Solution & Systems Integration Architect SME

Ignite IT

$135K — $160K *
Technical Services
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years of IT experience, with 5+ years in complex enterprise solution design or governance.
  • Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline or equivalent experience.
  • Expertise across at least three domains: application, integration, data, cloud, network, cybersecurity, mobility, identity, ITSM, operations.
  • Familiarity with interfaces/APIs and operational constraints for implementation readiness.
  • Strong skills in creating clear architecture diagrams and articulating tradeoffs to varied stakeholders.
  • U.S. Citizenship is required.

Responsibilities

  • Translate mission and business requirements into secure and scalable architectures.
  • Develop architecture views necessary for decision-making and implementation.
  • Lead architecture compliance and design reviews.
  • Conduct trade studies analyzing cloud adoption and modernization alternatives.
  • Identify and flag risks early in the design process.
  • Coordinate among diverse technical teams to ensure alignment in architecture delivery.
  • Maintain comprehensive architecture documentation and support post-implementation stabilization.

Benefits

  • 401(k) plan with matching contributions.
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Flexible spending account options.
  • Paid time off for work-life balance.
  • Professional development and tuition reimbursement opportunities.
Full Job Description
We are seeking a Subject Matter Expert (SME) Solution & Systems Integration Architect to join our team supporting a large-scale federal modernization program. This role owns end-to-end solution architecture across complex, interdependent systems, translating mission and business requirements into secure, scalable, supportable technical designs, and carrying those designs through review, implementation, and operational transition.

This is a hands-on architecture role. You'll be expected to produce real architecture views and decision artifacts, not just set direction from a distance.

This is a hybrid role based out of Washington, DC. Candidates must be U.S. citizens.

Key Responsibilities

1. Solution Architecture & Design
  • Translate mission and business requirements into secure, scalable, supportable architectures and technical baselines.
  • Develop and review context, logical, physical, component, interface, deployment, integration, and transition views at the level required for decisions and implementation.
  • Apply approved patterns, common services, reference architectures, and reusable design approaches.

2. Design Reviews & Trade Studies
  • Lead or participate in architecture compliance reviews, technical design reviews, and implementation-readiness reviews.
  • Conduct trade studies and analyze alternatives involving cloud adoption, modernization, technical debt, rationalization, interoperability, resilience, and cost.

3. Risk Identification
  • Identify interface, dependency, performance, security, data, platform, network, and operational risks early in the design process.
  • Flag lifecycle risks and dependencies before they affect delivery.

4. Cross-Domain Coordination
  • Coordinate engineers and specialists across platform, network, security, data, mobility, and ITSM teams to align architecture with delivery.
  • Resolve cross-vendor and cross-organizational design conflicts under fixed milestones.

5. Compliance & Rationalization
  • Ensure designs align with enterprise architecture standards, governance, and compliance requirements.
  • Support application rationalization and legacy modernization efforts.

6. Transition & Documentation
  • Support problem resolution during testing, deployment, transition, operations, and post-implementation stabilization.
  • Maintain architecture decisions, deviations, assumptions, dependencies, diagrams, and interface records in approved repositories.
  • Produce clear diagrams and decision artifacts, and explain tradeoffs to engineers, program managers, and executive stakeholders.


Requirements
  • 12+ years of IT experience, including at least 5 years designing or governing complex enterprise solutions.
  • Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline or equivalent relevant experience.
  • Demonstrated architecture experience across at least three of the following domains: application, integration, data, cloud/platform, network, cybersecurity, endpoint/mobility, identity, ITSM, or operations.
  • Experience with interfaces/APIs, dependencies, nonfunctional requirements, security and operational constraints, technical reviews, and implementation readiness.
  • Ability to create clear diagrams and decision artifacts and explain tradeoffs to engineers, program managers, and executives.
  • U.S. Citizenship Required.


Nice to Have
  • Direct federal, government, or large-scale system-of-systems modernization experience.
  • Experience with Sparx Enterprise Architect, Prolaborate, ArchiMate, UML, SysML, BPMN, or equivalent modeling tools/notations.
  • Cloud, integration, architecture, or systems-engineering certifications.
  • Experience with shared services, platform engineering, event/API integration, application rationalization, legacy modernization, and zero-trust-aligned designs.
  • Experience resolving cross-vendor or cross-organizational design conflicts under fixed milestones.


Benefits
  • 401(k)
  • 401(k) matching
  • Dental insurance
  • Flexible spending account
  • Health insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Paid time off
  • Professional development assistance
  • Referral program
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Vision insurance

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