Principal Solutions Architect (TAKMission Systems Integration)

• Onsite position at NTS office in Sterling VA

Compensation:

The base salary range for this position is $200000 - $230000

Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including relevant experience qualifications skills location and internal equity.

Benefits:

NexTech Solutions offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employees and their families including competitive health dental and vision coverage retirement savings options paid time off and additional employee benefits.

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Equal Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex race ethnicity age national origin citizenship religion physical or mental disability medical condition genetic information pregnancy family structure marital status ancestry domestic partner status sexual orientation gender identity or expression veteran or military status or any other basis prohibited by law. NTS will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws for employment.

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process please email

The Opportunity

The Principal Solutions Architect serves as the technical lead for the design integration implementation and sustainment of complex enterprise IT solutions supporting government and commercial customers. This role is responsible for architecting secure scalable and resilient infrastructure solutions across on-premises virtualized and containerized environments. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strategic planning customer engagement and the ability to lead multidisciplinary engineering efforts from concept through operational support.

Key Responsibilities (Principal Duties and Accountabilities *Essential Functions)

• Lead the architecture design integration and implementation of enterprise infrastructure solutions supporting mission and business objectives.
• Translate mission requirements into reference architectures detailed designs implementation plans migration strategies and measurable acceptance criteria. Evaluate technology tradeoffs lifecycle costs capacity and supportability.
• Architect and integrate TAK Server and TAK clients including ATAK iTAK WinTAK and WebTAK with mission packages Cursor on Target (CoT) routing federation certificate management and governed plugins and releases.
• Design the Data Integration Layer and partner interfaces using APIs messaging and event-driven services to ingest normalize route and share mission data. Define schemas access policies error handling and interface control documentation.
• Integrate TAK with common operating picture services video management dispatch and sensor feeds. Coordinate UAS and counter-UAS telemetry radar cameras location tracking and other security-system interfaces with specialist engineers.
• Design and build secure Windows Linux virtualized and containerized services across data centers and Azure including networking identity PostgreSQL and object storage monitoring backups and disaster recovery.
• Develop resilient connectivity across LMR/P25 LTE/FirstNet SATCOM and tactical mesh networks with radio and network specialists. Address encrypted transport traffic prioritization bandwidth limits link failover and voice/video performance.
• Implement Zero Trust principles network segmentation PKI identity federation least-privilege access encryption and security hardening. Coordinate approved cross-domain solutions and information-sharing controls for connections between security domains.
• Support cybersecurity personnel with Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Authorization to Operate (ATO) activities including system boundaries control implementation evidence remediation and continuous monitoring aligned with applicable NIST controls STIGs and organizational baselines.
• Establish Infrastructure as Code configuration management version control and repeatable deployment and rollback procedures for laboratory pilot and production environments.
• Lead integration interoperability security load failover and disconnected-operation testing. Troubleshoot issues across endpoints transport applications and data flows and validate corrective actions.
• Maintain architecture diagrams data flows as-built documentation configuration baselines and operational runbooks. Lead technical reviews and control changes across interdependent workstreams.
• Guide pilot evaluations phased fielding legacy-system migration and operational transition. Define health monitoring alerting recovery procedures and escalation paths supporting 24x7 operations.
• Lead and mentor multidisciplinary engineers coordinate vendors and customer stakeholders and communicate technical decisions dependencies and risks to program leadership.
• Support proposals technical estimates customer briefings demonstrations training knowledge transfer sustainment and technology refresh activities.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Leads and mentors a team of systems engineers providing technical direction prioritizing workload and delivering ongoing performance feedback to support professional growth.
• Oversees quality and accuracy of team deliverables reviewing engineering work products and ensuring alignment with project requirements and standards.
• Serves as the primary technical liaison coordinating team activities and communicating status risks and expectations to customers and program leadership.

• Fluency in English (written and spoken)
• Active Secret security clearance with the U.S. Government required

Education

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Technology Engineering or a related field (or equivalent experience).

Required Skills Experience & Abilities

• 10 years of experience designing and implementing enterprise IT infrastructure solutions.
• Experience with VMware vSphere ESXi vCenter and virtualization technologies.
• Strong knowledge of Windows Server and Linux operating systems.
• Experience with enterprise networking concepts including routing switching DNS firewalls VPNs and load balancing.
• Experience designing highly available secure and scalable enterprise architectures.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles security hardening and compliance frameworks (e.g. NIST STIGs CIS Benchmarks).
• Experience developing technical documentation architecture diagrams and implementation guides.
• Excellent troubleshooting analytical communication and customer-facing skills.
• Ability to lead technical teams and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting U.S. Government or Department of State environments.
• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (Terraform Ansible PowerShell or similar automation tools).
• Experience with Kubernetes Docker OpenShift or other container orchestration platforms.
• Relevant certifications such as VMware VCP Cisco CCNP Security CISSP or equivalent.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment described are representative of those that an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Capable of lifting and moving information technology equipment up to 50 pounds
• Ability to work occasional evenings and/or weekends as job duties demand
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• Professional office environment with standard office equipment (computers phones printers).
• Frequent interaction with clients executives and government officials in both in-person and virtual settings.
• Regular travel to customer sites government facilities and industry events.
• Fast-paced deadline-driven environment requiring adaptability and responsiveness.
• Work may occasionally be performed in secure government facilities requiring adherence to security protocols.
• This position may involve travel to government test sites training ranges and operational locations including potential OCONUS destinations for short periods of time.
• Work may be conducted in laboratory workshop office and field environments with varying conditions.

Required Experience:

Staff IC