Location: Charlotte, NC
Salary: $61.00 USD Hourly - $66.00 USD Hourly
Description: Job TitleSystems Architect - Threat ModelerLocationCharlotte, NC (Hybrid)
Also open to: Irving, TX; Raleigh, NC; Columbus, OH
Work Schedule- Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
- Flexible schedule: 7:00 AM-4:00 PM (DFW-based candidates required to follow this schedule)
- Hybrid work model: 3 days in office / 2 days remote
Employment TypeContingent Assignment - W2 Contract
About the RoleWe are seeking a
Senior Threat Modeler to join our Systems Architecture function. In this role, you will perform architecture-driven threat modeling for enterprise applications, services, and platforms. You will partner closely with engineering, architecture, and cybersecurity teams to identify realistic threats, evaluate risk, and recommend practical mitigations that scale across the enterprise.
This role is ideal for professionals with deep systems and application architecture experience who can reason about how complex systems behave, fail, and are exploited in real-world environments. While tooling supports threat enumeration, success in this role depends on strong architectural judgment, prioritization, and communication skills.
ResponsibilitiesWhat You'll Do- Consult on and contribute to moderately complex systems architecture initiatives and large-scale planning efforts.
- Engage directly with application, service, and platform teams to develop a deep understanding of system architectures, including implicit dependencies, trust boundaries, and operational behaviors.
- Decompose complex enterprise systems into components, data flows, and trust boundaries suitable for formal threat modeling.
- Create and maintain threat models using the enterprise-standard tool (ThreatModeler), ensuring accuracy, completeness, and reuse of architectural patterns where applicable.
- Apply structured threat modeling methodologies to identify, assess, and prioritize security risks, combining tooling output with expert judgment.
- Distinguish theoretical threats from credible attack paths by evaluating plausibility, impact, and system context.
- Review architecture designs, configurations, and source code artifacts to validate security controls and mitigations.
- Recommend pragmatic, risk-informed mitigations with an emphasis on architectural and design-level controls.
- Document and present threat modeling results clearly for engineering teams, leadership, and audit stakeholders.
- Collaborate with cybersecurity architecture and platform teams to define or evolve security control patterns.
- Manage multiple threat modeling engagements simultaneously while meeting quality and delivery expectations.
Minimum QualificationsSystems Architecture Experience- 4+ years of experience in systems architecture, or equivalent demonstrated through work experience, consulting, training, military service, or education.
Core Architecture & Engineering Background- 6+ years of experience designing, building, or operating enterprise systems (e.g., application development, platform engineering, or systems architecture).
- Proven ability to analyze complex, distributed, or cloud-native systems and reason about their behavior during normal operation and failure conditions.
- Experience collaborating directly with engineering teams on system design and delivery with accountability for outcomes.
Security & Threat Modeling Foundations- 2+ years of experience applying security principles to system design, risk analysis, or application security.
- Practical understanding of common application security risks, including authorization flaws, trust boundary violations, and insecure data handling.
- Familiarity with structured threat modeling methodologies (e.g., STRIDE, PASTA, VAST).
- Experience using threat modeling tools such as ThreatModeler, Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool, or OWASP Threat Dragon.
Cloud & Technical Skills- Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform).
- Ability to review and reason about source code, infrastructure-as-code, or configuration artifacts.
- Scripting or automation experience (e.g., Python) sufficient to support analysis or tooling integration.
Collaboration & Communication- Strong facilitation and communication skills, with the ability to lead discussions with senior engineers and architects.
- Ability to apply judgment, challenge assumptions constructively, and make defensible risk decisions.
- Comfortable managing multiple concurrent initiatives while meeting delivery timelines.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience leading or conducting threat modeling or architecture risk reviews across multiple applications or platforms.
- Experience threat modeling cloud-native, distributed, or event-driven systems.
- Exposure to emerging technologies, including GenAI-enabled systems.
- Familiarity with Threat Modeling as Code (TaaC) or automation-assisted threat modeling approaches.
- Relevant certifications (e.g., CISSP, CCSP, AWS/Azure/Google Cloud Platform), viewed as complementary to hands-on experience.
Equal Opportunity StatementWe are committed to building an inclusive workplace and strongly encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.
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