Senior System Architect

Job Description

Everforth ECS is seeking a Senior System Architect to work in the National Capital Region covering the Pentagon, Falls Church, and Fairfax . Please Note: This position is contingent upon contract award.

The War Data Platform (WDP) is a key initiative within the U.S. Department of War's (DoW) AI-First strategy introduced in early 2026. The WDP focuses on operational warfighting data and aims to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield. The WDP extends to Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret environments, and supports collaboration between Combatant Commands, Joint Staff directorates, Senior Executive Service leaders, and operational analysts.

The Senior System Architect serves as the technical authority for architectural vision, design governance, and solution integrity across the WDP Core Integration Agile Release Train, ensuring that system design decisions, integration patterns, and non-functional requirements are coherently embedded into agile planning and team-level execution across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS environments. In this role, the Senior System Architect bridges strategic architectural direction and sprint-level engineering execution, coaching cross-functional teams on design principles, systems thinking, and disciplined engineering practices that reduce rework, improve integration predictability, and sustain mission-aligned delivery at enterprise scale.

Provides technical and management leadership for the system architecture function supporting Agile software development.
Guides the creation, communication, and stewardship of the architectural vision so that development, test, integration, staging, and production activities align with a coherent and stable system design.
Works closely with Product Management, Release Train leadership, and cross-functional teams to ensure that architectural enablers, non-functional requirements, and integration patterns are understood, implementable, and properly sequenced within Program Increment planning.
Supports backlog refinement by translating complex solution needs into clear architectural guidance, interface definitions, and integration patterns that enable predictable development flow within the Agile Release Train.
Leads architecture reviews and governance activities to maintain design integrity, ensure interoperability, and uphold standards for security, scalability, and maintainability.
Coordinates with cybersecurity, DevSecOps, data, and platform teams to validate that architectural decisions support compliance, resiliency, and observability requirements across the environments in which the solution operates.
Oversees the development and maintenance of reference architectures, interface contracts, data models, and system diagrams that guide team-level execution.
Facilitates collaboration among stakeholders by providing accessible architectural documentation, conducting walkthroughs, and maintaining ongoing communication throughout the development lifecycle.
Monitors architectural work progress, integration outcomes, technical risk indicators, and dependencies to ensure alignment with Agile cadence expectations and to inform updates to burndown visualizations and program-level reporting.
Addresses technical blockers by guiding teams through solution options, triaging design issues, and resolving conflicts that impact integration or solution cohesion.
Produces architectural roadmaps, solution design narratives, governance artifacts, and decision records that support strategic planning and enable informed decision-making by program leadership.
Fosters architectural competency within the teams by coaching on design principles, system-level thinking, and disciplined engineering practices that improve predictability, reduce rework, and enhance mission value throughout the delivery lifecycle.
Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Skills

Current Secret security clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret (TS) security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).
10 or more years of progressive experience in system architecture, solution architecture, or a closely related discipline, with demonstrated experience leading architectural governance for enterprise-scale federal or defense software development programs.
Possess one or more certifications from Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Proven ability to develop and maintain reference architectures, interface contracts, data models, and architecture decision records that govern team-level implementation across development, integration, staging, and production environments spanning NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS.
Experience coordinating architectural decisions with cybersecurity, DevSecOps, data engineering, and cloud platform teams to ensure that solution designs satisfy compliance, resiliency, observability, and authorization requirements, including alignment with Risk Management Framework controls and DevSecOps pipeline security gates.
Hands-on proficiency with DevSecOps tooling, including GitLab CI/CD, Jira, and Confluence, including demonstrated experience using Infrastructure-as-Code and Configuration-as-Code practices to enforce architectural baselines across multi-enclave classified cloud environments.
Demonstrated ability to identify, triage, and resolve technical blockers, integration conflicts, and design issues affecting Agile team delivery throughput, and to communicate architectural risk indicators and dependency status through burndown dashboards and program-level reporting artifacts.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities, with a proven ability to weigh the relative costs and benefits of potential actions and identify the most appropriate solution.
Highly developed interpersonal and oral/written communication skills, with the ability to effectively and professionally interact with a diverse set of stakeholders (from peers to end-users to executive management).

Desired Skills

Active Top Secret (TS) security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) eligibility.
Active SAFe Architect (ARCH) certification from Scaled Agile, Inc., demonstrates proficiency in architectural runway development, enabler story definition, and system-level design governance within a Scaled Agile Framework program structure.
Demonstrated experience defining and stewarding system architectural vision across a SAFe Agile Release Train, including active participation in Program Increment planning, System Demos, and Inspect and Adapt events to ensure architectural enablers are properly sequenced and integrated into sprint-level delivery plans.
Experience delivering system architecture leadership for AI/ML platform programs, enterprise data pipeline ecosystems, or cloud-native analytics infrastructure, including demonstrated ability to define integration patterns and data exchange contracts that enable secure, scalable, and interoperable service delivery across Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret environments.
Familiarity with Zero Trust Architecture principles, Attribute-Based Access Control frameworks, and Supply Chain Risk Management practices as they apply to system design decisions, API security, and service integration governance within a multi-enclave DevSecOps delivery environment.
Background supporting Body of Evidence artifact development, continuous Authorization to Operate activities, and Security Technical Implementation Guide compliance within an enterprise DevSecOps ecosystem, including experience ensuring that architectural decisions maintain traceability to cybersecurity control requirements managed in eMASS or Xacta.
Experience functioning as a Systems Architect or Solution Architect within a SAFe program that sustains a high-throughput continuous delivery pipeline, including demonstrated familiarity with managing architectural runway across 25 or more concurrent CI/CD pipelines, multiple parallel feature streams, and 200 or more build and deployment events per quarter.
Prior experience coaching cross-functional engineering teams, including Software Developers, Data Engineers, Platform Operations personnel, and Cybersecurity Engineers, on architectural design principles, system-level thinking, and disciplined engineering practices within a DevSecOps-integrated Agile delivery environment supporting warfighter mission programs.

ECS Federal LLC is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis any characteristic protected by law. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local jurisdiction law.

Everforth ECS is the federal segment of Everforth , a $4B global organization with over 10,000 employees. Our nearly 3,500 professionals deliver advanced technology solutions in data and AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise transformation, serving defense, intelligence, and federal civilian agencies.

Our work powers mission-critical outcomes, strengthens technology partnerships, and creates meaningful opportunities for our people. We are defined by a commitment to excellence in delivery, a culture of innovation, and an environment where talent can thrive and grow.

We value:

• Attracting and developing top talent and high-performing teams
• Fostering a culture that is engaging, accountable, and mission-driven