Cloud SME/Architect

Leidos•Alexandria, VA

About The Position

The Decision Advantage Business Area within the Defense Sector at Leidos currently has an opening for a Cloud SME/Architect at Beale Air Force Base with alternate location in Alexandria, VA. This is an exciting opportunity to support the Department of the Air Force. We are seeking a highly experienced . Join us in this exciting career move—relocation assistance is available to make your transition seamless. The Cloud SME / Architect will lead the architecture, modernization, integration, and secure operation of cloud-enabled mission systems supporting a complex Department of Defense environment. This is a senior technical leadership role for a proven architect with deep experience designing and governing enterprise-scale cloud platforms, hybrid infrastructure, secure system integration pipelines, and mission-critical application hosting environments. The successful candidate will serve as a senior advisor to program and engineering leadership, shaping cloud architecture strategy across development, integration, test, experimental, and operational environments. This role will be central to ensuring that cloud capabilities are scalable, resilient, secure, compliant, and aligned to system integration processes, technical baselines, and mission outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related field with 12-15 years of prior relevant experience or Master's with 10-13 years of prior relevant experience. Additional years of relevant experience will be considered in lieu of degree.
Active and current DoD Top Secret clearance with ability to obtain and maintain TS/SCI.
12+ years of overall experience in systems engineering, infrastructure engineering, enterprise architecture, cloud architecture, platform engineering, or related technical leadership roles.
10+ years of experience architecting and implementing enterprise cloud solutions in AWS, Azure, or hybrid/multi-cloud environments.
Demonstrated experience serving as a senior cloud architect, chief engineer, technical lead, or SME on large-scale federal or defense programs.
Deep experience with AWS GovCloud, cloud landing zones, VPC/network architecture, IAM, storage, compute, container platforms, logging and monitoring, backup and recovery, and high-availability design.
Strong knowledge of hybrid cloud architectures, including integration between cloud, on-premises, lab, test, and mission systems.
Experience supporting complex system integration and test activities across multiple environments and release stages.
Knowledge of DoD security and compliance frameworks, including RMF, NIST, DISA STIGs, JSIG, vulnerability management, and audit/accreditation processes.
Experience with DevSecOps pipelines, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, automated compliance, and software release management.
Familiarity with architecture governance, configuration management, and engineering review processes in highly controlled mission environments.
Experience working with cross-functional stakeholders including program management, systems engineering, software, cyber, test, operations, and government customers.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to convey architectural concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related technical discipline.
Active and current DoD TS/SCI clearance.
Professional cloud certifications such as: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional AWS Certified Security – Specialty Azure Solutions Architect Expert Certified Kubernetes Administrator, or similar
Experience with defense mission systems, command and control platforms, or systems operating in operationally sensitive environments.
Experience with platform engineering, Kubernetes, OpenShift, container orchestration, service mesh, API management, and secure enterprise integration patterns.
Familiarity with Open Architecture (OA) or Open Mission Systems (OMS) concepts.
Experience with model-based systems engineering tools and digital engineering ecosystems.
Security certifications such as Security+, CISSP, or equivalent.
Demonstrated ability to serve as a trusted technical advisor to senior program leadership and government stakeholders.
Strong mentoring and technical leadership skills with the ability to guide large engineering teams through modernization and transformation efforts.
SAP Program experience preferred