Technical Lead/Platform Solutions Architect

Salary: $148,750 - 201,250 per year Requirements: Active TS/SCI clearance Based in the National Capital Region and able to work onsite at a government facility in Springfield, Virginia, with availability for more frequent onsite and SCIF interaction as the program grows At least 8 years of experience in systems engineering, platform engineering, cloud architecture, DevSecOps, or solution architecture, including ownership of complex technical environments Strong practical knowledge of Kubernetes and enterprise container platforms, preferably Red Hat OpenShift Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, GitOps, APIs, networking, identity, secrets, and observability Familiarity with NIST 800-53, RMF, ATO/C-ATO, zero-trust architecture, software supply-chain security, and continuous authorization Ability to understand and explain system architecture across application, platform, AI, data, and security boundaries Experience guiding technical decisions in ambiguous, fast-paced environments involving multiple engineering teams and technology vendors Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to brief senior government leaders and work effectively with technical engineers Ability to provide technical accountability without becoming a bottleneck, make informed decisions, and escalate issues when appropriate Preferred: Experience with AI/ML infrastructure, generative AI, agentic systems, model serving, RAG, or AI platform architecture Preferred: Experience with Red Hat OpenShift AI, NVIDIA AI technologies, GitLab, enterprise data platforms, or comparable commercial technologies Preferred: Experience integrating multi-vendor platforms without a single vendor responsible for the complete solution Preferred: Experience supporting Secret or TS/SCI systems and multi-domain or disconnected/air-gapped deployments Preferred: Experience with UDS, Zarf, Pepr, Iron Bank, or similar secure software delivery and platform engineering technologies Preferred: Experience producing architecture decision records, reference architectures, technical roadmaps, and executive-level technical briefings Preferred: Experience advising government customers on technology strategy, modernization, platform adoption, or enterprise architecture Responsibilities: Own the end-to-end technical architecture and act as the primary technical subject matter expert across the platform ecosystem Advise the mission lead by translating objectives into practical technical choices, recommendations, tradeoffs, and risk assessments Maintain an architectural overview spanning application, platform, AI, data, networking, security, identity, and integration layers Lead integration across commercial and government technologies, including Kubernetes/OpenShift, GitLab, AI/ML services, enterprise data platforms, and security tools Identify architectural dependencies, integration risks, bottlenecks, and technical debt early to reduce schedule and mission impacts Guide engineering teams in creating reusable approaches to deployment, configuration, observability, identity, secrets, APIs, data access, and lifecycle management Work with OEM engineering and professional services teams to resolve cross-platform issues and align vendor solutions with the overall architecture Assess emerging AI, agentic, cloud-native, and platform technologies, advising on adoption, integration, and sequencing Establish technical approaches that can be repeated across classified environments and support progression from prototype to operational use Partner with the DevSecOps engineer to identify security and compliance risks and account for NIST 800-53/RMF and ATO considerations in architecture and engineering decisions Coordinate with the Data Engineer and AI Agentic Engineer so data, models, agents, and applications function together as an operational system Develop and maintain architecture diagrams, ADRs, technical standards, integration patterns, and concise decision briefs for government leadership Identify recurring platform and integration challenges that could be standardized, automated, or productized through UDS or other reusable capabilities Technologies: AI Architect CI/CD Cloud DevSecOps GitLab GitOps Support Kubernetes Model Serving OpenShift RAG Security AWS Azure GCP Helm Kustomize LESS Pulumi Terraform More: We are partnering through hackajob to recruit a senior Technical Lead / Platform Solution Architect to embed with a government team as its trusted technical advisor. Our role connects mission, engineering, security, data, AI, and vendor perspectives across a complex, multi-vendor platform, helping the team make sound architecture decisions and move from prototype to operational capability. The posting lists the position as Remote - USA while also requiring National Capital Region residency and onsite support in Springfield, Virginia, with increasing onsite/SCIF interaction as the program scales. The stated compensation range is $148,750–$201,250 USD, based on experience and national benchmarks. Defense Unicorns streamlines secure software delivery so mission-focused customers can concentrate on critical challenges. We build secure continuous integration and delivery solutions, including security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation, and support defense and civil agencies and other public- and private-sector enterprises. Our team includes innovators, software engineers, and veterans with federal technology program experience. Our work includes Kubernetes, cloud environments, infrastructure as code, continuous delivery, automation, GitOps, containers, open-source technologies, and cloud-native application and security delivery. Benefits include company-paid medical, dental, and vision premiums, a health savings account, life and disability insurance, a 401(k), stock options, and a home office budget. We also provide flexible time off, federal holidays, additional Thanksgiving and year-end time off, paid parental leave, and reimbursement for approved training, subscriptions, and conference expenses. last updated 41 week of 2026