We are seeking a
Director of Security Architecture to lead the evolution and maturation of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) secure enterprise, cloud, and network architectures across AWS, Azure, and VA enterprise environments. This role will ensure architectures align with applicable federal cybersecurity requirements and frameworks, including FISMA, NIST, FedRAMP, OMB directives, and Zero Trust Architecture principles.
This senior technical leadership position combines security architecture strategy, engineering leadership, customer engagement, technical governance, and hands-on architectural oversight. The Director will translate mission and security requirements into scalable, resilient, and implementable architectures while ensuring appropriate security controls, risk management, compliance, and operational considerations are incorporated throughout the system lifecycle.
Responsibilities:- Lead Security Architecture and Engineering: Lead a cross-functional team of security architects, cyber engineers, and cybersecurity analysts responsible for security architecture, engineering, assessment, and risk management activities.
- Establish Technical Direction: Define engineering priorities, technical standards, staffing requirements, resource allocation, performance objectives, professional development, and delivery-risk mitigation strategies.
- Develop and Govern Security Requirements: Lead the development, traceability, and validation of security and architecture requirements; establish design documentation, security control implementation strategies, configuration review processes, and technical validation plans.
- Design Secure Enterprise Architectures: Develop secure, scalable, resilient, and mission-aligned architectures for VA systems and services across AWS, Azure, on-premises, and enterprise network environments. Apply Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) principles and defense-in-depth strategies to protect VA systems, data, identities, applications, and infrastructure.
- Integrate Federal Security Frameworks: Ensure architecture and engineering decisions align with applicable federal cybersecurity requirements, including FISMA, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-207, OMB cybersecurity requirements, and FedRAMP.
- Provide FedRAMP and Cloud Security Oversight: Assess and provide technical oversight of FedRAMP authorization and program-management activities for cloud platforms and shared services, including evaluation of applicable security controls, control inheritance, authorization boundaries, continuous monitoring, and FedRAMP Moderate/High security packages.
- Conduct Cybersecurity Maturity Assessments: Evaluate organizational and technical cybersecurity maturity across architecture, identity, data protection, network security, cloud security, monitoring, vulnerability management, and Zero Trust capabilities. Develop prioritized implementation roadmaps tied to mission objectives, risk, and compliance requirements.
- Support Authorization and Assessment Activities: Prepare for and support FISMA, FedRAMP, ATO, security control assessments, audits, inspections, and other compliance reviews. Coordinate technical responses to findings and develop remediation strategies that address root causes and residual risk.
- Drive Secure Modernization: Evaluate emerging technologies, architectural patterns, and security capabilities; lead or coordinate pilots and proofs of concept; and recommend modernization strategies that improve security, resiliency, interoperability, scalability, and operational efficiency.
- Advance Automation and Standardization: Identify opportunities to automate security controls, compliance evidence collection, configuration management, deployment, monitoring, and validation. Establish reusable architecture patterns, engineering standards, and infrastructure-as-code approaches where appropriate.
- Strengthen Platform Reliability and Operational Security: Promote secure-by-design engineering practices, operational resilience, observability, continuous monitoring, and continuous improvement across enterprise and cloud platforms.
- Provide Technical Governance: Participate in architecture reviews, design authorities, configuration reviews, risk acceptance discussions, and technical governance forums. Ensure proposed solutions are technically sound, supportable, secure, and aligned with enterprise architecture standards.
- Support Customer and Business Development: Engage senior VA stakeholders and mission partners to understand requirements, communicate technical risks and recommendations, support solution development, contribute to technical proposals, and provide architectural leadership during strategic customer engagements.
Salary Range: $190,000-$240,000
- Must be a U.S. citizen eligible to obtain and maintain a Tier 4 Public Trust background investigation.
- 12+ years supporting federal cybersecurity programs, including FISMA/NIST controls, OMB requirements, Presidential/Executive directives, CISA directives, and federal security guidance.
- 5+ years leading technical teams across cybersecurity, security engineering, IT, network, or security operations.
- Strong expertise in enterprise security architecture, including Zero Trust, cloud/network security, SIEM/security analytics, endpoint security, DLP, identity, security integrations, and security telemetry.
- Experience designing, implementing, integrating, and operating security solutions in complex enterprise or multi-tenant environments.
- Experience establishing architecture standards, engineering practices, reference architectures, and technical roadmaps.
- Proven leadership of major implementations, migrations, integrations, and modernization initiatives, including contract deliverables and technical outcomes.
- Enterprise experience protecting sensitive and regulated data, including PII and other controlled information.
- Strong troubleshooting and technical problem-solving across security, cloud, network, and infrastructure environments.
- Experience with automation, scripting, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and DevSecOps practices.
- Ability to manage concurrent projects, priorities, technical risks, dependencies, and customer commitments.
- Demonstrated technical judgment balancing security, resiliency, scalability, cost, and operational impact.
- Proven ability to build, mentor, and lead high-performing technical teams.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate mission and business requirements into technical strategy, architecture, and execution plans.
- Strong customer-facing and executive engagement experience with technical leaders, program executives, and mission stakeholders.
