryption

• Design and implement autoscaling policies using Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaler and Cluster Autoscaler to prevent resource saturation and enable elastic capacity management

• Validate that cluster add-ons remain within one minor version of the EKS cluster version across all regions and environments

• Ensure node management follows standardized AMI deployment with greater than 95% of nodes running the approved image

• Design cross-VPC connectivity maintaining 99.995% availability between regions

• Implement automated configuration drift detection running at least weekly with remediation within three business days

• Design S3 lifecycle policies and Intelligent-Tiering configurations optimizing storage costs while meeting retrieval SLA requirements

• Coordinate with the Senior Architect on High-Level and Low-Level Design documents depicting regional topology, failover routing, data flows, and monitoring infrastructure

• Coordinate with tenant application teams on database failover configurations, connection endpoint updates, and application-level validation

• Participate in Program Increment planning, architecture reviews, and change management activities

• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing cloud infrastructure for complex, mission-critical systems in AWS or equivalent cloud environments

• Hands-on experience with AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Kubernetes cluster management, and containerized application deployment

• Deep expertise with Infrastructure as Code tooling, specifically Terraform, for provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure at scale

• Experience with AWS Route 53 including DNS failover, health checks, latency-based routing, and weighted routing configurations

• Experience with S3 Cross-Region Replication, lifecycle policies, Intelligent-Tiering, and encryption configurations

• Knowledge of AWS GovCloud services and their specific limitations compared to commercial AWS regions

• Experience with database replication strategies including change data capture, streaming replication, and snapshot-based recovery

• Experience with AWS Backup, Velero, or equivalent backup and recovery tooling for Kubernetes environments

• Knowledge of networking concepts including VPC design, subnet architecture, security groups, IAM, and cross-region connectivity

• Experience with Istio service mesh or equivalent service mesh technologies for traffic management, circuit-breaking, and load balancing

• Familiarity with FIPS 140-3 encryption requirements and Federal security compliance standards

• Experience working in Agile or SAFe environments with sprint-based delivery cadences

• AWS Solutions Architect Associate or Professional certification required

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or equivalent certification preferred

• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited academic institution with a minimum of 10 years of experience in cloud infrastructure architecture and engineering, with at least 3 years designing infrastructure in AWS GovCloud or equivalent FedRAMP-authorized environments

• OR

• Master’s Degree from an accredited academic institution with a minimum of 7 years of experience in cloud infrastructure architecture and engineering, with at least 2 years designing infrastructure in AWS GovCloud or equivalent FedRAMP-authorized environments

• Plus:

• Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) experience

• Active Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card

• Experience designing multi-region architectures within AWS GovCloud including failover patterns and cross-region data replication

• Experience with VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) environment-specific connectivity and compliance requirements

Up to $175,000 a year - Full-time, Contract