Software Architect (Drupal Lead + Architecture + Infrastructure + Kafka + DevSecOps)

• Own the solution architecture across application, integration, data, infrastructure and security views, with documented decision records.
• Design event-driven integration using Apache Kafka - topic design, event schemas, reusable producer and consumer libraries, idempotency, replay and error handling - in place of point-to-point coupling.
• Define the API-first strategy: REST standards for versioning, authentication, logging, monitoring, retry and error handling.
• Architect the containerized runtime on Kubernetes with managed relational data, shared file storage, object storage, centralized image registry, CDN and WAF, and secrets management via a managed vault with pod identity.
• Establish centralized configuration management - no hardcoded endpoints, credentials, bucket names, feature flags or AI configuration.
• Define and drive the DevSecOps pipeline: containerized builds, GitFlow release process, automated functional and performance testing, container vulnerability scanning, and controlled promotion to staging and production.
• Design enterprise observability: centralized logging, distributed tracing, API and message-stream metrics, AI usage metrics, performance and business transaction dashboards.
• Architect reusable modules, a configurable form framework and component libraries intended for reuse across future initiatives.
• Define the architecture for AI-enabled capabilities - document OCR and classification, intelligent summarization, assisted case preparation, and integration with the client-built conversational module - with final decisions retained by authorized personnel.
• Design for scale against a workload exceeding 100,000 annual submissions with multilingual support and PII handling.
• Lead technical governance: design reviews, architecture compliance, technical debt strategy, and mentorship of leads and senior developers.
• Ensure the architecture satisfies federal security requirements - STIG remediation, boundary definition, ports/protocols/services documentation, encryption at rest and in transit, role-based access control - and Section 508 obligations.

• 10+ years software engineering with 5+ years as lead architect on enterprise web platforms.
• 5+ years hands-on Drupal with full stack depth - architecture, module strategy, theming, performance and security.
• Proven Apache Kafka architecture experience: event modeling, schema governance, producer/consumer patterns and operational concerns.
• Deep AWS architecture experience: EKS/Kubernetes, Aurora, S3, EFS, Secrets Manager, ECR, CloudFront/WAF, IAM.
• DevSecOps ownership: GitLab CI/CD, containerization, infrastructure as code, automated security scanning, release management.
• Integration experience with enterprise BPM / case management platforms (Appian or comparable) and federated identity providers.
• Database architecture across relational platforms; able to reason about DB2 and cloud-native targets during migration.
• Demonstrated platform-level accountability for Section 508 / WCAG 2.1 AA.
• Agile/SAFe architectural leadership.
• Substantial hands-on experience with AI-assisted engineering tooling and sound judgment about where AI belongs in a federal platform., * AWS Solutions Architect Professional; Certified Kubernetes Administrator; Acquia/Drupal certification; SAFe Architect.
• Experience designing reusable platform frameworks intended for reuse across agency programs.
• Experience integrating AI services under enterprise security controls, including Model Context Protocol or equivalent connector patterns.
• Agentic development framework experience - reusable AI agents for integration, test generation, documentation and code review.

Education Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering with 10+ years of relevant experience; Master’s preferred.