Solutions Architect SME

Leidos • St. Louis, MO

5d • $131,300 - $237,350

About The Position

Leidos is seeking a Solutions Architect Subject Matter Expert to join the Chinook Program, supporting an application for an Intelligence Community customer. The role serves as the senior technical authority for the application and its supporting technical ecosystem, providing architecture leadership across software engineering, systems engineering, DevSecOps, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, data, testing, and program leadership. The architect establishes strategic direction while working hands-on with engineering teams to solve complex technical problems and deliver secure, scalable, high-performing mission capabilities.

The position involves influencing technical decisions across multiple teams, communicating architecture to senior stakeholders, and translating complex mission requirements into practical engineering solutions. Work may be performed in Tucson, Arizona; Gaithersburg, Maryland; Alexandria or Chantilly, Virginia; Englewood, Colorado; or St. Louis, Missouri. An active Top Secret/SCI clearance and the ability to successfully pass a polygraph examination are required.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship, as required by contract.
• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 12–15 years of prior relevant experience, or a master’s degree with 10–13 years of prior relevant experience; may possess a doctorate in a technical domain.
• 12+ years of progressive experience as a Solutions Architect, Enterprise Architect, Systems Architect, Software Architect, or in an equivalent senior technical role.
• Significant experience designing and implementing complex enterprise or mission-critical applications.
• Strong experience with software architecture, distributed systems, system integration, APIs, data, and cloud technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex requirements into executable technical solutions.
• Experience collaborating across software engineering, systems engineering, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and testing organizations.
• Strong understanding of modern cloud and software engineering practices.
• Experience with technical architecture documentation, design reviews, architecture decision records, and technical roadmaps.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and influencing engineering strategy.
• Deep knowledge of systems architecture, integration, lifecycle engineering, and systems thinking.
• Experience leading engineering efforts within Agile and DevSecOps environments.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, collaboration, and technical mentoring skills.
• Strong verbal, written, analytical, and presentation skills.
• Experience communicating technical recommendations to senior government stakeholders and program leadership.
• Active Top Secret/SCI clearance and ability to successfully pass a polygraph examination.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting large-scale government or mission-focused programs.
• Demonstrated experience using AI tools to optimize system performance, or ability to identify and articulate practical applications of AI for the role.
• Expertise in cloud-native architecture, distributed systems, and enterprise modernization.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional certification or comparable certification.
• Experience with Python or C++.
• Experience with Linux operating systems in support of application deployment, automation, and systems support.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code, including Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager, Ansible, Chef, or Puppet.
• Experience with Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).
• Experience with microservices, RESTful APIs, event-driven architecture, distributed systems, DevSecOps, observability, and monitoring.
• Experience with identity and access management and Zero Trust architectures.
• Experience with system-of-systems integration.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical authority for the application and define and evolve end-to-end solution architecture across application, cloud, data, integration, security, and infrastructure domains.
• Translate mission, business, operational, functional, and non-functional requirements into secure, scalable, resilient, and maintainable technical solutions.
• Develop architecture strategies, roadmaps, reference architectures, and design patterns; lead trade studies to recommend solutions based on mission value, feasibility, risk, cost, performance, and maintainability.
• Provide technical direction to engineering teams, review designs, resolve cross-team technical issues, and ensure implementation aligns with approved architecture and standards.
• Lead cloud and DevSecOps architecture efforts, including cloud-native design, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, automated deployment, observability, resiliency, and disaster recovery.
• Integrate security and mission assurance into architecture decisions from the start of the development lifecycle, including identifying and mitigating risk.
• Support Agile and SAFe execution through PI Planning, backlog refinement, architecture runway development, dependency management, and release readiness activities.
• Define and govern integration strategies, API and interface standards, and interoperability approaches across application components and external systems.
• Communicate architecture decisions, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to program leadership, customer stakeholders, and technical teams in terms of mission and business impact.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders, promote engineering excellence and continuous improvement, and drive modernization and reduction of technical debt.
• Lead architecture reviews and technical working groups.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior