Title: Senior Network Architect 1
Dover, DE
Interview: In person interview
Hybrid: 3 day in office
Job Description
The Delaware Department of Transportation is hiring a Senior Technical Architect to design, secure and modernize the systems that move people, issue credentials and collect tolls across the state. This is a hands-on senior role: you will set technical direction, and you will also build, review and troubleshoot.
You will work across divisions whose systems range from decades-old mainframes to real-time cloud platforms. The work touches public safety, personal data, payment card data and federal compliance, so sound architecture and security judgment matter as much as technical depth.
Divisions you will support:
You will be the senior technical voice for three divisions with very different systems, users and regulators.
Divisions Supported (including but not limited to):
Transit: fixed route: CAD/AVL, real-time passenger information, GTFS and GTFS-Realtime feeds, fare collection, onboard networking and vehicle telematics. Real-time data from hundreds of vehicles; public-facing uptime; FTA reporting (NTD).
Transit: paratransit: Trip booking, eligibility, scheduling and dispatch, driver tablets, call center integration ADA service obligations; protected health and eligibility data.
Transit: microtransit: On-demand booking apps, dynamic routing, third-party platform integrations and APIs, Vendor-hosted SaaS; data sharing and integration with fixed route and paratransit.
DMV: Driver licensing and vehicle registration, credential issuance, online services, kiosks, legacy mainframe or COBOL platforms, protected personal data; AAMVA interfaces; REAL ID; high transaction volume.
Tolls: Roadside lane systems, back office and customer service centers, transponder and plate-image processing, payment processing, interoperability hubs, 24x7 revenue-critical operations; interstate interoperability.
Key responsibilities:
System design and architecture
•Define target-state architectures for division systems and the shared platforms that connect them.
•Lead design reviews and produce architecture decision records, reference architectures and integration patterns.
•Design for high availability, disaster recovery and defined RTO/RPO targets on revenue- and safety-critical systems.
•Help to plan modernization of legacy platforms (for example DMV mainframe workloads) through phased, low-risk migration.
•Design APIs, event streams and data integrations across transit, DMV, tolls and external partners.
Security
•Embed security into architecture from the start, including zero trust, identity and access management, segmentation and encryption.
•Lead security architecture reviews for new systems and major changes.
•Align systems with NIST CSF and NIST SP 800-53, and support PCI DSS, CJIS, DPPA and state security policy compliance.
•Assess OT and roadside system security for toll lanes, onboard transit equipment and field networks.
Systems engineering
•Apply systems engineering practice across the lifecycle: requirements, traceability, interfaces, verification and validation.
•Follow FHWA Systems Engineering guidance and regional ITS architecture requirements on federally funded projects.
•Define and manage interface control documents between agency systems and vendor platforms.
•Guide testing strategy, including integration, performance, failover and user acceptance testing.
Cloud and infrastructure
•Shape and execute the agency's cloud strategy across AWS, Azure or Google Cloud Platform environments, including landing zones and governance.
•Design hybrid architectures that connect on-premises data centers, field devices and cloud services.
•Champion infrastructure as code, CI/CD, containerization and automated configuration management.
•Drive cost management, tagging standards and right-sizing in partnership with finance.
•Support FedRAMP and StateRAMP evaluation of SaaS and cloud vendors.
Vendor, procurement and leadership
•Review and sometimes write technical requirements for RFPs and evaluate vendor proposals and architectures.
•Provide technical oversight of system integrators and SaaS providers through delivery and operations.
•Set technical standards and best practices across teams.
•Translate technical risk and options into clear recommendations for executives and division leaders.
Minimum qualifications
•Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering or a related field. Equivalent experience may substitute year for year.
•10+ years of progressive IT experience, including at least 5 years in an architecture, senior systems engineering or technical lead role.
•Demonstrated experience designing and delivering large, integrated, mission-critical systems.
•Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud) in production.
•Working knowledge of security frameworks such as NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-53 or ISO 27001, and of implementing their controls.
•Experience with networking, identity and access management, Linux and Windows server environments, and relational databases.
•Experience writing technical requirements and overseeing vendors or system integrators.
•Ability to pass a criminal background check and fingerprinting, including CJIS-level screening.
Preferred qualifications
•Experience in a state DOT, transit agency, tolling authority, DMV or other public-sector transportation setting.
•Domain knowledge in one or more of: CAD/AVL and GTFS, paratransit scheduling, AAMVA systems, toll back-office and interoperability, or ITS.
•Experience modernizing mainframe or legacy platforms.
•Experience with API management platforms.
•Experience with PCI DSS environments and payment processing architecture.
•Familiarity with OT and ICS security for field devices.
Knowledge, skills and abilities
Knowledge of:
•Enterprise, solution and integration architecture patterns, including microservices, event-driven design and API-first design.
•Zero trust architecture, identity federation (SAML, etc), privileged access management and data protection.
•Hybrid cloud networking, including VPN, private connectivity, DNS, load balancing and SD-WAN.
•High availability, disaster recovery and business continuity design.
•Federal and state rules that shape transportation IT, including FTA, FHWA, ADA, DPPA, PCI DSS and CJIS.
Skill in:
•Producing clear architecture diagrams, standards and decision records.
•Threat modeling and evaluating security controls.
•Diagnosing complex, multi-system production problems.
•Evaluating vendor solutions on technical merit, risk and total cost of ownership.
Ability to:
•Explain technical tradeoffs to non-technical leaders and the public.
•Balance innovation against stability on systems the public relies on daily.
•Lead through influence across divisions, vendors and partner agencies.
•Respond to after-hours incidents on critical systems when needed.
Working conditions: Primarily office or hybrid work. Occasional travel to division sites, transit facilities, DMV offices, toll facilities and data centers. Possible after-hours and on-call support for critical incidents and maintenance windows.
