Cloud Architect SME – Cloud-Native Platforms & Data Systems

About the role

The Cloud Architect Subject Matter Expert will lead the architecture, modernization, and cloud adoption of mission-critical enterprise systems supporting federal programs. This role serves as the technical authority for designing secure, scalable, and resilient cloud-native environments.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for enterprise and solution-level cloud architecture, guiding the design and modernization of complex application ecosystems
• Assess legacy and on-premises environments and define cloud migration and modernization strategies including rehost, re-platform, refactor, and cloud-native redesign
• Define target-state architectures that support front-end applications, API platforms, enterprise databases, queueing systems, scalable computation engines, and analytical services
• Architect secure AWS-based environments leveraging services such as EC2, ECS, EMR, EKS, S3, RDS, Aurora, Lambda, Step Functions, EventBridge, and CloudWatch
• Lead the architectural design of microservices-based platforms emphasizing API-first integration, loose coupling, stateless and stateful service separation, and elastic scalability
• Architect data platforms integrating Oracle, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Aurora, and cloud-native object storage for large-scale transactional and analytical workloads
• Define architectures for computation engines that execute Python-based analytical workloads and large-scale data processing
• Architect secure cloud-native environments incorporating identity and access management, encryption, secrets management, logging, monitoring, and compliance controls
• Lead DevSecOps and CI/CD architecture integrating GitHub, Bitbucket, Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Terraform, CloudFormation, and automated testing and security scanning tools
• Define infrastructure-as-code standards and reusable deployment patterns for cloud environments
• Optimize cloud architectures for performance, scalability, reliability, and cost efficiency
• Collaborate closely with cybersecurity teams to ensure architectures align with federal security requirements and cloud compliance frameworks
• Produce and maintain cloud architecture artifacts including reference architectures, system diagrams, data flows, and migration roadmaps
• Guide engineering teams during implementation, providing architectural oversight, design reviews, and technical risk management
• Support planning and execution of phased migration efforts including validation, testing strategies, and rollback planning
• Provide post-migration architectural support including performance tuning, resiliency improvements, and continuous optimization
• Mentor technical teams and contribute to the development of cloud standards, best practices, and long-term modernization roadmaps

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Cloud Computing, Computer Science, or a related field
• 8+ years of experience in cloud engineering, cloud architecture, or enterprise infrastructure modernization
• Demonstrated experience architecting complex cloud-native platforms and leading migration and modernization initiatives
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS cloud services and enterprise-scale deployments
• Proven expertise in automation and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, and Ansible
• Excellent communication skills with experience presenting architecture designs to technical and executive stakeholders

Qualifications

• Specialized expertise, industry-recognized certifications, and strong Federal contracting experience may be considered at the higher end of the range
• Relevant certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional or equivalent
• Experience architecting data platforms, analytics solutions, or large-scale computation environments
• Experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration in regulated or federal environments
• Background in disaster recovery, high availability architecture, and continuity planning
• Experience supporting Agile or SAFe development organizations

Skills

• Advanced knowledge of AWS cloud services
• Experience with microservices architecture and containerization
• Strong understanding of cloud-native application design
• Expertise in automation and infrastructure-as-code tools
• Strong communication and presentation skills

Benefits

Up to $200,000 salary range, depending on qualifications, including relevant certifications, education, years of experience, and demonstrated experience supporting Federal Government programs within the field.

Pay

Up to $200,000 salary range, depending on qualifications, including relevant certifications, education, years of experience, and demonstrated experience supporting Federal Government programs within the field.

Schedule

Hybrid/Remote

Contact

For direct applicants only. No agencies, no third-party recruiters, please.