System Architect / Technical Lead

The System Architect / Technical Lead will serve as the Contractor’s Key Personnel technical lead responsible for architecture, technical direction, engineering quality, systems integration, and implementation activities supporting enterprise business applications within the NIH Business Applications Services (BAS) environment. This is a hands-on technical leadership role. The System Architect / Technical Lead will establish and evolve system architecture using engineering best practices while providing day-to-day technical direction to software engineers and other members of the delivery team. The successful candidate will combine senior-level architecture and systems integration experience with practical software engineering expertise and the ability to quickly develop deep knowledge of supported applications, interfaces, dependencies, and operational environments., * Serve as the System Architect / Technical Lead and Key Personnel technical authority for the assigned program.

• Establish, implement, maintain, and evolve system architecture using sound architectural principles and engineering best practices.
• Provide technical direction to developers, database personnel, testers, business analysts, and other technical and functional team members.
• Work with system owners, business owners, technical teams, and stakeholders to translate requirements into effective technical solutions.
• Lead technical activities across requirements, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, implementation, deployment, operations, maintenance, and enhancements.
• Develop conceptual and detailed technical designs, including application components, interfaces, integrations, data flows, and system dependencies.
• Apply object-oriented analysis and design techniques as appropriate.
• Participate directly in hands-on engineering activities, including coding, unit testing, code reviews, debugging, troubleshooting, and technical problem resolution.
• Provide technical review and signoff throughout requirements, design, development, and testing activities.
• Oversee implementation and deployment activities and ensure solutions are production-ready.
• Ensure the quality, reliability, maintainability, and technical integrity of technical deliverables.
• Lead integration with existing enterprise systems and capabilities.
• Analyze change requests, defects, enhancements, and modernization activities and develop level-of-effort estimates.
• Support release planning, technical prioritization, scheduling, and assignment of engineering tasks.
• Identify architectural, integration, application, performance, security, reliability, and operational risks and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and provide recommendations regarding upgrades and modernization opportunities.
• Support cloud and cloud-based technology initiatives.
• Support DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, and modern software engineering practices.
• Support responsible adoption of Government-approved AI-assisted development and intelligent automation.
• Mentor junior engineers and promote consistent engineering and development practices.
• Perform other duties as assigned

• Minimum 10 years of experience providing technical leadership to a team.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in systems integration, software/system development, and package implementations.
• Minimum 3 years of experience supporting IT projects of similar size and complexity using the same or similar technologies.
• Experience with cloud computing and cloud-based technologies.
• Strong understanding of the complete software engineering lifecycle, including requirements, architecture and design, implementation, integration, testing, deployment, and operations and maintenance.
• Solid understanding of the Enterprise Performance Life Cycle (EPLC).
• Demonstrated experience providing architectural and technical direction to multidisciplinary software delivery teams.
• Demonstrated experience designing, developing, integrating, reviewing, and troubleshooting enterprise software solutions.
• Strong systems integration experience with enterprise applications and capabilities.
• Experience analyzing technical changes, defects, enhancements, and requirements and developing level-of-effort estimates.
• Ability to rapidly learn and apply new technologies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong technical leadership, mentoring, interpersonal, and client-facing skills.
• Must hold or be eligible to obtain a Public Trust Moderate (Tier 2) background investigation.

Desired:

• Previous experience architecting or technically leading Federal enterprise business applications.
• Experience supporting application development and production operations and maintenance.
• Experience with enterprise systems integration, APIs, services, and application interoperability.
• Experience modernizing legacy or long-lived enterprise applications.
• Experience with DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with automated unit, integration, regression, and security testing.
• Experience with cloud-native or cloud-enabled application architectures.
• Experience with application security and secure software engineering practices within Federal environments.
• Experience evaluating emerging technologies and advising Government customers on modernization strategies.
• Experience with AI-assisted software engineering, intelligent automation, or similar modern development capabilities.
• FOIA - Previous experience supporting FOIA systems, FOIA case management applications, or other federal records and information management systems highly desired.
• FOIA - Experience supporting federal administrative or workflow-driven applications preferred.
• ITAS - Previous experience supporting enterprise timekeeping, time and attendance, workforce administration, or similar HR-related systems highly desired.
• ITAS - Experience supporting large-scale federal administrative applications preferred.
• NED - Previous experience supporting enterprise directory, identity management, personnel directory, or similar enterprise identity-related systems highly desired.
• NED - Experience supporting directory applications within a federal environment preferred.
• FMG Apps - Previous experience supporting federal financial management, accounting, budgeting, or other enterprise financial applications highly desired.
• FMG Apps - Experience supporting complex financial or administrative applications within a federal environment preferred.

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Employer-Paid Life Insurance
• Employer-Paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid Time Off (PTO) that includes Vacation Leave, Sick Leave, and 11 Paid Holidays
• Educational Assistance

Salary: $145,000 - $170,000 Hybrid in Bethesda, MD