Koniag Data Solutions, a Koniag Government Services company, is seeking an experienced Cybersecurity Architect to support the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The ideal candidate is a highly skilled cybersecurity professional with extensive experience in designing, developing, and implementing enterprise-level security architectures for complex federal IT environments. This individual will serve as a strategic and technical advisor to SBA stakeholders, providing expert guidance on cybersecurity architecture, risk management, and the integration of security controls across SBA's technology landscape to protect the agency's systems, data, and mission-critical operations.
The Cybersecurity Architect will serve as the senior technical expert responsible for designing, developing, and overseeing the implementation of comprehensive cybersecurity architectures and solutions that protect SBA's systems, networks, applications, and data assets. This individual will provide authoritative architectural guidance across SBA's technology portfolio, ensuring security is embedded into every layer of the agency's IT environment and that SBA's cybersecurity architecture evolves in response to the changing threat landscape, emerging technologies, and federal cybersecurity policy requirements.
Principal responsibilities will include but are not limited to:- Develop, maintain, and continuously evolve SBA's enterprise cybersecurity architecture, ensuring alignment with federal cybersecurity policies, industry best practices, and SBA's mission requirements, and providing authoritative architectural direction across all components of SBA's IT environment.
- Design and oversee the implementation of security architectures for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid IT environments, ensuring the consistent integration of security controls, requirements, and best practices throughout the system development lifecycle (SDLC) and across SBA's full technology portfolio.
- Serve as the primary trusted technical advisor to SBA's IT leadership, system owners, and key stakeholders on all matters related to cybersecurity architecture, emerging threats, technology investments, and security capability development, providing clear, actionable recommendations to strengthen SBA's overall security posture.
- Lead the development and maintenance of comprehensive cybersecurity architecture documentation, including enterprise reference architectures, architecture decision records (ADRs), security design patterns, data flow diagrams, interface control documents, and multi-year technical security roadmaps aligned with SBA's strategic IT direction.
- Evaluate and recommend cybersecurity technologies, tools, platforms, and solutions to address identified capability gaps and emerging threats, preparing detailed technical assessments and business cases to support informed SBA security technology investment and procurement decisions.
- Collaborate with SBA IT architects, system owners, developers, program offices, and acquisition teams to integrate security requirements and architectural standards into the design, development, procurement, and deployment of new and existing SBA systems and applications.
- Provide authoritative expert guidance on Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) principles and lead SBA's efforts to design, plan, and implement a comprehensive Zero Trust framework across the agency's enterprise environment, aligned with OMB M-22-09 and applicable CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model guidance.
- Lead and support the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Authorization to Operate (ATO) process, providing senior architectural expertise to support the development and review of System Security Plans (SSPs), security control assessments, risk assessment documentation, and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms) in accordance with NIST guidelines and SBA's RMF procedures
- Assess and advise on the security architecture implications of emerging technologies, including cloud services, artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotic process automation, containerization, and API-driven architectures, as they relate to SBA's technology modernization strategy and security posture.
- Lead and oversee security architecture reviews and technical assessments of existing and proposed SBA systems and solutions, identifying vulnerabilities, architectural weaknesses, security control gaps, and areas of non-compliance with federal security requirements, and developing detailed findings reports and remediation roadmaps.
- Develop and maintain comprehensive threat models for SBA's systems and applications, leveraging MITRE ATT&CK, STRIDE, PASTA, and other industry-standard threat modeling frameworks to systematically identify, assess, and prioritize security risks across SBA's technology landscape.
- Collaborate with SOC, incident response, threat hunting, vulnerability management, and privacy teams to ensure SBA's cybersecurity architecture supports and enhances effective threat detection, incident response, forensic investigation, and privacy protection capabilities across the enterprise.
- Lead the development and enforcement of SBA's cybersecurity policies, standards, guidelines, and technical baselines, ensuring alignment with NIST SP 800-53, FISMA, FedRAMP, OMB directives, and other applicable federal cybersecurity requirements.
- Develop and deliver technical briefings, architecture documentation, white papers, and executive presentations to SBA leadership, OMB, and other oversight bodies, clearly articulating complex security architecture concepts, strategic recommendations, and program status.
- Provide senior mentorship and technical guidance to mid-level security architects and other cybersecurity team members, fostering professional development and continuously building SBA's internal cybersecurity architecture capability.
Education and Experience:Required:- Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related field from an accredited college or university.
- 10+ years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, with at least 5 years in a cybersecurity architecture or senior security engineering role with demonstrated responsibility for enterprise-level architecture design and implementation.
- Demonstrated experience designing and implementing cybersecurity architectures for complex federal government IT environments, including experience with multi-system, multi-domain, and hybrid cloud environments.
- One or more of the following certifications:
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
- CISSP - Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (CISSP-ISSAP)
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
- SABSA Chartered Security Architect (SCF/SCP)
- GIAC Defensible Security Architecture (GDSA)
Desired:- Master's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
- 12+ years of cybersecurity experience with a strong and demonstrated background supporting federal civilian agency cybersecurity architecture programs of comparable size and complexity to the SBA.
- Experience serving as a lead or principal cybersecurity architect on a federal agency-wide cybersecurity program or enterprise architecture initiative.
Required Skills and Competencies:- Exceptional communication skills in English - both written and oral - with the ability to effectively present and defend complex cybersecurity architecture concepts, strategic recommendations, and technical findings to diverse audiences, including SBA technical staff, program managers, senior executives, and external oversight bodies.
- Deep expertise in enterprise cybersecurity architecture frameworks and methodologies, including SABSA, TOGAF, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), and the DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF), with demonstrated experience applying these frameworks to design and govern federal agency cybersecurity architectures.
- Extensive knowledge of federal cybersecurity policies, frameworks, and compliance requirements, including NIST SP 800-53, NIST RMF, FISMA, FedRAMP, OMB Circular A-130, and applicable CISA guidance and directives, and their practical implications for cybersecurity architecture design and implementation.
- Strong experience designing security architectures for cloud environments, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), with deep knowledge of cloud-native security services, cloud security architecture patterns, and the security implications of cloud service adoption within a federal context.
- Demonstrated expertise in Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) principles, design patterns, and implementation strategies, with experience leading or significantly contributing to Zero Trust planning and implementation initiatives within a federal or large enterprise environment, aligned with OMB M-22-09 and CISA's Zero Trust Maturity Model.
- Experience leading and supporting the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) and ATO process at the enterprise level, including the development and review of SSPs, security control documentation, risk assessments, and POA&Ms for complex, interconnected federal systems.
- Deep proficiency in network security architecture, including the design of secure network segmentation strategies, perimeter and interior defense architectures, micro-segmentation frameworks, encrypted communications architectures, and secure remote access solutions.
- Strong knowledge of identity and access management (IAM) architecture, including the design of enterprise IAM frameworks incorporating multi-factor authentication (MFA), privileged access management (PAM), role-based and attribute-based access control (RBAC/ABAC), and federated identity and single sign-on (SSO) solutions.
- Expertise in developing comprehensive threat models using MITRE ATT&CK, STRIDE, PASTA, and other industry-standard methodologies to systematically identify and prioritize architectural security risks and inform security design decisions.
- Strong understanding of secure software development practices, DevSecOps principles, and the integration of security architecture requirements into DevSecOps pipelines, CI/CD workflows, and the full SDLC.
- Experience conducting enterprise-level security architecture reviews and assessments, identifying gaps and risks, and developing comprehensive, prioritized remediation roadmaps aligned with agency risk tolerance and mission priorities.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust Clearance.
Desired Skills and Competencies:- Prior experience supporting SBA or other federal civilian agency cybersecurity architecture programs, with demonstrated knowledge of SBA's IT environment, system portfolio, mission requirements, and cybersecurity program priorities.
- Experience implementing CDM (Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation) program solutions and integrating CDM tools and data feeds into enterprise security architectures within federal civilian agencies.
- Deep familiarity with FedRAMP authorized cloud environments, FedRAMP authorization processes, and the security architecture requirements and boundary considerations applicable to FedRAMP cloud service deployments within federal agencies.
- Experience designing security architectures for containerized environments, Kubernetes orchestration platforms, microservices architectures, and serverless computing environments within federal cloud deployments.
- Knowledge of data security architecture, including the design of enterprise data protection frameworks incorporating data classification, data loss prevention (DLP), encryption at rest and in transit, rights management, and privacy by design principles.
- Experience with software-defined networking (SDN), software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), and secure access service edge (SASE) architectures, including their application within federal enterprise network security modernization initiatives.
- Familiarity with AI and machine learning security architecture considerations, including the security implications of AI/ML adoption, model security, data pipeline security, and the integration of AI-enabled security capabilities into federal cybersecurity architectures.
- Experience developing enterprise cybersecurity strategies, multi-year capability roadmaps, and technology investment plans aligned with federal agency mission requirements, budget constraints, and strategic IT priorities.
- Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) or AWS/Azure/GCP security specialty certification.
- Experience with industrial control systems (ICS) or operational technology (OT) security architecture and its relevance to federal agency mission systems and critical infrastructure protection.
- Familiarity with supply chain risk management (SCRM) principles and their application to federal cybersecurity architecture, including the security implications of third-party components, open-source software, and vendor dependencies within SBA's technology portfolio.
