Senior Solutions Architect

About the role

The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) recruits, trains, and educates Airmen to deliver 21st-century airpower. To support this mission, AETC operates AWAKEN—an enterprise-managed, accredited wireless and network service spanning training facilities, flight lines, classrooms, auditoriums, dorms, and administrative areas across the United States.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise architecture design and technical improvements for the AWAKEN network.
• Guide the modernization of AETC’s commercial network infrastructure, including 5G integration, terrestrial connectivity, network resilience, and optimized performance.
• Serve as the technical authority for solution design, feasibility, implementation, and long-term architectural direction.
• Collaborate with government stakeholders to align technology solutions with mission needs, security requirements, and emerging operational demands.
• Support end-to-end testing, troubleshooting, and engineering validation to ensure reliable connectivity for mission systems and users.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend mission-aligned solutions.
• Architect end-to-end enterprise solutions that support cloud-native, software-defined, and zero-trust frameworks.
• Lead complex troubleshooting efforts to resolve enterprise connectivity and performance challenges.
• Develop technical options, cost-benefit analyses, and future-state architectural roadmaps.
• Collaborate with business analysts, engineers, testers, and program leadership to align priorities and deliver mission value.
• Engage with government partners as a trusted technical advisor, communicating effectively across varying technical backgrounds.
• Maintain regular coordination with the Program Manager, providing updates, recommendations, and technical insight.
• Support Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), lab testing, and pre-deployment validation activities.
• Apply critical thinking and professional judgment to address issues impacting performance, security, and mission delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 20+ years of experience in enterprise IT architecture, systems engineering, or network modernization.
• 4+ years leading technical teams or efforts on large programs.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience in solution architecture.
• Expertise in scalable, cloud-integrated, and modern network designs.
• Experience with Agile and Lean methodologies.
• Strong critical-thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to brief senior business and government stakeholders.
• Technical skills: Experience architecting large-scale software systems, Modular Open Systems Approaches, Full stack software development experience, experience writing DoW proposals/whitepapers, Agile DevSecOps with automated CI/CD, Some Experience with AI Assisted DevSecOps, Cloud Architecture, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Participation in PMRs and CCBs; maintenance of enterprise baseline and CM Plan; provision of artifacts (topologies, inventories, rack elevations, ports/protocols) and read-only visibility to Government tools/portals.
• Security clearance level: Must have Secret clearance to start and ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret.
• US citizenship required.
• Strong Communications skills both written and verbal, Leadership skills, management, Software architecture across microservices, event-driven systems, and modular monoliths.
• Mission-focused mindset with strong operational empathy. Ability to communicate complex architectures to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and high-consequence environments.

Benefits

GDIT offers comprehensive benefits and wellness packages, including a 401(k) plan with company match, competitive pay and paid time off, full flex work weeks, and a variety of paid time off plans, including vacation, sick and personal time, holidays, paid parental, military, bereavement, and jury duty leave. Other offerings include short and long-term disability benefits, life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness, and business travel and accident insurance.

Pay

The likely salary range for this position is $147,292 - $199,278. This is not, however, a guarantee of compensation or salary. Rather, salary will be set based on experience, geographic location and possibly contractual requirements and could fall outside of this range.

Schedule

Scheduled Weekly Hours: 40

Location

Location: CONUS (with periodic travel as required)