Senior Solution Architect, DevSecOps Offering GTM

IBM; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Consulting seeks a seasoned technical leader to own DevSecOps and platform engineering for US federal pursuits. You will architect, staff, and shape proposals, drive IRAD initiatives, and evolve the software factory with AI-enabled capabilities across provisioning, policy, and Day-2 operations.

You will mentor senior engineers, present reference architectures, and collaborate with capture teams to translate win themes into discriminators.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and security clearance prerequisites.
• 10+ years in tech services with federal project leadership.
• Hands-on Kubernetes DevSecOps platform design and implementation.
• Experience with IRAD and funded R&D from pitch to productization.
• Proven ability to craft technical proposals and win themes.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical GTM delivery anchor on federal pursuits for DevSecOps and Application Operations.
• Own the solution on deals: architecture, staffing, BOMs, and code challenges.
• Lead IRAD investments, scope projects, secure funding, and deliver results.
• Refactor the software factory with agentic AI across provisioning and Day-2 ops.
• Represent the offering at client briefings and industry days; develop reference architectures.
• Mentor architects and engineers; enforce engineering and communication standards.

Skills

10+ years in tech services

Lead architect for federal pursuits

Kubernetes DevSecOps platform

SBOMs and policy as code

IRAD / R&D leadership

Federal security standards

Cloud-native platforms (Gov Cloud)

Leadership by influence

Active Secret clearance

LLM/agent frameworks in engineering

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Terraform

GitOps

OSCAL

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

Red Hat OpenShift

Job description

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You'll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you'll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You'll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You'll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you'll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You'll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Your Role And Responsibilities

You are the technical anchor for the PDE Factory / DevSecOps offering across U.S. federal pursuits and the Application Operations portfolio. You own the solution on every deal: architecture, staffing, basis of estimate, proposal technical content, code challenges and orals. You work inside the capture structure with BD, capture leads, and the practice Partner, who owns revenue and pricing. Between pursuits you lead the IRAD and engineering roadmap that takes the existing software factory agentic and builds the next generation of solutions on it.

Responsibilities

• Serve as lead solution GTM technical delivery on federal civilian, DoD, and IC pursuits for the DevSecOps offering and for Application Operations proposals that need a platform solution.
• Act as technical anchor through the procurement lifecycle: RFI and sources-sought responses, RFP/RFQ technical and management volumes, compliance matrices, color-team reviews, code challenges, and orals.
• Partner with BD and capture leads to shape opportunities ahead of release, select teaming partners, and translate win themes into architecture discriminators.
• Lead IRAD on the agentic software factory: propose and scope investment projects, secure funding through the practice’s IRAD process, run them to demonstrable results on budget and schedule, and convert outcomes into new solutions, enhancements to the existing offering, reusable assets, and proposal-ready discriminators.
• Own the technical roadmap to refactor and extend the software factory with agentic AI across provisioning, policy generation, pipeline assembly, and Day-2 operations; lead the engineers delivering it.
• Represent the offering at client briefings, industry days, and partner engagements; produce reference architectures, solution briefs, and demo environments.
• Mentor architects and senior engineers across the practice; set and model engineering and communication standards.

Preferred Education

Bachelor's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• 10+ years in technology services, with 5+ as lead architect on U.S. federal pursuits and programs in DevSecOps, platform engineering, or secure software delivery.
• Designed and built a Kubernetes-based DevSecOps or software-factory platform, not just operated one. Hands-on with hardened images, signed artifacts and SBOMs, policy as code, golden pipelines, IaC (Terraform), GitOps, and continuous ATO evidence (OSCAL).
• Led technical proposal content and code‑challenge or orals teams on federal pursuits with documented wins. Fluent in Sections L and M, compliance matrices, basis of estimate, and the rhythm of a capture team.
• Practical experience applying LLM/agent frameworks, tool and API orchestration, guardrails, and evaluation to engineering workflows, with at least one agentic capability shipped into a real platform.
• Track record of leading internally funded R&D (IRAD, innovation, or product-incubation projects) from pitch through demo to productization: writing the investment case, managing scope and spend, producing working prototypes, and handing off assets that sales and delivery teams actually use.
• Federal security and compliance fluency: NIST SP 800-218, 800-53 r5, 800-171, 800-190; FedRAMP and DoD IL baselines; STIG/CC SRG; the executive‑order mandates driving current demand. Credible with CISOs and authorizing officials.
• Cloud-native platform depth across AWS EKS, Azure, Red Hat OpenShift, and RKE2, including GovCloud, private cloud, and air-gapped low-side/high-side patterns.
• Leadership through influence: track record of delivering inside a program structure with PMs, capture leads, and partners; gives and receives technical feedback in a way that strengthens teams; mentors senior engineers; writes and speaks clearly for both engineers and executives.
• Ability to obtain and maintain an active Secret clearance.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• DoD Platform One, USCIS, GSA, or comparable federal DevSecOps program experience.
• Named inventor or product owner of a DevSecOps platform or accelerator; patents or published reference architectures.
• Experience taking IRAD output into a client‑funded pilot or a priced offering, including partner co‑investment (Red Hat, AWS, Microsoft, GCP, Chainguard) or cloud‑provider credits.
• Experience with Application Operations and AMS delivery models, so platform solutions land cleanly in an operations proposal.
• TS/SCI eligibility.
• Certifications: CKA/CKS, AWS or Azure Solutions Architect, Red Hat OpenShift, CISSP; Shipley or APMP proposal training.
• Public thought leadership on supply‑chain security, continuous ATO, or agentic engineering.