Principal System Architect / SME with Security Clearance

ShorePoint, LLC; Herndon (VA); Remote; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

ShorePoint, LLC is seeking a senior Systems Architect to lead a team of senior engineers, shaping PQC migration aligned with NIST standards. You will define crypto-agility strategies, evaluate PQC algorithms and develop enterprise cybersecurity architectures for federal clients.

The role emphasizes policy development, collaboration across government teams and executive-level briefings, with a focus on post-quantum readiness and secure cloud architectures.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of systems architecture leadership.
• Active CISSP or CISM certification.
• Experience designing enterprise cybersecurity architectures.
• Experience developing enterprise cybersecurity requirements.
• Baseline and validate enterprise configurations.
• Policy creation per CISA/NIST standards.
• PKI, key management and certificate lifecycle management.
• Lead teams and communicate to executives.
• US citizen per federal contract requirements.
• Experience with PQC design and crypto inventories.
• Experience mapping CBOMs and cryptographic dependencies.
• TLS/VPN/SSH PQC pilots in production environments.
• FIPS 140-3 familiarity with HSMs.
• Familiarity with NSM-10, M-23-02 and CISA PQC guidance.
• Experience supporting federal government cybersecurity work.
• Zero Trust implementation in federal environments.
• Experience with AWS GovCloud, Azure Government or GCP for Government.
• PMI PMP certification.
• Cloud security certifications (CCSP/AWS/Azure).
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in related field already stated.

Responsibilities

• Lead and supervise senior systems architects and engineers.
• Advise project manager on workload distribution and staffing.
• Shape PQC migration strategy aligned with NIST post-quantum standards.
• Lead cryptographic inventory and discovery efforts.
• Establish crypto-agility standards for post-quantum transitions.
• Advise on hybrid classical/PQC implementations during migration.
• Evaluate PQC algorithms (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA).
• Gather enterprise cybersecurity architecture requirements with federal stakeholders.
• Develop design architectures for software, hardware and networks.
• Design, implement and baseline cybersecurity capability configurations.
• Validate capability implementations and changes.
• Develop policy aligned with CISA maturity models and NIST standards.
• Foster collaboration across government and contractor teams.
• Create briefings, presentations and written deliverables.

Skills

PQC standards

Crypto-agility

PKI lifecycle

Zero Trust

Leadership

Briefings & presentations

Policy development

NIST standards

HSM familiarity

Cloud security architecture

Federal contracting

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in CS/Cybersecurity

Tools

PQC tools familiarity

Job description

Who we are: ShorePoint is a fast-growing, industry-recognized and award-winning cybersecurity services firm focused on high-profile, high-threat public and private sector customers who demand experience and proven security models to protect their data. We embrace a "work hard, play hard" mentality and celebrate individual and company successes. We are passionate about our mission and going above and beyond to deliver for our customers, while fostering an environment that supports creativity, accountability, mission success, critical thinking and a desire to give back to our community. The Perks: As recognized members of the Cyber Elite, we work together in partnership to defend our nation's critical infrastructure while building meaningful and exciting career development opportunities in a culture tailored to the individual's technical and professional growth. We are committed to the belief that our team members do their best work when they are happy and well cared for. In support of this philosophy, we offer a comprehensive benefits package, major carriers for healthcare providers. Highlighted benefits include 144 hours of PTO, 11 holidays, 85% of insurance premiums covered, a 401(k), continuing education, certification maintenance and reimbursement and more. This is a unique opportunity to shape the growth, development and culture of an exciting and fast-growing company in the cybersecurity market.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead and technically supervise a team of senior systems architects and engineers, providing daily direction and mentorship.
• Advise the project manager on workload distribution and staffing across the systems team.
• Shape and support the agency’s PQC migration strategy in alignment with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) post-quantum standards and Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA) 2.0 requirements.
• Lead and conduct cryptographic inventory and discovery efforts to identify systems, protocols and data stores exposed to quantum decryption risk, including "harvest now, decrypt later" threats.
• Establish crypto-agility standards to enable systems to transition between classical and post-quantum algorithms with minimal re-architecture.
• Advise on hybrid classical/PQC implementation approaches to protect systems during the migration period.
• Evaluate NIST-selected PQC algorithms, including ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA, for suitability across enterprise use cases, performance constraints and system requirements.
• Gather and develop enterprise cybersecurity architecture requirements with federal stakeholders, building on analysis from information engineers.
• Produce design architectures covering software, hardware and communications that meet current needs and anticipate future cross-functional requirements and interfaces.
• Design, implement and baseline enterprise cybersecurity capability configurations.
• Validate and verify capability implementations and ongoing configuration changes to confirm they meet intended security outcomes.
• Develop policy aligned with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) maturity models, including the Zero Trust Maturity Model and NIST standards while ensuring architectures remain compatible and compliant with industry and federal standards.
• Foster collaboration across government and contractor teams to identify clear paths forward across key task areas.
• Develop briefings, presentations and written deliverables that communicate program status, risk reduction and value to technical teams and agency leadership.

What you need to know:

• PQC standards, including NIST-selected ML-KEM (FIPS 203), ML-DSA (FIPS 204) and SLH-DSA (FIPS 205) algorithms and the CNSA 2.0 suite and transition timelines.
• Crypto-agility principles, hybrid cryptographic implementation strategies, public-key infrastructure (PKI), key management and certificate lifecycle management in the context of cryptographic modernization.
• Enterprise cybersecurity architecture across software, hardware and network communications, including configuration baselining, validation and verification practices.
• Federal cybersecurity frameworks and guidance, including NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-series publications, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and CISA maturity models and how to translate federal policy and mandates into technical requirements and architecture decisions.
• Enterprise network architecture and cryptography across segmentation, routing, secure transport protocols and supporting infrastructure components, including identity and access management systems, directory services, load balancers, firewalls and hardware security modules (HSMs).
• Cloud, hybrid and multi-cloud security architecture, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), cloud key management, shared responsibility models, Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements and cryptographic dependencies across applications, operating systems, firmware and third-party products. Must have's:

Must have's:

• 10+ years of experience in systems architecture, including providing technical supervision and direction to senior architects and staff.
• Active Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certification.
• Experience designing and implementing enterprise cybersecurity architectures and capabilities.
• Experience developing enterprise cybersecurity architecture requirements with customers and stakeholders.
• Experience baselining enterprise cybersecurity capability configurations and validating and verifying implementations and ongoing configuration changes.
• Experience creating policy that adheres to CISA maturity models and NIST standards.
• Experience with PKI, key management and certificate lifecycle management.
• Proven ability to lead teams, build collaboration across stakeholders and communicate complex technical topics to technical and executive audiences through briefings, presentations and written deliverables.
• Proven ability to analyze complex requirements and translate them into clear, actionable tasks and processes through critical thinking.
• Applicants must currently be a U.S. citizen in compliance with federal contract requirements. Beneficial to have:
• Experience designing and implementing enterprise cybersecurity architectures that include PQC.
• Hands-on experience with PQC standards, including ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA and CNSA 2.0 requirements.
• Experience conducting cryptographic inventories and assessing "harvest now, decrypt later" risk exposure.
• Hands-on experience piloting PQC or hybrid key exchange in TLS, VPN/IPsec, SSH or code-signing environments.
• Experience with automated cryptographic and network discovery tools, including mapping cryptographic dependencies across large environments and building Cryptographic Bills of Materials (CBOMs).
• Familiarity with FIPS 140-3 validation, HSMs and vendor PQC readiness roadmaps.
• Familiarity with federal PQC policy drivers such as National Security Memorandum 10 (NSM-10), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-23-02 and CISA PQC guidance.
• Experience supporting cybersecurity work for federal government customers, including developing enterprise cybersecurity architecture requirements.
• Experience implementing Zero Trust architecture in a federal environment.
• Experience with major federal cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud, Azure Government or Google Cloud for Government.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Cloud security certifications such as AWS Certified Security - Specialty, Azure Security Engineer or Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP).
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Mathematics, Engineering or a related field. it's done:

Remote (Herndon, VA).