Cybersecurity SME
Ignite IT · Washington
We are seeking a Subject Matter Expert (SME) Cybersecurity Architect to join our team supporting a large-scale federal modernization program. This role owns security architecture across enterprise solutions, platforms, networks, identity, mobility/endpoints, data, and cloud, bridging cybersecurity policy and controls with implementable designs, evidence, and risk decisions throughout the system lifecycle.
This is a hands-on architecture role. You'll be expected to produce real security designs and see them through review, implementation, and operations, not just set policy from a distance.
This is a hybrid role based out of Washington, DC. Candidates must be U.S. citizens.
Key Responsibilities
1. Security Architecture & Design
- Develop and assess security architectures, patterns, requirements, controls integration, trust boundaries, data flows, and identity and segmentation design.
- Design logging, resilience, and operational safeguards into solution architecture.
- Translate federal and agency security requirements into practical design decisions, implementation actions, and residual-risk statements.
2. Reviews & Governance
- Participate in architecture compliance, technical design, engineering, security, and phase-gate reviews.
- Evaluate proposed deviations and waivers, and provide risk-informed recommendations for approval.
- Maintain security architecture artifacts, review findings, decisions, and risks in approved repositories, with clear traceability.
3. Cross-Domain Coordination
- Coordinate with solution, data, cloud/platform, network, identity, endpoint/mobility, and operations stakeholders to embed security into design from the start.
- Identify design gaps, threats, vulnerabilities, technical debt, and noncompliance early in the lifecycle, and propose mitigation options.
4. Risk & Compliance
- Apply federal risk management framework and security control knowledge to real design decisions.
- Support authorization evidence, implementation readiness, and post-deployment validation as needed.
- Produce implementable security designs, review findings, mitigations, and risk decisions that engineers can act on.
5. Communication & Advisory
- Communicate security architecture decisions, tradeoffs, and residual risk clearly to engineers, architects, program managers, and Government stakeholders.
- Support incident and problem learning to feed back into architecture improvements.
Requirements
- 12+ years of experience in cybersecurity, including significant time in security architecture or enterprise technical leadership.
- Working knowledge of federal risk management, security controls, authorization, continuous monitoring, zero trust, identity, network, endpoint, cloud, application, data, and logging considerations.
- Ability to interpret security requirements and produce implementable designs, review findings, mitigations, and risk decisions.
- Strong communication skills, with experience engaging engineers, architects, program managers, and Government decision-makers.
- U.S. citizenship required.
Nice to Have
- Direct federal, government, or mission-critical system security architecture experience.
- CISSP, CCSP, CISM, SABSA, GIAC, cloud security, or comparable security credentials.
- Experience with NIST RMF/control families, zero trust, cloud security, identity, endpoint security, segmentation, logging/SIEM, and vulnerability management.
- Experience documenting security architecture views in Sparx/Prolaborate or comparable architecture/modeling tools.
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