Software Architect

Parsons•Reston, VA

21h•$148,300 - $266,900•Hybrid

About The Position

Parsons is seeking a Software Architect to lead the architecture, technical evolution, and operational design of a large-scale, globally distributed mission platform. This platform supports real-time transaction processing, distributed data management, integration with external government and commercial systems, peripheral/device orchestration, and centralized observability and administration. The successful candidate will be the overall software architecture authority for a modern Linux-based platform composed of approximately 25 core microservices and a broad set of supporting/integration services. The environment is cloud-heavy, distributed, operationally critical, and deployed in both constrained edge settings and larger centralized/cloud environments. This role requires defining and governing architecture while remaining grounded in the realities of runtime operations, resilience, fieldability, and maintainability. The position is part of the Federal Solutions team, which delivers resources to US government customers for missions globally, focusing on defense, security, intelligence, infrastructure, and environmental solutions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field (4 additional years of experience can substitute for a degree)
12+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time in software architecture roles for distributed or mission-critical systems
5+ years architecting microservices-based platforms in production
Demonstrated ability to serve as the technical authority over a multi-service software ecosystem
Experience guiding multiple development teams and reviewing architecture across service boundaries
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to produce design artifacts and present architecture decisions clearly
Experience balancing long-term architecture quality with delivery constraints and operational realities
Deep hands-on expertise with Java on modern JDKs (preferably JDK 21+), Linux-based production environments (preferably RHEL / Rocky Linux), and distributed service design and operational patterns
Strong experience with MongoDB, Elasticsearch / Logstash, RabbitMQ or equivalent event/messaging platforms
Strong experience with service discovery/orchestration/secrets technologies such as Consul, Nomad, Vault, Kubernetes, or similar
Experience designing systems that operate across constrained edge environments, centralized or cloud-heavy environments, and globally distributed deployments with intermittent or variable connectivity
Proven ability to architect for resilience and graceful degradation, observability and diagnosability, secure service-to-service communication, multi-role user administration and authorization, and remote support and lifecycle management
TS/SCI minimum clearance required
Domestic and/or international project travel may be required

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Data Engineering, Computer Science, Analytics, or related field
Experience with Vue.js 3 and modern frontend architecture patterns for administrative or operational interfaces
Experience with hybrid cloud and cloud-heavy deployments where backend services are centralized and edge nodes are thin
Experience integrating with external standards-based government, identity, travel, or partner ecosystems
Experience designing platforms that manage or integrate with peripherals/devices such as scanners, readers, imaging devices, kiosks, or other edge hardware
Experience with Nomad/Consul/Vault specifically in production
Experience architecting systems with zero/low downtime upgrade paths
Experience with semantic, cognitive, or advanced search use cases on Elasticsearch
Familiarity with event replay, reconciliation, and offline-sync patterns
Experience working closely with field engineering or remote deployment teams
Experience with large-scale modernization of legacy monoliths to service-oriented or microservices-based platforms
Familiarity with open-source biometric, matching, search, or image processing components
Experience with multilingual/internationalized systems deployed across multiple countries or regions
Experience supporting operational analytics/reporting services built on transaction/event data
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and release discipline for multi-service distributed systems

Responsibilities

Own the overall software architecture for a distributed microservices platform running across global environments
Maintain and evolve an ecosystem of approximately 25 core Java-based microservices and comparable supporting/integration services
Define and govern architecture across service boundaries, contracts, data flows, event patterns, control plane/backplane behavior, node roles, deployment topologies, observability, fault tolerance, and service recovery
Lead architecture for a platform based on RHEL / Rocky Linux, Java (JDK 21+), Vue.js 3 frontends, MongoDB, Elasticsearch / Logstash, RabbitMQ, Consul, Nomad, and Vault
Architect deployment patterns for multiple node types, including server, data, arbiter, and workstation/user-facing nodes
Guide the technical design of core operational services for transactional processing, rules/screening/correlation workflows, authorization/access control, reference/master data management, language/internationalization support, health/status services, and biometric/matching-oriented services
Oversee architecture for peripheral/device services supporting integration with external devices and sensors
Lead integration architecture for external standards-based and partner system interfaces, including government, commercial travel/identity, and country-specific extensions
Ensure the platform remains remotely observable, supportable, and maintainable across all deployments
Partner with cloud, network, security, data, field engineering, and operations teams to align architecture with deployment realities
Review and guide software design decisions, technical debt reduction, modernization priorities, and roadmap sequencing
Serve as a senior technical authority in design reviews, readiness reviews, problem resolution, and major incident analysis