Cleared On Site Chief Security Architect for Governance, Risk and Compliance (5030)

ESS•Washington, DC

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Law Enforcement Agency OCIO's organization is moving to Information Systems Security as a Service and requires a Chief Security Architect to serve as the program’s principal technical authority, providing strategic risk advisory to OCIO leadership, Authorizing Officials, and ISSO(E)(M)s while overseeing the security posture of 600+ information systems across all classification levels. This position will be on site in Washington, DC and requires a Top-Secret Clearance. This role translates the Customer's security vision into actionable technical guidance, validates the system categorization methodology, reviews high-risk change requests, and enables innovation through evaluation of emerging technologies (AI/ML, zero trust, cloud-native security) within the Customer's governance constraints. The Chief Security Architect leads early lifecycle security advisory to embed security in system design rather than retrofit, resolves complex technical disputes between implementation and assessment teams, and drives enterprise-wide security architecture patterns that enable consistent, defensible authorization decisions. This strategic position elevates ISaaS from tactical compliance execution to mission-enabling security partnership, ensuring the Customer maintains robust cybersecurity posture while adopting cutting-edge capabilities to counter evolving threats. The role requires balancing deep technical expertise with executive communication skills, translating complex security risks into business impacts and strategic recommendations for senior Customer leadership.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree
10+ years of experience
Deep expertise with NIST implementation at scale, 800-53 controls and assessment procedures
FISMA and Intelligence Community security frameworks
Proven ability to design security architectures for diverse environments (on-prem, cloud, hybrid, air-gapped)
Cloud security architecture
AWS/Azure security services, configurations, best practices
FedRAMP authorization process and cloud control inheritance
Cloud-native security patterns: ZTA, container security, serverless, etc.
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (top skill)
Track record at providing technical risk assessments and recommendations
Articulate residual risk in business terms, enabling informed risk acceptance by non-technical executives
Experience with conditional ATO strategies and balancing operational urgency with security requirements
Experience leading or overseeing independent security assessments for diverse system types
Ability to validate assessment quality and consistency across multiple assessor teams
Strategic and Leadership Skills
Executive Communication – demonstrated ability to brief C-level executives and senior gov officials on complex security processes
Skill in translating technical vulnerabilities into business risk and strategic recommendations
Proven ability to build trust and credibility with diverse stakeholders, system owners, developers, operations teams, auditors
One of the following certifications: AWS Cloud Solutions Architect (Professional), CISSP-ISSEP
Active TS clearance with SCI Eligibility

Nice To Haves

Some knowledge of IaC / DevSecOps principles
NSS and Intelligence Community Experience
IC-specific security requirements (ICD 503 for cloud, ICD 705 for SCI, etc.)
Cross-domain solutions (CDS) and high-side/low-side data transfer security
Audit and Compliance (more important that they were independent audits)
Experience in supporting FISMA audits, DOJ inspector general reviews, GAO assessments
Understanding of OMB, DOJ, and IC Cybersecurity reporting requirements and metrics
Ability to translate audit findings into actionable remediation paths and process improvements

Responsibilities

Serve as the program’s principal technical authority.
Provide strategic risk advisory to OCIO leadership, Authorizing Officials, and ISSO(E)(M)s.
Oversee the security posture of 600+ information systems across all classification levels.
Translate the Customer's security vision into actionable technical guidance.
Validate the system categorization methodology.
Review high-risk change requests.
Enable innovation through evaluation of emerging technologies (AI/ML, zero trust, cloud-native security) within the Customer's governance constraints.
Lead early lifecycle security advisory to embed security in system design rather than retrofit.
Resolve complex technical disputes between implementation and assessment teams.
Drive enterprise-wide security architecture patterns that enable consistent, defensible authorization decisions.
Elevate ISaaS from tactical compliance execution to mission-enabling security partnership.
Ensure the Customer maintains robust cybersecurity posture while adopting cutting-edge capabilities to counter evolving threats.
Translate complex security risks into business impacts and strategic recommendations for senior Customer leadership.
Provide technical risk assessments and recommendations.
Articulate residual risk in business terms, enabling informed risk acceptance by non-technical executives.
Develop security strategies, roadmaps, and business cases for executive approval (or serve as an advisor for these).
Build trust and credibility with diverse stakeholders, system owners, developers, operations teams, auditors.
Translate audit findings into actionable remediation paths and process improvements.