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
Skills Required
- 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 domains (application, integration, data, cloud/platform, network, cybersecurity, endpoint/mobility, identity, ITSM, operations).
- Experience with interfaces/APIs, dependencies, nonfunctional requirements, security and operational constraints, technical reviews, and implementation readiness.
- Hands-on ability to produce architecture views, diagrams, and decision artifacts and explain tradeoffs to engineers, program managers, and executives.
- U.S. Citizenship required.
- Ability to lead or participate in architecture compliance reviews, technical design reviews, and conduct trade studies and alternatives analysis.
- Support testing, deployment, transition, operations, and post-implementation stabilization including maintaining architecture records in approved repositories.
- 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.
What We Do
Passion and Purpose. We are a start-up borne out of a group of architects and engineers providing solutions that transform with digital breakthroughs. We Partner - Partnership to us means being all in - on the ground, in the weeds, producing and delivering mission solutions. We Innovate - driving digital innovation and experimentation to improve decision services for the American people. We Engage – co-creating to deliver HCD (human centered design) to solve tour customers digital challenges. We Deliver – and take pride and accountability in everything we do. We are Ignite IT. Ignite IT deploys teams that are customer-obsessed, delivering a CX (Customer Experience) renaissance to our Private and Public Sector customers. We combine Commercial BX (Business of Experience) with customer delivery experts to benefit agencies to innovate and improve services and launch new digital solutions. We have built a company foundation dependent on each of our employee’s success, and provide a healthy, engaging, community where learning and knowledge sharing are encouraged. We empower our employees to be bold, continually innovate and propose new ideas to improve processes and services. We engage daily on work that touches millions of people, always focusing on positive impacts and results. We enable mission services that enable Enterprise companies to succeed in digital transformation, protect Border Agents, deploy the Army Reserve and National Guard, providing decision dominance to make America safer. We apply these digital services across the Private and Public Sectors to include include HHS, DHS, AOUSC and Army. We aim to continually raise the bar for our customers to expect more from their digital services. For more information, visit www.igniteitservices.com
