Lead Software Architect

The successful candidate will be the overall software architecture authority for a modern Linux-based platform composed of approximately 25 core microservices and a broad set of supporting/integration services. The environment is cloud-heavy, distributed, operationally critical, and deployed in both constrained edge settings and larger centralized/cloud environments. This role requires someone who can define and govern architecture while remaining grounded in the realities of runtime operations, resilience, fieldability, and maintainability.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Own the overall software architecture for a distributed microservices platform running across global environments

• Maintain and evolve an ecosystem of approximately 25 core Java-based microservices and a comparable set of supporting and integration services
• Define and govern architecture across service boundaries and contracts, data flows and event patterns, control plane and backplane behavior, node roles and deployment topologies, observability, fault tolerance, and service recovery.
• Lead architecture for a platform based on: RHEL / Rocky Linux, Java (JDK 21+), Vue.js 3 frontends, MongoDB for persistent data, Elasticsearch / Logstash and RabbitMQ for ephemeral/search/event data flows, Consul, Nomad, and Vault for service discovery, orchestration, and secrets management
• Architect deployment patterns for multiple node types, including server nodes, data nodes, arbiter nodes, workstation/user-facing nodes
• Guide the technical design of core operational services responsible for: transactional processing, rules/screening/correlation workflows, authorization and access control, reference/master data management, language/internationalization support, health/status services, biometric or matching-oriented services built on open-source components,
• Oversee architecture for peripheral/device services supporting integration with a broad set of external devices and sensors
• Lead integration architecture for external standards-based and partner system interfaces, including third-party government systems, commercial travel/identity/manifest-style systems, country/customer-specific extensions
• Ensure the platform remains remotely observable, supportable, and maintainable across all deployments
• Partner with cloud, network, security, data, field engineering, and operations teams to align architecture with deployment realities
• Review and guide software design decisions, technical debt reduction, modernization priorities, and roadmap sequencing
• Serve as a senior technical authority in design reviews, readiness reviews, problem resolution, and major incident analysis

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field. (4 Additional years of experience can substitute for a degree.)
• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time in software architecture roles for distributed or mission-critical systems
• 5+ years architecting microservices-based platforms in production
• Demonstrated ability to serve as the technical authority over a multi-service software ecosystem
• Experience guiding multiple development teams and reviewing architecture across service boundaries
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to produce design artifacts and present architecture decisions clearly
• Experience balancing long-term architecture quality with delivery constraints and operational realities
• Deep hands-on expertise with: Java on modern JDKs, preferably JDK 21+, Linux-based production environments, preferably RHEL / Rocky Linux, distributed service design and operational patterns
• Strong experience with MongoDB, Elasticsearch / Logstash, RabbitMQ or equivalent event/messaging platforms, service discovery/orchestration/secrets technologies such as Consul, Nomad, Vault, Kubernetes, or similar
• Experience designing systems that operate across constrained edge environments, centralized or cloud-heavy environments, globally distributed deployments with intermittent or variable connectivity
• Proven ability to architect for: resilience and graceful degradation, observability and diagnosability, secure service-to-service communication, multi-role user administration and authorization, remote support and lifecycle management
• Domestic and/or international project travel may be required.

Desired Skills:

• Master’s degree in data engineering, Computer Science, Analytics, or related field
• Experience with Vue.js 3 and modern frontend architecture patterns for administrative or operational interfaces
• Experience with hybrid cloud and cloud-heavy deployments where backend services are centralized and edge nodes are thin
• Experience integrating with external standards-based government, identity, travel, or partner ecosystems
• Experience designing platforms that manage or integrate with peripherals/devices such as scanners, readers, imaging devices, kiosks, or other edge hardware
• Experience with Nomad/Consul/Vault specifically in production
• Experience architecting systems with zero/low downtime upgrade paths
• Experience with semantic, cognitive, or advanced search use cases on Elasticsearch
• Familiarity with event replay, reconciliation, and offline-sync patterns
• Experience working closely with field engineering or remote deployment teams
• Experience with large-scale modernization of legacy monoliths to service-oriented or microservices-based platforms
• Familiarity with open-source biometric, matching, search, or image processing components
• Experience with multilingual/internationalized systems deployed across multiple countries or regions
• Experience supporting operational analytics/reporting services built on transaction/event data
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and release discipline for multi-service distributed systems

There are many factors that can influence final salary including, but not limited to, geographic location, Federal Government contract labor categories and contract wage rates, relevant prior work experience, specific skills and competencies, education, and certifications. Our employee owners value the flexibility at ATS that allows them to balance quality work and their personal lives. We offer competitive compensation, career growth, benefits and learning and development opportunities. Our broad mix of exceptional benefits options is designed to support and protect employees and their families.

At ATS, you will be eligible to participate in a comprehensive benefits package such as healthcare, wellness, financial, retirement, family support, continuing education, and time off benefits. Learn more at Employee Resources, Invitation for Job Applicants to Self-Identify as a U.S. Veteran

• A “disabled veteran” is one of the following:
• a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
• a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.
• A “recently separated veteran” means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran’s discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.
• An “active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran” means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.
• An “Armed forces service medal veteran” means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Acclaim Technical Services, founded in 2000, is a leading cyber operations, intelligence solutions and operations, network infrastructure, engineering and business enablement and enterprise operations company supporting a wide range of U.S. Federal agencies. We are an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company, which is uncommon within our business sector. We see this as a significant strength, and it shows: ATS is consistently ranked as a top workplace among DC area firms and continues to grow.

We are actively hiring a Software Architect with a TS/SCI clearance and polygraph to support a program in Chantilly, VA. In this role you will lead the architecture, technical evolution, and operational design of a large-scale, globally distributed mission platform deployed across multiple countries and managed remotely from the United States. This platform supports real-time transaction processing, distributed data management, integration with external government and commercial systems, peripheral/device orchestration, and centralized observability and administration.