Principal Technical Architect

NiyamIT•Ashburn, VA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Niyam IT is seeking a Principal Technical Architect to join our corporate engineering team. This role will provide technical leadership and architectural direction across Niyam's federal programs, with an initial primary assignment supporting a federal client. As Niyam's portfolio grows, this position will shape technical strategy, mentor engineering talent, and contribute to solutions like GeoCube and ARIA across multiple programs and clients. The role sits at the intersection of full stack engineering and applied AI, guiding the integration of AI and machine learning capabilities into mobile and web applications. This includes virtual assistants, chatbots, AI-powered search and recommendation features, AI-powered accessibility, and AI-assisted developer tooling for test generation, debugging, and code refactoring. The individual will lead the delivery of features from design through unit testing, integration testing, and production deployment via a cloud CI/CD DevSecOps pipeline, while also serving as a technical mentor and architectural voice within Niyam's broader engineering organization. This is a hybrid position requiring onsite presence in Ashburn, VA, 3-4 days per week.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret (TS) security clearance.
Bachelor's degree in GIS, Geography, Computer Science, Geospatial Engineering, or a related field (equivalent experience considered in lieu of degree).
Must be available to work onsite in Ashburn, VA.
10+ years of professional full stack software development experience, including recent, hands-on work across frontend, backend, and API layers
Demonstrated experience with two or more of the following: Flutter, Angular (2+), Spring Boot, Java, Python (Django), JavaScript/TypeScript, Dart, native iOS (Swift), or native Android
Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into production applications (for example, chatbots or virtual assistants, recommendation or search features, computer vision or NLP-based accessibility tooling, or AI-assisted development pipelines)
Working knowledge of relational databases such as PostgreSQL or Oracle SQL, and RESTful and/or SOAP API integration in a multi-system environment
Experience with Agile/Scrum software delivery, CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployment (Kubernetes), and automated testing frameworks (for example, Selenium)
Familiarity with federal software delivery standards, including Section 508 accessibility, DevSecOps practices, and IT security fundamentals (encryption, PII handling, vulnerability remediation).

Nice To Haves

One or more current AI/ML certifications, such as AWS Certified Machine Learning, Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate, Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer, or a recognized generative AI/LLM engineering certification.
Prior experience supporting DHS, CBP, or another federal agency.
Experience with chatbot or conversational AI frameworks (Python backend, React frontend, Angular-based training dashboard).
SAFe Practitioner, Certified Scrum Developer, or equivalent Agile certification.
Experience with Firebase, Gradle, or mobile app store deployment pipelines (Apple Enterprise/Developer, Google Play).

Responsibilities

Own and lead end-to-end solution architecture, ensuring technical solutions align with business, product, user, and mission objectives.
Establish, evolve, and enforce architectural principles, technical standards, design patterns, and engineering guardrails.
Lead technology evaluation and selection, system design, application architecture, and integration strategies across web, mobile, cloud, and AI-enabled solutions.
Provide hands-on technical leadership throughout the software development lifecycle, including designing, developing, and reviewing critical application components, APIs, integrations, and shared services.
Lead the integration of AI and machine learning capabilities into applications, including virtual assistants, chatbots, AI-powered search and recommendations, accessibility features, and AI-assisted development and testing tools.
Translate complex technical requirements into scalable, incremental, and shippable solutions while supporting the development of technical backlogs, user stories, and solution increments.
Collaborate closely with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, developers, architects, security, platform, and operations teams to ensure effective Agile delivery.
Provide technical direction during sprint planning, execution, reviews, and demonstrations, helping teams resolve technical challenges and make informed design decisions.
Guide architectural decision-making and maintain appropriate technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, technical specifications, and Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).
Conduct code and design reviews to ensure adherence to coding standards, architectural principles, security requirements, and software engineering best practices.
Ensure solutions meet non-functional requirements for security, performance, scalability, reliability, maintainability, accessibility, and operational readiness.
Promote clean code, automated testing, CI/CD, DevSecOps, infrastructure automation, and other modern software development and delivery practices.
Identify, assess, and proactively reduce technical debt, architectural risk, and technical dependencies that could impact delivery or long-term maintainability.
Mentor and coach developers on architecture, design patterns, coding practices, emerging technologies, and effective use of AI-assisted development tools.
Communicate technical direction, architectural decisions, risks, dependencies, and trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Support production readiness, deployment activities, incident resolution, troubleshooting, and ongoing operational stability of delivered solutions.
Drive continuous improvement across architecture, code quality, development practices, automation, and delivery processes.
Support technical demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, and evaluations of proposed solutions and technologies for internal and client stakeholders.