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Leading Path Consulting•McLean, VA

About The Position

We are seeking a hands-on Systems Architect (SME) with deep expertise across infrastructure, platforms, and application ecosystems spanning cloud and on-premises environments. This role requires a proven practitioner who can analyze existing (“as-is”) systems and applications, document current state architectures, design future-state solutions, and implement system enhancements or technology transformations end-to-end. The ideal candidate is a technical leader and doer, not just an advisor – someone who can seamlessly collaborate across infrastructure, platform, application, DevSecOps, information systems security, and data teams while maintaining ownership of system reliability, performance, scalability, and security.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT or related technical discipline, or the equivalent combination of education, technical training, or work/military experience.
Minimum ten (10) years of related experience
Enterprise networking (e.g., routing, switching, firewalls, load balancers, DNS)
Storage technologies (e.g., SAN, NAS, object storage)
Container platforms (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker)
Linux (Redhat, CentOS) operating systems (administration, hardening, automation)
IdAM – Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) hands-on for AuthN and AuthZ
Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP)
Hybrid and on-prem infrastructure design and integration
Cloud networking, identity, security, and cost optimization
Relational and NoSQL databases – relational (e.g., Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server) and NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB, Redis) databases
Web services, APIs, and middleware
Software development lifecycle (SDLC) fundamentals
Event-based messaging systems (e.g., SQS, SNS, RabbitMQ)
Infrastructure as Code – Scripting & Automation: Python, Bash, PowerShell, Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation
Configuration management and scripting (e.g., PowerShell, Bash, Python, etc.)
CI/CD integration with infrastructure and platforms (e.g., Jenkins, Gitlab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, GitOps, ArgoCD)
Security best practices and system hardening
Monitoring & Incident Response: Proficiency with tools like Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, ELK Stack, CloudWatch
Ability to create: As-is architecture documentation, To-be architecture and detailed engineering designs, Implementation and migration plans

Nice To Haves

Observability and monitoring tools (e.g., logging, metrics, tracing)
Zero Trust and modern security architectures
Data analytics, AI/ML platform exposure
Experience supporting production or mission-critical environments
Relevant certifications (e.g., cloud, systems, security, or architecture)
Knowledge of machine learning platforms (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, SageMaker)
Familiarity with big data ecosystems (e.g., Hadoop, Databricks, Snowflake, Google, BigQuery)
Strong background in ITIL processes and agile methodologies
Certifications: AWS Solutions Architect / DevOps Engineer, Azure Administrator, Kubernetes CKA/CKAD, ITIL Foundation

Responsibilities

Perform hands-on systems engineering across network, compute, storage, operating systems, middleware, databases, and applications
Analyze and document as-is infrastructure, platform, and application architectures
Work with the System Architect and Cloud Architect to create the detail engineering designs for modernization, optimization, and transformation initiatives
Lead and execute cloud and on-prem system implementations, migrations, and upgrades
Ensure systems meet availability, scalability, performance, security, and compliance requirements
Integrate infrastructure and platforms with DevOps and DevSecOps pipelines
Troubleshoot complex, cross-stack issues spanning infrastructure, platforms, and applications
Collaborate effectively with: Infrastructure & Platform Engineers, Software Engineers, DevOps / DevSecOps Engineers, Data Engineers (ETL), Data Modelers, Data Scientists, and Data Analysts
Produce clear technical documentation, diagrams, standards, and runbooks
Serve as a technical authority and escalation point for complex system issues
Ability to brief executives clearly and translate technical issues into business impact
Ability to work across organizations (internal and IC) to implement complex solutions