Principal System Architect / SME

Job Description

• This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Principal System Architect / SME based in United States. This role provides technical leadership for an enterprise Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) program supporting a federal agency and its transition toward quantum-resistant cybersecurity. You’ll guide senior architects and engineers while shaping migration strategies, crypto-agility standards, and enterprise security architecture. The position combines hands-on architecture with technical supervision, stakeholder collaboration, and strategic planning. You’ll assess cryptographic risks, develop architectures and requirements, and help modernize security capabilities across complex enterprise environments. Success requires the ability to translate emerging cryptographic standards and federal requirements into practical technical solutions. This is an opportunity to influence a critical cybersecurity modernization program while contributing to a technically focused and collaborative environment.
• Accountabilities: Lead and technically supervise senior systems architects and engineers, providing daily direction, mentorship, and technical guidance. Support workload coordination and staffing decisions by advising project leadership on team priorities and resource allocation. Shape and support enterprise PQC migration strategies aligned with NIST post-quantum standards and CNSA 2.0 requirements. Lead cryptographic inventory and discovery activities to identify systems, protocols, data stores, and dependencies exposed to quantum-related risks, including “harvest now, decrypt later” threats. Establish crypto-agility standards and advise on hybrid classical/PQC approaches that enable secure migration with minimal re-architecture. Evaluate PQC algorithms such as ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA against enterprise use cases, performance requirements, and technical constraints. Develop cybersecurity architecture requirements with federal stakeholders and translate business, mission, and security needs into actionable technical requirements. Design enterprise architectures spanning software, hardware, communications, networking, and cybersecurity capabilities while anticipating future interfaces and cross-functional requirements. Design, implement, baseline, validate, and verify enterprise cybersecurity capability configurations and ongoing changes. Develop security policies aligned with NIST standards, CISA maturity models, Zero Trust principles, and applicable federal and industry requirements. Foster collaboration across government and contractor teams to establish practical paths forward across complex technical workstreams. Prepare briefings, presentations, and written deliverables that communicate program status, risks, progress, security outcomes, and value to technical and executive stakeholders. Requirements: 10+ years of systems architecture experience, including technical supervision and direction of senior architects and engineering staff. Active CISSP or CISM certification. Proven experience designing and implementing enterprise cybersecurity architectures and capabilities. Experience developing cybersecurity architecture requirements collaboratively with customers and stakeholders. Experience baselining enterprise cybersecurity configurations and validating and verifying implementations and ongoing configuration changes. Experience developing policies aligned with CISA maturity models, NIST standards, and federal cybersecurity requirements. Strong knowledge of PKI, key management, and certificate lifecycle management. Deep understanding of PQC standards, including ML-KEM (FIPS 203), ML-DSA (FIPS 204), SLH-DSA (FIPS 205), CNSA 2.0, and related transition requirements. Knowledge of crypto-agility, hybrid cryptographic implementations, enterprise cryptography, network security, and secure communications. Experience with enterprise network architecture, including segmentation, routing, secure transport protocols, IAM, directory services, load balancers, firewalls, and HSMs. Knowledge of cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud security architectures, including IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, cloud key management, shared responsibility models, and FedRAMP requirements. Ability to translate complex technical, policy, and mission requirements into clear architecture decisions, actionable processes, and prioritized tasks. Strong leadership, collaboration, communication, and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to explain complex technical subjects to both technical and executive audiences. Experience with PQC architecture, cryptographic inventories, “harvest now, decrypt later” risk assessments, hybrid key exchange, automated discovery tools, or Cryptographic Bills of Materials (CBOMs) is highly desirable. Familiarity with FIPS 140-3, HSMs, federal PQC guidance, Zero Trust architecture, and federal cloud environments such as AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, or Google Cloud for Government is a plus. PMP, CCSP, AWS Security Specialty, Azure Security Engineer, or similar certifications are beneficial. A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field is beneficial. Must be a U.S. citizen in compliance with federal contract requirements. Benefits: Fully remote position, with the role based in the United States and noted as remote from Herndon, Virginia. 144 hours of paid time off (PTO). 11 paid holidays. Healthcare coverage with approximately 85% of insurance premiums covered. 401(k) retirement plan. Continuing education opportunities. Certification maintenance and reimbursement. Opportunities for technical and professional development within a cybersecurity-focused environment. Collaborative culture supporting creativity, accountability, critical thinking, and mission success.
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