Cloud Architect

About the role

At Accenture Federal Services, we help the US federal government make the nation stronger and safer. Our 13,000+ people pursue the limitless potential of technology and ingenuity for defense, national security, public safety, civilian, and military health clients. As a technology company within global Accenture and a Glassdoor Top 100 Best Place to Work, we offer a collaborative and caring community where you can grow, learn, and thrive through hands‑on experience, certifications, and industry training. We are seeking a Cloud Architect to own the cloud architecture for a specific program, setting technical direction for Kubernetes, GitOps, and infrastructure‑as‑code standards, leading legacy‑to‑cloud‑native transitions, and embedding security from the start.

Responsibilities

• Set architectural direction and standards for the program's cloud environment, spanning the engineering teams that build against it.
• Define cloud adoption and migration strategy, including the path from legacy systems to cloud‑native, containerized architectures.
• Make decisions on infrastructure‑as‑code, container orchestration, GitOps workflows, and CI/CD tooling for the program's environment.
• Embed security and compliance into the program's cloud architecture (RMF processes, vulnerability management, identity, encryption, incident response).
• Align architecture decisions with engineering teams, resolving tradeoffs before they become production problems.
• Establish best practices and governance for how the program manages its cloud environment(s).
• Deliver a documented cloud adoption and migration roadmap with clear sequencing for legacy‑to‑cloud‑native transitions.
• Create a reference architecture and set of standards that the program's engineering teams actually adopt.
• Build a Kubernetes‑based environment with GitOps workflows and CI/CD pipelines that teams can build against reliably.
• Implement security controls that support the program's ATO/RMF package, not just pass a checklist.
• Define a monitoring and observability approach that gives the program real visibility into cloud performance and health.

Requirements

• 4+ years of hands‑on experience in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform, Ansible, or equivalent), containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes), and cloud security fundamentals (identity management, encryption, incident response).
• At least 1 year of that experience in an architecture or design‑authority role.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or 4+ years of equivalent experience/certifications in lieu of degree.
• Active TS clearance required; SCI preferred.

Skills

• Experience embedding RMF processes and vulnerability assessments into cloud infrastructure design.
• Experience with platform engineering tooling such as Crossplane, Backstage, or Argo CD.
• Prior work designing multi‑cloud or hybrid cloud service models and security best practices at scale.
• Experience with monitoring/observability platforms (CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Datadog).
• Kubernetes certifications (CKA, CKAD) or a recognized cloud architect certification.
• Familiarity with National Security systems and air‑gapped environments.

Pay

The base pay range for this position in the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia, and the city of Cleveland is $120,400—$234,700 USD. Compensation varies based on office location, role, skill set, and level of experience.