Senior Platform Architect & Tech Lead for AI/Cloud Infra

Defenseunicorns; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 149,000 - 201,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401k retirement plan

Stock options

Home office budget

Paid time off

Parental leave

Training reimbursements

Job summary

Defense Unicorns seeks a senior Technical Lead / Platform Solution Architect to embed with a government team, serving as the go-to SME across platform architecture. You will bridge mission, engineering, security, data, and vendor perspectives into a coherent approach, guiding decisions from prototype to operational capability.

The role is hands-on and strategic, involving Kubernetes/OpenShift, GitLab/CI-CD, AI/agent infrastructure, data platforms, cloud, and security tooling.

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI clearance; local to the National Capital Region; onsite Springfield, Virginia.
• 8+ years of experience in systems engineering, platform engineering, cloud architecture, DevSecOps, or solution architecture with ownership of complex environments.
• Hands-on expertise with Kubernetes and enterprise container platforms, preferably Red Hat OpenShift.
• Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, IaC, GitOps, APIs, networking, identity, secrets, and observability.
• Familiarity with NIST 800-53, RMF, ATO/C-ATO, zero-trust architecture, software supply-chain security, and continuous authorization.
• Ability to communicate system architecture across application, platform, AI, data, and security boundaries.
• Proven capability to lead technical decisions in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with multiple teams and vendors.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical architecture across the platform ecosystem.
• Translate mission objectives into pragmatic technical choices with clear recommendations and risk assessments.
• Create and maintain architecture diagrams, ADRs, and integration patterns for leadership.
• Guide cross-functional teams in deployment, observability, identity, secrets, APIs, and lifecycle management.
• Work with OEMs to resolve cross-platform issues and ensure vendor solutions fit the architecture.
• Evaluate emerging AI, cloud-native, and platform technologies for practical adoption.

Skills

Kubernetes/OpenShift

GitLab CI/CD

Cloud architecture

Security controls

Tools

Kubernetes

OpenShift

GitLab

Security tooling

Job description

Defense Unicorns seeks a senior Technical Lead / Platform Solution Architect to embed with a government team, serving as the go-to SME across platform architecture. You will bridge mission, engineering, security, data, and vendor perspectives into a coherent approach, guiding decisions from prototype to operational capability.

The role is hands-on and strategic, involving Kubernetes/OpenShift, GitLab/CI-CD, AI/agent infrastructure, data platforms, cloud, and security tooling.