Senior Systems Architect

The Senior Systems Architect will serve as the technical authority responsible for defining system architecture, infrastructure strategy, cloud engineering standards, and integration approaches supporting highly sensitive data and operational workloads within Impact Level 4 (IL4) and Impact Level 5 (IL5) environments. This role provides technical leadership across platform operations, infrastructure modernization, DevSecOps, configuration management, and release management activities while ensuring compliance with DoD cybersecurity and interoperability standards.

The successful candidate will work directly with government customers, senior stakeholders, engineering teams, and program leadership to translate mission requirements into secure, scalable, and resilient technical solutions supporting critical defense operations.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on architect who combines DoD mission experience, AWS GovCloud expertise, enterprise architecture knowledge (DoDAF/TOGAF), and strong customer-facing leadership skills. This individual can effectively bridge strategy, architecture, engineering, and operations while leading the evolution of secure, mission-critical defense systems., * Lead the design, implementation, and sustainment of enterprise applications and infrastructure solutions hosted within AWS GovCloud IL4/IL5 environments.

• Develop and maintain logical, physical, application, data, and security architectures aligned with DoD requirements and enterprise architecture frameworks.
• Provide technical leadership for cloud engineering, platform operations, infrastructure modernization, configuration management, and release management activities.
• Establish architecture standards, technology roadmaps, and engineering best practices supporting secure, scalable, and resilient operations.
• Lead architecture reviews, technical design sessions, and stakeholder engagements with government customers and executive leadership.

• Develop and maintain architecture artifacts, system diagrams, technical documentation, and implementation plans. * Ensure compliance with DoD cybersecurity requirements, Zero Trust principles, and cloud security standards.

• Identify and mitigate technical risks related to architecture, performance, security, data management, and system integration.
• Mentor technical staff and provide leadership across multidisciplinary engineering and operations teams.
• Effectively communicate complex technical concepts, recommendations, and architectural decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline., * 10+ years of experience in systems architecture, enterprise architecture, solution architecture, or systems engineering supporting federal or DoD environments.
• Experience architecting and implementing enterprise systems within AWS GovCloud environments.
• Proven success leading enterprise modernization, systems integration, and cloud transformation initiatives.
• Experience supporting mission-critical operational systems handling sensitive or regulated data.
• Demonstrated leadership of technical teams and coordination with government customers and stakeholders.

Technical Knowledge

• Expertise in enterprise architecture frameworks, including DoDAF, TOGAF, or equivalent frameworks.
• Experience designing and implementing AWS cloud-based architectures, microservices, and distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of Agile, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and infrastructure automation practices.

• Deep knowledge of DoD cybersecurity, interoperability, and data standards, including:

• NIST SP 800-53
• Risk Management Framework (RMF)
• Zero Trust Architecture
• DoD Cloud Security Requirements Guide (SRG)

Experience designing, integrating, and sustaining systems supporting mission-critical defense operations.

Knowledge of system integration patterns, APIs, networking, identity management, and cloud security architectures. Preferred Certifications:

One or more of the following certifications is highly desirable:

• TOGAF 9/10 Certified
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional)
• AWS Security Specialty
• DoD 8570/8140 Certification (Security+ CE, CISSP, or CISM)
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)

Skills

• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Strong customer engagement and stakeholder management abilities.
• Proven technical leadership and team collaboration skills.
• Ability to communicate complex architectural concepts to executive, operational, and technical audiences.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and systems-thinking capabilities.
• Ability to balance mission requirements, cybersecurity compliance, operational sustainment, and technology modernization.