Senior System Architect

ECS Tech Inc•Fairfax, VA

3h•Onsite

About The Position

The War Data Platform (WDP) is a key initiative within the U.S. Department of War's (DoW) AI-First strategy introduced in early 2026. The WDP focuses on operational warfighting data and aims to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield. The WDP extends to Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret environments, and supports collaboration between Combatant Commands, Joint Staff directorates, Senior Executive Service leaders, and operational analysts. The Senior System Architect serves as the technical authority for architectural vision, design governance, and solution integrity across the WDP Core Integration Agile Release Train, ensuring that system design decisions, integration patterns, and non-functional requirements are coherently embedded into agile planning and team-level execution across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS environments. In this role, the Senior System Architect bridges strategic architectural direction and sprint-level engineering execution, coaching cross-functional teams on design principles, systems thinking, and disciplined engineering practices that reduce rework, improve integration predictability, and sustain mission-aligned delivery at enterprise scale.

Requirements

Current Secret security clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret (TS) security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).
10 or more years of progressive experience in system architecture, solution architecture, or a closely related discipline, with demonstrated experience leading architectural governance for enterprise-scale federal or defense software development programs.
Possess one or more certifications from Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Proven ability to develop and maintain reference architectures, interface contracts, data models, and architecture decision records that govern team-level implementation across development, integration, staging, and production environments spanning NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS.
Experience coordinating architectural decisions with cybersecurity, DevSecOps, data engineering, and cloud platform teams to ensure that solution designs satisfy compliance, resiliency, observability, and authorization requirements, including alignment with Risk Management Framework controls and DevSecOps pipeline security gates.
Hands-on proficiency with DevSecOps tooling, including GitLab CI/CD, Jira, and Confluence, including demonstrated experience using Infrastructure-as-Code and Configuration-as-Code practices to enforce architectural baselines across multi-enclave classified cloud environments.
Demonstrated ability to identify, triage, and resolve technical blockers, integration conflicts, and design issues affecting Agile team delivery throughput, and to communicate architectural risk indicators and dependency status through burndown dashboards and program-level reporting artifacts.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities, with a proven ability to weigh the relative costs and benefits of potential actions and identify the most appropriate solution.
Highly developed interpersonal and oral/written communication skills, with the ability to effectively and professionally interact with a diverse set of stakeholders (from peers to end-users to executive management).

Responsibilities

Provides technical and management leadership for the system architecture function supporting Agile software development.
Guides the creation, communication, and stewardship of the architectural vision so that development, test, integration, staging, and production activities align with a coherent and stable system design.
Works closely with Product Management, Release Train leadership, and cross-functional teams to ensure that architectural enablers, non-functional requirements, and integration patterns are understood, implementable, and properly sequenced within Program Increment planning.
Supports backlog refinement by translating complex solution needs into clear architectural guidance, interface definitions, and integration patterns that enable predictable development flow within the Agile Release Train.
Leads architecture reviews and governance activities to maintain design integrity, ensure interoperability, and uphold standards for security, scalability, and maintainability.
Coordinates with cybersecurity, DevSecOps, data, and platform teams to validate that architectural decisions support compliance, resiliency, and observability requirements across the environments in which the solution operates.
Oversees the development and maintenance of reference architectures, interface contracts, data models, and system diagrams that guide team-level execution.
Facilitates collaboration among stakeholders by providing accessible architectural documentation, conducting walkthroughs, and maintaining ongoing communication throughout the development lifecycle.
Monitors architectural work progress, integration outcomes, technical risk indicators, and dependencies to ensure alignment with Agile cadence expectations and to inform updates to burndown visualizations and program-level reporting.
Addresses technical blockers by guiding teams through solution options, triaging design issues, and resolving conflicts that impact integration or solution cohesion.
Produces architectural roadmaps, solution design narratives, governance artifacts, and decision records that support strategic planning and enable informed decision-making by program leadership.
Fosters architectural competency within the teams by coaching on design principles, system-level thinking, and disciplined engineering practices that improve predictability, reduce rework, and enhance mission value throughout the delivery lifecycle.
Performs other duties as assigned.