Senior Platform Architect & Technical Lead for AI/Cloud

Defense Unicorns; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401k Retirement Plan

Company Stock Options

Home Office Budget

Paid Parental Leave

Job summary

Defense Unicorns seeks a senior Technical Lead / Platform Solution Architect to embed with a government team in the National Capital Region. You will connect mission objectives with engineering, security, data, AI, and vendor perspectives to form a coherent technical approach and trusted advisory.

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

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI clearance or willingness to obtain one.
• 8+ years in systems/platform engineering or solution architecture.
• Experience with multi-vendor platforms and security controls (NIST RMF).

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical architecture across platform ecosystem.
• Guide integration across Kubernetes/OpenShift, AI/ML services, data platforms, and security tooling.
• Identify risks early and drive repeatable deployment patterns.
• Brief senior leaders with concise architectural decisions and tradeoffs.

Skills

Kubernetes/OpenShift expertise

Cloud architecture

DevSecOps practices

Executive briefing

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM or related field

Tools

Red Hat OpenShift

GitLab

Terraform/Pulumi

NIST 800-53/RMF

Job description

Defense Unicorns seeks a senior Technical Lead / Platform Solution Architect to embed with a government team in the National Capital Region. You will connect mission objectives with engineering, security, data, AI, and vendor perspectives to form a coherent technical approach and trusted advisory.

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