Senior Principal Systems Architect

Job ID: 2500134

Location: ARLINGTON, VA, US

Date Posted: 2025-01-07

Category: Engineering and Sciences

Subcategory: Sys Integration

Schedule: Full-time

Shift: Day Job

Travel: Yes, 25 % of the Time

Minimum Clearance Required: Secret

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain: TS/SCI

Potential for Remote Work: No

Description

We are seeking a highly experienced Systems Architect to lead the design and architecture of complex, large-scale systems. This senior-level role requires a deep understanding of system integration, architecture design, and strategic technology direction. As a Principal Systems Architect, you will be responsible for defining the overall system architecture, guiding cross-functional teams, and ensuring that all system components integrate seamlessly to meet business needs. You will leverage your expertise in both software and hardware systems to build scalable, reliable, and high-performance solutions that align with business goals.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architectural Leadership: Lead the design and development of comprehensive system architectures that encompass hardware, software, networking, security, and cloud components. Ensure the architecture is scalable, modular, and adaptable to future business needs and technological advancements.
• System Integration & Optimization: Oversee the integration of various subsystems (hardware, software, cloud services, networking, etc.) to create cohesive solutions that meet performance, security, and scalability requirements.
• Technology Strategy: Define and drive the long-term technical strategy and vision for system architectures. Evaluate and select technologies that align with the company's goals, focusing on innovation, scalability, and operational efficiency.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, development teams, network engineers, security teams, and other stakeholders to gather requirements, validate designs, and ensure system integration across all domains.
• Design & Documentation: Create and maintain high-level architectural designs, technical specifications, and detailed documentation. Ensure all architectural decisions are well-documented and clearly communicated to stakeholders.
• Mentorship & Leadership: Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams, guiding them through the architecture and design process. Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
• Risk Management & Troubleshooting: Proactively identify risks in the system design, including performance bottlenecks, security vulnerabilities, and integration challenges. Lead efforts to resolve complex technical issues and mitigate risks.
• Quality & Best Practices: Establish architectural standards and best practices for design, implementation, and deployment. Promote a consistent approach to quality across all systems and processes.
• Innovation & Research: Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends. Lead the evaluation and adoption of new tools, frameworks, and methodologies that improve system performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Stakeholder Communication: Communicate architectural decisions, trade-offs, and technical solutions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Collaborate with senior leadership to ensure alignment with business objectives.

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree and 14 years, or a Master's and 12 years of experience with at least 5 years in a leadership or principal architect role.

• Proven experience designing, integrating, and optimizing large-scale, distributed systems (both software and hardware).
• Strong background in cloud architecture (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and cloud-native development.
• Hands-on experience with system integration, performance tuning, and managing large-scale infrastructure.
• Expertise in high-availability and fault-tolerant systems design.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and collaborating with engineering, product management, and business stakeholders.
• Strong background in security architecture and compliance standards for enterprise-level systems.

Skills & Competencies:

• System Architecture Design: Deep knowledge of system design principles, including modularity, scalability, fault tolerance, and high availability. Experience with microservices, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and service-oriented architectures (SOA).
• Cloud Computing & Virtualization: Expertise in cloud infrastructure, serverless architecture, virtualization, and container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes).
• Distributed Systems: Experience with designing and architecting distributed systems, including knowledge of data consistency, replication, fault tolerance, and load balancing.
• Technology Selection & Integration: Strong ability to evaluate and select appropriate technologies (e.g., databases, messaging systems, big data tools) and integrate them into cohesive system designs.
• Security & Compliance: Knowledge of security best practices for system architecture, including network security, data encryption, authentication, and identity management.
• Performance & Scalability: Expertise in designing systems that can scale horizontally and vertically to handle increased load and maintain high performance.
• Leadership & Mentorship: Proven ability to lead and mentor engineering teams, manage architectural reviews, and drive decisions across a variety of stakeholders.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Problem-Solving: Excellent analytical and troubleshooting skills with the ability to resolve complex system integration issues and optimize performance.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Cloud-Native Architectures: Experience in designing and deploying cloud-native architectures (e.g., microservices, serverless, event-driven systems).
• Big Data & Streaming Technologies: Familiarity with big data architectures and tools (e.g., Hadoop, Spark) and real-time data streaming technologies (e.g., Apache Kafka, Apache Flink).
• DevOps & Automation: Familiarity with DevOps practices, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), and infrastructure automation tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
• AI/ML Integration: Experience integrating AI/ML components into large-scale systems for enhanced data processing or predictive capabilities.
• Agile Methodologies: Familiarity with Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) and experience leading technical teams in an Agile environment.

Certifications (Preferred):

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional.
• Google Cloud Certified - Professional Cloud Architect.
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE).

SAIC accepts applications on an ongoing basis and there is no deadline.

Covid Policy: SAIC does not require COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters. Customer site vaccination requirements must be followed when work is performed at a customer site.

Employers have access to artificial intelligence language tools (“AI”) that help generate and enhance job descriptions and AI may have been used to create this description. The position description has been reviewed for accuracy and Dice believes it to correctly reflect the job opportunity.