Director, Cloud & Enterprise Architecture

Peraton•Richmond, VA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Peraton is seeking a director-level Chief/Cloud Architect and Subject Matter Expert to provide strategic and hands-on technical leadership for enterprise IT architecture, cloud modernization, and cybersecurity initiatives supporting a state government customer. This senior role combines deep cloud and enterprise architecture expertise with broad decision-making authority, serving as the principal technical advisor to customer leadership and program executives. The position leads architecture services, drives cloud adoption across multiple public cloud platforms, and delivers business solutions that help the state and its agencies modernize, migrate, and optimize IT environments within a multi-sourced service integration (MSI) environment. The position supports a proposal opportunity and is based in Richmond, Virginia; candidates must be able to commute to Richmond or be located in the area. The role requires extensive IT and cloud architecture experience, including work across public cloud platforms, enterprise-scale AWS architecture, security and compliance, and government IT programs. U.S. citizenship and the ability to pass a state suitability/background investigation are required. Travel to customer and MSI supplier sites may be required.

Requirements

At least 16 years of IT experience, with significant focus on enterprise and cloud architecture.
SME-level knowledge of enterprise IT architecture, hybrid cloud, cybersecurity, and systems integration.
Demonstrated experience architecting and migrating solutions across at least two of AWS, GCP, and Oracle Cloud.
Expertise in AWS Landing Zone or Control Tower architecture and enterprise-scale multi-account strategies.
Hands-on experience with AWS EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, Lambda, EKS, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, RDS, and networking constructs.
Strong knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman, or equivalent.
Expertise in NIST, FISMA, RMF, FedRAMP, and customer or state security standards, as well as secure system design.
Proficiency in cloud-native design patterns, microservices, containerization with Kubernetes and Docker, and DevSecOps practices.
Experience supporting state or federal government IT programs, preferably in managed services or large-scale IT contract environments.
Demonstrated ability to lead strategic IT architecture decisions at program and enterprise levels.
Excellent communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to technical and executive audiences.
U.S. citizenship.
Ability to pass a state suitability/background investigation.
Ability to commute to Richmond, Virginia, or be located in the area.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with state government IT governance and standards.
Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
Active AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate or Professional certification.
Google Professional Cloud Architect certification.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Professional certification.
TOGAF 9 or 10 certification.
Open Certified Architect certification.
Certified Systems Engineering Professional certification.
PMP certification.
ITIL v3 or v4 Foundation certification.
Security+, CISSP, or equivalent cybersecurity certification.
Expertise in AI/ML and LLM deployment in secure or classified environments.
Experience with big data and analytics platforms.
Familiarity with container orchestration at scale in restricted environments.
Background in enterprise cost optimization with measurable savings.
Experience with cross-domain solutions and hybrid cloud networking.
Proficiency in Python for automation, scripting, and tooling development.
Track record of leading teams of five or more engineers on complex cloud delivery programs.
Familiarity with FinOps principles and cloud cost management tools.
Prior experience supporting proposal development for large government IT contracts.
Ability to travel to customer and MSI supplier sites.

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal technical and strategic authority for enterprise IT architecture, cloud adoption, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, and system integration across the program.
Lead enterprise architecture services aligned with customer standards, policies, compliance mandates, and modernization objectives.
Provide Business Solutions Management to assess, plan, and execute application migrations to AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Develop and maintain enterprise architecture artifacts, including reference architectures, roadmaps, standards, and patterns.
Oversee development and implementation of secure, innovative, and cost-effective IT solutions, including hybrid cloud, networking, compute, and storage infrastructure.
Evaluate on-premises and hybrid environments and develop migration strategies, including lift-and-shift, re-platforming, and re-architecting.
Provide technical direction and guidance to MSI suppliers, engineering teams, and operational staff.
Advise customer stakeholders and agencies, translating business requirements into scalable, secure, and cost-effective architecture solutions.
Conduct technical assessments, risk analyses, and gap evaluations and provide actionable recommendations to program leadership.
Lead development of technical standards, architecture frameworks, and roadmaps for IT modernization and innovation.
Respond to and resolve state customer service requests related to cloud and enterprise architecture.
Collaborate with security, networking, application development, and operations teams to ensure end-to-end solution integrity.
Produce executive-level briefings, white papers, and solution recommendations for stakeholders and decision-makers.
Identify opportunities to reduce technical debt, optimize operations, consolidate systems and tools, and improve cost efficiency.
Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies, tools, and best practices.
Act as the authoritative liaison among the program, MSI suppliers, and Peraton leadership on architectural and technical matters.
Support proposal development, including technical volumes, solution narratives, staffing plans, and architecture diagrams.