Overview

The Cloud Platform Architect defines the target-state technical architecture and long-term platform strategy for secure, resilient, scalable hybrid and multi-cloud mission environments. This role establishes architectural direction, governance, technical standards, and reference patterns for enterprise cloud modernization while remaining hands-on in prototyping, validating, automating, and troubleshooting platform capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Define target-state architectures for hybrid and multi-cloud platforms supporting Department of War (DoW) mission requirements.
• Establish enterprise and program-level architecture principles, technology standards, reference architectures, reusable design patterns, and configuration baselines.
• Develop strategies for integrating on-premises data centers with Azure, AWS, and other authorized cloud environments.
• Design, prototype, and validate platform architectures covering compute, storage, networking, identity, security, data, containers, observability, automation, backup, disaster recovery, and continuity of operations.
• Build and maintain proof-of-concept, prototype, and reference platform environments to validate architectural designs, technology selections, security controls, and integration patterns.
• Develop, review, and troubleshoot infrastructure-as-code using Terraform, Bicep, AWS CloudFormation, Ansible, or comparable automation frameworks.
• Design, deploy, configure, and troubleshoot cloud and hybrid-networking components, including virtual networks, subnets, routing, network-security controls, firewalls, load balancers, private connectivity, virtual private networks, and Domain Name System services.
• Implement and validate identity, access, and privileged-access patterns using cloud identity services, role-based access control, federation, conditional access, secrets management, and policy-as-code capabilities.
• Deploy, configure, secure, and troubleshoot container platforms and supporting services, including Kubernetes clusters, container registries, ingress, workload identity, and cluster security controls.
• Develop and validate DevSecOps pipelines that incorporate source control, automated testing, artifact management, infrastructure deployment, container scanning, security checks, and configuration-compliance capabilities.
• Configure and tune observability capabilities, including centralized logging, metrics, alerting, tracing, dashboards, service-health monitoring, and incident-response integrations.
• Conduct hands-on performance, resiliency, backup, recovery, failover, and disaster-recovery testing; document results, identify gaps, and recommend remediation.
• Analyze cloud configurations, logs, network flows, security findings, and operational telemetry to diagnose complex infrastructure and application-platform issues.
• Ensure architecture decisions and technical implementations align with mission objectives, cybersecurity requirements, Zero Trust principles, resiliency goals, and operational constraints.
• Evaluate emerging cloud and platform technologies through technical research, prototypes, and testing, and determine their applicability to the mission environment.
• Lead architecture reviews and adjudicate technical tradeoffs among performance, security, cost, interoperability, portability, and maintainability.
• Define migration and modernization strategies for legacy infrastructure and applications, including sequencing, transition architectures, implementation dependencies, and rollback considerations.
• Establish architecture-governance processes, technical decision records, exception processes, configuration standards, implementation documentation, build guides, and operational runbooks.
• Participate in technical working sessions, code and infrastructure-as-code reviews, design reviews, and operational-readiness reviews; provide practical engineering feedback based on implementation results.
• Collaborate directly with cloud engineers, cybersecurity personnel, network engineers, application teams, and operations staff to resolve implementation issues and transition architectures into operational use.
• Provide senior technical leadership and briefings to government executives, program managers, engineering leadership, and mission stakeholders.

Qualifications Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related discipline; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 12+ years of progressively responsible infrastructure and cloud engineering experience, solutions engineering, systems engineering, or technical architecture.
• Deep expertise in hybrid and multi-cloud architecture, preferably spanning Azure and AWS.
• Demonstrated experience architecting large-scale enterprise or mission environments with complex security, networking, data, and infrastructure dependencies.
• Strong knowledge of cloud-native architecture, containers/Kubernetes, infrastructure-as-code, DevSecOps, IAM, Zero Trust, observability, and resiliency.
• Experience developing architecture roadmaps, reference architectures, standards, technical governance, and modernization strategies.
• Ability to assess technology choices at enterprise scale and communicate architectural decisions to senior technical and government leadership.
• Strong technical writing, presentation, facilitation, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Must reside within a75-mile radius of Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville ALor be willing to relocate prior to starting date.

• Must have (or be able to have before starting):

  • CompTIA Security+ CE, or other approved 8570 IAT Level II certification.
  • Cloud certification such as: Microsoft AZ900 (Azure Fundamentals), Azure Administrator Associate, Azure Security Engineer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified Developer, CCSP, GCSA or other equivalent Cloud certifications.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret U.S. Government Security Clearance. An active clearance will be required to start.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Department of War (DoW) mission systems and federal acquisition environments.
• Experience with IL4/5/6, Azure Government, AWS GovCloud, or similar controlled environments.
• TOGAF, SABSA, AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, or other relevant architecture/cloud certifications.
• Experience leading major data-center modernization, cloud migration, or enterprise platform transformation programs.
• Preferred experience with SPECTRO Cloud, including deployment, configuration, administration, and integration of SPECTRO Cloud capabilities within hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
• Preferred experience architecting, deploying, and integrating SPECTRO Cloud as part of secure hybrid and multi-cloud environments, including platform orchestration, workload management, automation, and integration with government mission systems.

Physical Demands

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms.
• The employee is occasionally required to sit; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee must be able to lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
• Regular i3 hours are 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, however, additional hours may be required on occasion. Regular and punctual attendance is required.