Cloud Data Architect

Leidos • Washington, DC

5d • $154,050 - $278,475 • Remote

About The Position

Leidos is seeking a Cloud Data Architect to support the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Summit Advanced Tooling, Lakehouse, and Artificial Intelligence Services (ATLAS) program. The position is contingent upon contract award. Remote work within CONUS is subject to VA security and system-access requirements, and the role must support Eastern Time collaboration and applicable production coverage. Occasional after-hours or weekend support may be required for critical incidents or planned maintenance.

The architect leads Summit cloud and data platform architecture, establishes approved technical patterns, and coordinates enterprise architecture, interoperability, security, and compliance decisions with VA stakeholders. The role develops and stewards Azure-based data, analytics, integration, and platform architecture, and provides guidance to technical teams and product leaders. It also supports cloud modernization and transition-in activities, including validation of current-state architecture, dependencies, technical debt, documentation, and operational handover.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 15+ years of extensive relevant cloud/data architecture experience; final experience threshold is to be validated against the approved labor category.
• Demonstrated expertise designing and integrating Microsoft Azure data environments, including Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Databricks or comparable enterprise data services.
• Demonstrated expertise managing and documenting technical architecture, security/compliance strategies, and data platform engineering.
• Experience designing complex enterprise data architectures, cloud/hybrid integration, identity and access patterns, and scalable data services.
• Working knowledge of federal security controls, secure architecture reviews, and operational compliance requirements.
• Ability to lead technical reviews, document architectural decisions, and communicate tradeoffs with Government and multidisciplinary engineering stakeholders.
• Experience collaborating with government stakeholders, presenting architectural designs and policies, and securing approvals for implementation.
• Ability to obtain and maintain required VA Public Trust suitability (Tier 2/Moderate Risk) and meet VA system-access requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience with the VA Summit Data Platform, VA Enterprise Cloud, or adjacent VA enterprise analytics platforms is highly preferred.
• Hands-on experience with Delta Lake/lakehouse architectures, including data modeling, optimization, governance, and performance tuning.
• Experience with federated data access, metadata catalogs, and governance technologies such as Starburst, Collibra, and Immuta, and with high-performance data streaming and integration technologies such as Kafka.
• Experience with VA or other federal ATO/RMF processes, NIST 800-53, Zero Trust, and Azure landing-zone security.
• Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Security Engineer Associate, and/or relevant cloud or data architecture certification.

Responsibilities

• Lead and document the Summit Enterprise Reference Architecture and roadmap across Azure-based data, analytics, integration, and platform services, based on policy-first rules and guardrails.
• Define and steward approved cloud and lakehouse patterns and data management standards for ingestion, storage, data modeling, interoperability, metadata, access controls, and platform operations.
• Serve as the primary technical interface to VA architecture governance and the Architecture Review Board (ARB); prepare architecture decision records and manage design exceptions.
• Design and review Azure cloud and hybrid integration patterns, including identity, networking, segmentation, routing, trust boundaries, and secure connectivity to adjacent VA platforms.
• Partner with security and compliance leads to align architecture with Zero Trust, NIST 800-53, RMF/ATO, security-impact analysis, and VA enterprise cloud requirements.
• Provide architecture guidance to solution architects, data engineers, DevSecOps teams, and product leaders; review complex designs for scalability, interoperability, resilience, and cost.
• Guide cloud transition options and modernization decisions, including Azure Government/Commercial considerations, migration risks, and service continuity.
• Support transition-in from the government and incumbent contractor by validating current-state architecture, documentation, dependencies, technical debt, and operational handover.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior