Principal Solution Architect, AI & OSINT Systems

About the role

The role sets how Bluestaq uses AWS for AI-enabled open-source intelligence (OSINT), turning raw data into actionable intelligence for mission-critical applications.

Responsibilities

• Design the AWS reference architecture for AI and ML systems that ingest, enrich, and exploit open-source and publicly available information at scale.
• Architect around the service gaps and parity differences between commercial AWS and the government and classified regions.
• Build the AI stack on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker, including model access, Bedrock Guardrails, Knowledge Bases, and managed endpoints.
• Design retrieval pipelines using Amazon OpenSearch, S3 data lakes for governed, least-privilege access.
• Orchestrate workflows with AWS Step Functions and AWS Lambda, and define CI/CD with infrastructure as code using AWS CDK and Terraform.
• Extend services and capabilities to the edge for disconnected and DDIL operations and local model serving.
• Define the deployment pattern for fully air-gapped enclaves, including mirrored registries, signed model imports, and local vector stores.
• Define data movement patterns and cross-domain solutions across classification levels and coalition partners.
• Apply OSINT tradecraft and operational security discipline to collection system design.
• Own model governance for air-gapped and classified environments, including provenance, integrity verification, and update processes.
• Partner with security and accreditation authorities to drive ATO and continuous ATO.
• Partner with engineering directors and program leadership to align this architecture with Bluestaq's broader AI platform strategy, so it becomes a pattern other programs can build on.
• Establish the practices and documentation that let Bluestaq scale this capability and bring engineers on as the mission grows.

Requirements

• 10+ years designing and deploying production systems, including 5+ years architecting on AWS.
• Deep AWS experience across compute, networking, IAM, storage, and data services, including AWS GovCloud.
• Hands-on experience with Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker for production AI and ML workloads.
• Experience with AWS networking and security, including VPC design, PrivateLink, Transit Gateway, IAM Identity Center, and AWS KMS.
• Experience with infrastructure as code on AWS using AWS CDK, CloudFormation, or Terraform, plus CI/CD in restricted environments.
• Experience deploying AWS workloads in disconnected, degraded, or air-gapped (DDIL) conditions, including AWS Snowball Edge or AWS Outposts.
• Working knowledge of the differences between commercial AWS and the GovCloud, Secret, and Top Secret Regions.
• Familiarity with vector search, retrieval-augmented generation, and embedding pipelines on AWS.
• Working knowledge of OSINT and publicly available information collection, tradecraft, and analytic workflows.
• Working knowledge of DoD compliance frameworks, including the Cloud Computing SRG, FedRAMP, and ITAR.
• Current AWS Professional certification, such as Solutions Architect Professional.
• Clear technical writing and the ability to brief senior leaders and decision-makers.
• Prior OSINT analyst or PAI targeting experience in a DoD or Intelligence Community context.
• Completion of a foundational intelligence analyst course, such as the DoD Intelligence Analyst Course, the Army 35F course, or ODNI Analysis 101, or a CDASA certification.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field, plus 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Equivalent experience may substitute for the degree, with 4 additional years beyond the minimum required in lieu of a Bachelor’s degree.

Location & Travel

This position is remote, open to candidates based in Colorado or Virginia, with up to 12 trips per year to customer, partner, or government sites, including secure facilities.

Pay

Salary Range (CO): $200,000 USD - $300,000 USD

Schedule

N/A