Application Security Architect

Location: Richmond, VA | Contract Type: W2 Contract

About the Role

This role will be responsible for the solution of Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) across a hybrid ecosystem, spanning complex web applications, Agentic AI solutions, cloud‑native solutions, enterprise GIS platforms, low‑code/no‑code, and creating patterns. The architect will lead the data protection strategy, data governance frameworks, and privacy posture across a state‑wide transportation ecosystem, defining how structured, unstructured, and spatial data (GIS) are classified, encrypted, stored, and accessed across cloud data platforms. The position supports architecture, development, and cybersecurity teams to perform threat modeling, secure architectural designs, and ensure compliance with the client.

Responsibilities

• Define application‑security architecture principles, standards, patterns, reference implementations, and guardrails for web, mobile, API, microservice, and cloud‑native systems.
• Perform architecture and design reviews, identify trust boundaries, attack paths, data flows, security gaps, and compensating controls.
• Lead or facilitate threat modeling for new applications, major features, integrations, and high‑risk changes.
• Establish repeatable security requirements for authentication, authorization, session management, encryption, secrets management, logging, privacy, API protection, and data protection.
• Partner with software engineers to integrate security throughout the SDLC, including code review, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, testing, release approval, and production monitoring.
• Evaluate and guide use of security tools such as SAST, DAST, software composition analysis, container/image scanning, API security testing, secret scanning, and runtime protection.
• Define a vulnerability‑management approach for applications and dependencies, including severity criteria, remediation SLAs, exception processes, and verification of fixes.
• Assess third‑party libraries, open‑source dependencies, SaaS integrations, and vendor‑provided components for security risk.
• Design identity and access‑control patterns, including least privilege, MFA/SSO integration, service‑to‑service authentication, RBAC/ABAC, and privileged‑access controls.
• Work with cloud and platform teams to secure application hosting environments, including Kubernetes, serverless, containers, CI/CD, cloud IAM, network segmentation, and secrets storage.
• Advise incident‑response teams on application‑layer threats and contribute to root‑cause analysis and security improvements after incidents.
• Maintain architecture documentation, security decision patterns, risk registers, and exception documentation.

Required Skills

• Software engineering, application security, security engineering, or related technical roles (10 years).
• Designing and implementing security architecture for IT systems (6 years).
• Secure software‑development principles and common risks, including the OWASP Top 10, insecure authorization, injection, deserialization, and API abuse (6 years).
• Design and implement end‑to‑end security architectures for data‑at‑rest, in‑transit, and in‑use for full Microsoft stack (Azure, O365, Power Platform, D365) (6 years).
• Threat modeling and security architecture reviews (6 years).
• Securing APIs, web applications, distributed systems, cloud platforms, CI/CD pipelines, and containerized workloads (6 years).
• Identity, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, JWTs, authorization design, PKI/TLS, encryption, and secrets‑management practices (6 years).
• Strong written communication skills, including ability to create architecture diagrams, standards, risk assessments, and actionable remediation plans (10 years).

Preferred Skills

• Experience in a regulated environment such as financial services, healthcare, government, or payments.
• Conducting or coordinating penetration testing and translating results into durable architectural improvements.
• Implementing DevSecOps programs and security automation at scale.
• Familiarity with privacy engineering, data classification, and compliance frameworks.
• Experience with security architectures in Esri's ArcGIS platform.

Required Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, cybersecurity, engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Certifications

• CISSP
• CSSLP
• CCSP
• GIAC
• Relevant vendor credentials

Interview Process

Both webcam and in‑person interviews.