Senior Enterprise Architect

Arcfield; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 254,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcfield in Chantilly, VA, seeks a Senior Enterprise Architect to provide technical leadership and SES/SETA support for the Merigold contract. This role shapes architecture and modernization across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments, focusing on secure, scalable systems and rapid surge capacity.

You will lead cross-functional engineering teams, drive strategic roadmaps, evaluate trade studies, and ensure mission-critical resilience.

Qualifications

• TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance required.
• Bachelor's degree with 12–15 years of relevant experience, or MS with 10–13 years, or PhD with 10+ years
• Extensive enterprise architecture experience across on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments.
• Broad technical knowledge spanning software engineering, networking, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and distributed systems.
• Proven technical leadership guiding multidisciplinary engineering teams and influencing senior-level architectural decisions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as senior technical advisor for enterprise architecture and modernization of mission-critical ground capabilities.
• Define system-of-systems architecture with interoperability, scalability, security, and resilience.
• Guide development across software, networking, cloud, cybersecurity, and enterprise integration.
• Drive secure, highly redundant platforms capable of scaling and surging for evolving mission demands.
• Translate mission objectives into actionable roadmaps, acquisition strategies, and implementation plans.
• Evaluate designs, cross-system dependencies, and technical risks to ensure defensible decisions.

Skills

Clearance TS/SCI with Polygraph

Enterprise Architecture

Systems Engineering

Technical Leadership

Cloud/On-premises/Hybrid

Interoperability & Security

Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree + 12–15 years

MS Degree + 10–13 years

PhD + 10+ years

Job description

Responsibilities

The MissionAt Arcfield, we provide foundational systems engineering and integration solutions that protect and advance the nation’s most critical space and ground missions. We are currently seeking a Senior Enterprise Architect to provide technical leadership and Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) support for the Merigold contract.

The RoleThis individual will serve as a senior technical advisor to Government leadership, shaping the architecture, integration, and modernization of a complex, mission-critical system-of-systems ecosystem. This ecosystem supports enterprise services, software development, and operational mission capabilities.

The role requires an innovative engineering leader who combines strategic vision with deep technical expertise to guide secure, scalable, and resilient solutions across on-premises, cloud, hybrid, and distributed environments. The successful candidate will establish technical direction, challenge conventional approaches, champion innovation, and drive architectural rigor across multidisciplinary engineering efforts.

You must possess a deep understanding of mission criticality and the ability to architect capabilities that emphasize redundancy, operational continuity, agility, and adaptability to evolving mission demands—including the ability to rapidly scale and surge in response to changing operational requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Senior Technical Advisory: Serve as a senior technical authority and trusted Government advisor for enterprise architecture, platform integration, and the modernization of mission-critical ground capabilities. Advise Government leadership on technology investments, acquisition alternatives, and modernization priorities.
• System-of-Systems Architecture: Define and guide system-of-systems architecture with a strict emphasis on interoperability, scalability, security, resilience, and mission effectiveness. Provide architectural direction across software development, networking, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and enterprise integration.
• Resilience & Scalability: Architect and guide the development of secure, highly redundant, and adaptable platforms capable of scaling, surging, and surviving to meet evolving mission demands in dynamic environments.
• Innovation & Technical Rigor: Drive innovation by introducing emerging technologies, novel engineering solutions, and industry best practices. Challenge conventional approaches and drive technical rigor and collaboration across multidisciplinary engineering teams to deliver cohesive enterprise capabilities.
• Analysis & Trade Studies: Rigorously evaluate system designs, technical tradeoffs, cross-system dependencies, and technical risks to ensure sound, defensible engineering and architectural decisions.
• Roadmaps & Strategy: Translate complex mission objectives into actionable technical roadmaps, engineering requirements, acquisition strategies, and implementation plans.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Clearance: Must possess and be able to maintain a TS/SCI with Polygraph.
• Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree with 12–15 years of relevant experience; OR MS Degree with 10-13 years of relevant experience; OR a PhD with 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Enterprise Architecture Expertise: Extensive experience architecting, developing, or integrating complex, mission-critical systems and enterprise solutions. Proven experience designing secure, scalable, and resilient architectures across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
• Broad Technical Domain Knowledge: Broad, authoritative technical expertise spanning software engineering, networking, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and distributed systems.
• Technical Leadership & Influence: Demonstrated technical leadership guiding multidisciplinary engineering teams and influencing senior-level architectural decisions. Proven ability to translate broad mission requirements into innovative technical solutions and executable strategies.
• Systems Engineering Foundations: Strong foundational understanding of systems engineering principles, requirements development, technical trade studies, and full system lifecycles.
• Soft Skills: Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience supporting Intelligence Community (IC), Department of Defense (DoD), or other mission-critical Government systems.
• Experience designing or integrating secure communications, software-defined networks, distributed architectures, or highly resilient networking solutions.
• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, virtualization, containerization, DevSecOps, automation, and modern software development practices.
• Experience developing novel technical solutions, conducting research and development (R&D), or advancing technologies from concept through operational deployment.
• Knowledge of Government acquisition processes, technical evaluations, architecture governance, and technology investment planning.
• Experience with high-availability, fault-tolerant, or survivable architectures supporting contested, resource-constrained, or rapidly scaling environments.
• Advanced degree in a relevant technical discipline.

Equal Pay Act

This is the projected compensation range for this position. There are differentiating factors that can impact a final salary/hourly rate, including, but not limited to, Contract Wage Determination, relevant work experience, skills and competencies that align to the specified role, geographic location (For Remote Opportunities), education and certifications as well as Federal Government Contract Labor categories. In addition, Arcfield ’s benefits offerings include, dependent upon position, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, Holiday Pay, Short Term and Long-Term Disability, Retirement and Savings, Learning and Development opportunities, wellness programs as well as other optional benefit elections.
Min: $146,322.15Max: $254,425.83

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and federal government contractor. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment as protected by law.