Strategic Mission Systems Architect
About The Position
The Strategic Mission Systems Architect provides business and technical architectural guidance for mission-critical systems across USSTRATCOM on-premises environments. USSTRATCOM supports strategic deterrence, nuclear operations, and essential enterprise IT services, including NC3, JEMSO, Global Strike, and Missile Threat Assessments. The SCITLS program provides 24/7 IT services and network support for NIPRNet, SIPRNet, JWICS, and SAP/SAR environments. The architect translates operational, mission, and business requirements into secure, scalable, resilient solution architectures; defines and documents end-to-end architectures for complex distributed software solutions; leads design sessions and technical evaluations; and ensures solutions meet performance, interoperability, security, and compliance standards across classified and unclassified environments. The role evaluates and integrates GOTS and COTS products and defines their lifecycle strategies, while designing solutions that use on-premises compute, storage, networking, virtualization, and application-server infrastructure. This position establishes technical standards and architectural guardrails, conducts design reviews and risk assessments, and supports modernization involving automation, containerization, advanced architectural patterns, and cloud adoption where applicable. It also contributes to financial forecasting and cost modeling, and provides senior technical leadership and mentoring to engineers, developers, and cross-functional teams. The position is onsite at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and requires an active Top Secret clearance with the ability to obtain TS/SCI.
Requirements
- 15+ years of related professional experience in architecture, engineering, or technical leadership.
- BA/BS degree; additional experience may be substituted.
- ITIL Foundations v4/v5 certificate, or ability to obtain it within 9 months.
- DoW 8140 certification, or ability to obtain it within 6 months.
- Current/active Top Secret clearance and ability to obtain TS/SCI status.
- U.S. citizenship.
- Strong communication skills; enterprise infrastructure and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) skills are listed for the role.
- Location: Offutt AFB, Nebraska; onsite work.
- Scheduled 40 hours per week.
Nice To Haves
- Expertise in solution architecture, enterprise design, API-driven integration, cybersecurity, and distributed systems, including mission-system architecture governance, technology roadmaps, networking, storage, RBAC, security policies, high-availability patterns, platform standards, and architectural guardrails.
- Ability to assess, design, integrate, modernize, and sustain enterprise infrastructure across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments, including secure DoW systems.
- Experience leading technical evaluations, architectural decisions, and modernization roadmaps while balancing performance, security, cost, operability, and mission requirements.
- Experience developing end-to-end DevOps platform and CI/CD strategies, including self-service, secure delivery pipelines, environment-promotion models, and enterprise-tool integration.
- Experience defining and governing automation frameworks and IaC standards, including role and module patterns, inventory strategies, testing and validation, reusable content libraries, and version control.
- Experience developing and maintaining infrastructure automation using Ansible, Python, Jenkins, and related tools and practices.
- Experience with Linux enterprise technologies, including RHEL 8.x or later, Red Hat OpenShift, and Ansible Automation Platform.
- Experience designing, deploying, administering, and sustaining Kubernetes environments, including Rancher/RKE, Helm charts, and related orchestration technologies.
- Proficiency with Docker, Podman, container image management, and secure containerized application deployment.
- Working knowledge of Windows server environments, enterprise networking, and secure systems administration.
- Experience collaborating with architecture and engineering leadership to align mission-system processes with enterprise standards, configuration-management requirements, and mission needs.
- Ability to mentor engineering teams on architectural principles, platform standards, and technical best practices.
- Ability to develop data products, metrics, dashboards, reports, and decision-support materials for technical, operational, and leadership decisions.
- Strong written, verbal, interpersonal, and customer-service skills, including clear communication with customers, peers, nontechnical stakeholders, and senior government and mission leaders.
- Ability to apply strategic thinking, critical analysis, problem-solving, and continuous learning in fast-moving, mission-focused environments.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, for documentation, diagrams, briefings, reports, and presentations.
Responsibilities
- Deliver business and technical architectural guidance for mission-critical systems across USSTRATCOM on-premises environments.
- Translate operational, mission, and business requirements into secure, scalable, and resilient solution architectures.
- Define and document end-to-end system architectures for complex, distributed software solutions in on-premises data centers and mission environments.
- Lead architectural design sessions, technical assessments, and solution evaluations for GOTS, COTS, and custom-developed products and services.
- Ensure solutions comply with performance, interoperability, security, and compliance standards across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, TSLAN, JWICS, and SAP/SAR environments.
- Evaluate and integrate GOTS and COTS products, and define lifecycle strategies for selection, onboarding, configuration or customization, patching and upgrades, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning or replacement.
- Design solutions that leverage on-premises compute, storage, and network infrastructure, including virtualization platforms and application servers.
- Establish and enforce technical standards, coding practices, and architectural guardrails for robust, maintainable, and secure solutions.
- Conduct architecture reviews, design walkthroughs, and risk assessments to validate alignment with mission objectives and technical constraints.
- Support modernization involving cloud adoption where applicable, platform automation, containerization, and advanced architectural patterns.
- Assist with financial forecasting and cost modeling for proposed and existing architectures, including implementation, licensing, operations, and sustainment costs.
- Provide senior-level technical leadership and mentoring to engineers, developers, and cross-functional teams.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision plan options
- 401(k) with company match
- Educational assistance and eLearning
- Internal mobility support for employee advancement
- Rewards and recognition programs
- Flexible work weeks where possible
- Paid time off plans, including vacation, sick and personal time, holidays, and paid parental, military, bereavement, and jury duty leave
- Short- and long-term disability benefits
- Life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness, and business travel and accident insurance
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
