Zero Trust Future-State Architect STA (Expert)

Pueo Business Solutions LLC • Mc Lean, VA

1d • $231,385 - $262,937 • Onsite

About The Position

Pueo is seeking a Zero Trust Future-State Architect – Senior Technical Advisor (STA) to support the CIO’s Zero Trust program onsite in McLean, Virginia. Approximately 60% of the role is technical work, including architecture, engineering guidance, gap analysis, and solution design; the remaining 40% involves communications, coordination, and facilitation.

The STA serves as a senior technical advisor and implementation lead, advising the Government Zero Trust Program Manager on adoption strategies, roadmaps, prioritization, and policy integration. The role guides the design and implementation of Zero Trust across a large, complex enterprise IT environment while supporting compliance with DoD, intelligence community, and federal cybersecurity requirements. The architect develops detailed reference architectures and system designs, maintains current and future-state architecture views, assesses gaps across technical layers, and helps turn strategy into executable engineering and remediation plans.

The position requires coordination across CIO divisions and other stakeholders, often without formal authority and amid competing priorities. The STA also supports enterprise services that can function as common control providers, develops reusable Zero Trust products and guidance, supports limited liaison with GDIP claimants and partners, and prepares executive reports and briefings. The role collaborates with senior leaders, acquisition teams, engineers, system owners, and mission stakeholders to integrate Zero Trust into enterprise workflows.

Requirements

• Active/current Top Secret security clearance with SCI eligibility; must be able to obtain and maintain a CI poly.
• Master’s degree in a related field and 12 years of experience, including at least 5 years dedicated to Zero Trust architecture, enterprise security design, and systems integration.
• One IAT III certification compliant with DoD 8570.01-M and DoD Directive 8140, such as CASP+ CE, CCNP Security, CISA, CISSP or CISSP Associate, GCED, GCIH, or CCSP.
• Ability to operate effectively without direct authority, build coalitions, and translate strategy into executable action.
• In-depth knowledge of Zero Trust principles, enterprise security architecture, and federal cybersecurity frameworks, including NIST SP 800-207, the DoD Zero Trust Strategy, and RMF.
• Strong understanding of large, siloed government CIO organizations and the practical challenges of implementing enterprise change without direct authority.
• Demonstrated experience architecting and deploying Zero Trust solutions in large-scale or government environments.
• Expertise in cloud security (AWS, Azure, or GCP), network segmentation, endpoint protection, and hybrid IT.
• Familiarity with RMF, including NIST SP 800-37 and SP 800-53, and DIA/DoD accreditation processes.
• Ability to facilitate technical and non-technical discussions, build consensus, and drive progress among stakeholders with competing priorities.
• Strong technical writing, briefing, and communication skills for executive and engineering audiences.
• Ability to analyze complex enterprise systems, maintain concurrent as-is and to-be views, and translate strategy into actionable engineering and implementation steps.
• Ability to influence and coordinate across organizational boundaries without formal authority.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, adapt in a dynamic environment, and remain effective when working with difficult or siloed stakeholders.
• Ability to anticipate and mitigate risks while maintaining a resilient cybersecurity posture.
• Ability to analyze data and use metrics to drive decisions.

Nice To Haves

• Active Top Secret security clearance with SCI eligibility and current CI poly.
• Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Zero Trust vendor certifications, such as Palo Alto ZTNA, Microsoft SC-300/SC-100, Okta, AWS Security Specialty, or Kubernetes Security.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous environments and handling both architecture and program-coordination responsibilities.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to work in a team environment and a high degree of emotional intelligence.

Responsibilities

• Serve as senior technical advisor and implementation lead supporting the CIO’s Zero Trust program.
• Advise the Government Zero Trust Program Manager on adoption strategies, roadmaps, prioritization, and policy integration.
• Guide the design, integration, and implementation of Zero Trust across a large enterprise IT environment in alignment with DoD, intelligence community, and federal cybersecurity mandates.
• Provide guidance on integrating Zero Trust capabilities into enterprise networks, multi-cloud and hybrid environments, and DevSecOps pipelines, including ICAM, micro-segmentation, encryption, continuous monitoring, and software-defined perimeters.
• Drive progress across CIO divisions that do not report to the Zero Trust program and may have competing priorities.
• Lead agency-level Zero Trust compliance activities, including maturity assessments, gap analyses, and prioritized remediation planning.
• Develop and refine Zero Trust reference architectures and system designs across all Zero Trust pillars.
• Facilitate cross-divisional coordination within the CIO organization and navigate conflicting priorities and stakeholder resistance without formal authority.
• Analyze and prioritize adjacent taskings, such as tool investments and initiatives from other CIO divisions, for alignment with Zero Trust objectives.
• Support limited liaison with GDIP claimants and partners on Zero Trust products and services.
• Support the design and improvement of enterprise services that can act as common control providers and reduce the burden on system owners seeking RMF ATOs.
• Maintain documentation of the current (as-is) architecture while developing an executable future (to-be) architecture, and continuously identify and close gaps between them.
• Conduct technical assessments across identity, device, network, application, and data layers.
• Contribute to reusable Zero Trust products and guidance for GDIP claimants and mission partners.
• Collaborate with senior leadership, acquisition teams, engineers, system owners, and mission stakeholders to integrate Zero Trust into enterprise workflows.
• Respond to data calls, prepare executive-level reports and briefings, and serve as a technical liaison across technical, programmatic, and strategic stakeholders.

Benefits

• Annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards may be part of total compensation.
• Pueo provides a variety of employee benefits.

What This Job Offers

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