Solution & Systems Integration Architect SME
Ignite IT · Washington
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