Chief Architect

COMMENCE; Virginia Beach (VA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Commence, headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, seeks a Chief Architect to drive growth and delivery across federal health IT, state, and commercial markets. You will craft technical and business solutions, lead proposals, and guide architecture standards for the Commence Platform.

The role requires hands-on design leadership, strong communication, and a track record of shaping winning technical volumes. Remote work is available; collaboration with CGO/CTO and delivery leadership is essential.

Qualifications

• 15+ years total experience in architecture for large-scale cloud/data-centric solutions.
• 5+ years in solution architecture for federal government pursuits (CMS/VA/DHA or HHS).
• Proven track record shaping winning technical volumes and proposals.
• Hands-on technical credibility; capable as SME, not just advisor.
• Experience presenting to customers and stakeholders to drive adoption.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical solution design for priority pursuits across federal and commercial health markets.
• Serve as technical volume lead on RFPs, RFIs, and white papers; own the solution narrative.
• Make final technical recommendations on architecture and partner solutions.
• Build technical credibility with customers via meetings, presentations, and demos.
• Define and enforce architecture standards across the Commence Platform.

Skills

Solution architecture

Cloud architectures

AI/ML

DevSecOps

Proposal leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Job Type

Full-time

Description

Commence, headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, is a mission-led, technology-driven company built to solve the hardest problems in commercial and federal health care to drive measurable outcomes. Our work spans program integrity and compliance, quality improvement and measurement science, health informatics, interoperability, and AI, delivered across the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), and state health agencies. At its center is a data-centric philosophy grounded in a simple conviction: that better data, made accessible, connected, and usable, is the raw material of better decisions, better care, and better efficiency.

Requirements

Commence is seeking a passionate Chief Architect to serve in a dual-hatted leadership role supporting both Growth and Delivery. On the Growth side, the Chief Architect plays a pivotal role in supporting business development, capture and proposal teams by crafting technical and business solutions for opportunities and pursuits across our federal health IT, State, and commercial healthcare markets. On the Delivery side, the Chief Architect supports delivery teams, programs, and customers in defining and advancing effective technical and business solutions that address program, mission, and customer needs. The role demands hands-on technical and business solutioning, proposal leadership, and a sharp, current awareness of digital and healthcare technology trends. The ideal candidate defines problem statements, absorbs program and mission challenges, and develops the best solution by facilitating discussion and collaboration with internal stakeholders, customers, and external partners.

The Chief Architect leads and manages Commence's team of Solution Architects and balances team capacity and assignments across Growth and Delivery priorities. The Chief Architect owns how Commence's technical story is told, translating customer needs into credible, winnable positioning and partnering directly with mission delivery leadership, while also serving as an internal subject matter expert for architecture standards and governance across the Commence Platform. The Chief Architect ensures Solution Architect coverage across current Commence programs and opportunities in the pipeline so that Commence and its customers are positioned for success throughout their technical and mission journeys.

• Lead technical solution design for priority pursuits across federal health IT, State and commercial healthcare markets, turning customer requirements into solutions that are compliant, feasible and competitive.
• Serve as technical volume lead on RFPs, RFIs, market surveys and white papers. Own the solution narrative and tie each technical approach to measurable mission and business value.
• Make final technical recommendations on architecture, technology selection and teaming-partner solutions for pursuits, working with the CGO, CTO, Engineering leadership and the business and price volume owners.
• Build technical credibility with customers through capture meetings, oral presentations and solution demonstrations.
• Serve as final-tier technical expert for designated domains on active programs, staying hands-on in solution design rather than acting only as an advisor.
• Define and enforce architecture standards for the Commence Platform in partnership with the CTO. Make sure proposed and delivered solutions conform to them, and feed requirements from pursuits into the platform roadmap.
• Provide dotted-line technical oversight and mentorship to Solution Architects embedded on delivery teams.
• Lead, hire, develop and manage the performance of the Solution Architecture team.
• Allocate Solution Architect capacity across pipeline pursuits and active contracts. Balance pursuit coverage against delivery commitments and manage utilization to company targets.
• Track emerging digital health, cloud and AI/ML capabilities and bring the ones that matter into Commence’s solutions and team skill development.

Qualifications

• 15+ years total experience; 10+ years in architecture across large scale cloud, data centric engineering, AI/ML, and/or DevSecOps solutions.
• 5+ years of experience in solution architecture supporting federal government pursuits, ideally within CMS, VA, DHA, or broader HHS and federal health IT.
• Demonstrated track record shaping winning technical volumes and proposal narratives for mid to large federal programs.
• Strong hands on technical credibility; able to serve as final tier SME rather than in a purely advisory role.
• Experience collaborating with customers and stakeholders to present solutions and drive adoption and evaluator confidence.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication; proven capability in proposal writing for government agencies.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field; five additional years of experience may substitute.
• Ability to obtain and maintain Public Trust; U.S. residency required

Desired Skills

• Cloud certifications such as AWS, GCP, or Azure; DevSecOps or SAFe certifications.
• Experience with healthcare data standards, including HL7 FHIR, X12, ICD-10, and CPT.
• Applied AI/ML or agentic systems experience relevant to federal health IT modernization.

Work Environment/Physical Demands

The work environment and physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This is a remote position. While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly works in a climate-controlled environment. Candidates must be able to sit, read, work on a computer, and watch a computer screen for extended periods of time. Occasionally required to stand, walk, use hands and fingers, kneel or crouch.

Commence is an equal employment opportunity employer. All personnel processes are merit-based and applied without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military and veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Commence is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants, including individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application process due to a disability, please contact Human Resources at [phone] or [e-mail].