Systems Technical Director

ICF Olson; United States; Hybrid; USD 159,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF Olson is seeking a senior engineering leader to serve as the technical authority for a cross-functional program, guiding architecture, delivery, operations, and modernization across .NET, APIs, and cloud services.

You will balance current platform reliability with incremental modernization, improved cloud deployment, data quality, observability, and debt reduction, while mentoring engineers and shaping release plans and staffing.

Qualifications

• 7+ years delivering and supporting resilient, well-tested production web applications.
• 5+ years designing and delivering APIs or distributed services using .NET or similar.
• 3+ years leading engineering teams and multiple workstreams.
• 3+ years making and documenting architecture decisions across apps, data, cloud, security, and operations.
• 3+ years establishing automated testing, code quality, source control, CI/CD, release management, and production support.
• 3+ years guiding authentication, authorization, RBAC, privacy protections, and secure data handling.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain program engineering strategy, roadmap, guardrails, and modernization approach.
• Lead engineering leads and multiple workstreams, align priorities and delivery expectations.
• Provide technical direction for .NET applications, APIs, data models, SQL Server, and cloud services.
• Establish secure development, automated testing, code review, CI/CD, release readiness, and production support.
• Evaluate options and communicate recommendations, costs, risks, and tradeoffs to leadership and stakeholders.
• Coordinate architecture and delivery across cloud, DevSecOps, database, security, QA, accessibility, data, UX, and operations teams.
• Mentor leads and engineers to strengthen technical decision-making and best practices.

Skills

C#/.NET

ASP.NET MVC/Web API

SQL Server

Architecture decisions

Leadership

Agile delivery

DevSecOps familiarity

Security best practices

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/SE or equivalent

Job description

At ICF Next, we are fearless in finding new ways to solve problems, relentless in making sure it pays off for our clients and committed to making a positive change in the world. Join our community of mission-driven creatives, communicators, strategists, and technologists to challenge the status quo.

The Team You'll serve as the senior engineering leader for a cross-functional program that includes engineering team leads, software engineers, solution and cloud architects, database administrators, DevSecOps engineers, quality assurance specialists, user experience professionals, business analysts, product managers, data analysts, accessibility and security specialists, and behavioral health subject matter experts. We partner with federal stakeholders to operate and modernize a mission-critical data collection and performance reporting platform used by grantees and program staff.

The Work In this program-level role, you will serve as the overall technical authority for platform operations and maintenance and for development, modernization, and enhancement. You will connect architecture, delivery, operations, and modernization into a coherent plan; guide multiple engineering workstreams and team leads; make and document consequential technical decisions; establish shared standards; and ensure releases are secure, testable, supportable, and aligned with program priorities. You will remain close enough to the technology to evaluate designs, challenge assumptions, troubleshoot difficult issues, and advise the client on options and tradeoffs. A key part of the work is balancing reliable operation of the current .NET platform with incremental modernization, improved cloud and deployment practices, stronger data quality, better observability, and a sustainable path for reducing technical debt.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the program engineering strategy, technical roadmap, architecture guardrails, and incremental modernization approach.
• Lead engineering team leads and multiple development workstreams by aligning priorities, capacity, dependencies, standards, and delivery expectations.
• Provide technical direction for .NET applications, APIs, domain and data models, SQL Server solutions, system integrations, and cloud-hosted services.
• Establish program-wide practices for secure development, automated testing, code review, CI/CD, release readiness, documentation, and production support.
• Evaluate technical options and communicate recommendations, costs, risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs to program leadership and federal stakeholders.
• Partner with product and delivery leaders to shape release plans, estimates, staffing needs, and acceptance criteria that are technically achievable.
• Coordinate architecture and delivery across cloud, DevSecOps, database, security, quality assurance, accessibility, data, user experience, and operations teams.
• Identify and manage technical debt, performance constraints, reliability risks, integration dependencies, and modernization sequencing.
• Oversee response to complex production issues, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and improvements to monitoring and operational readiness.
• Mentor engineering leads and senior engineers, strengthen technical decision-making, and build consistent engineering practices across the program.
• Maintain technical roadmaps, decision records, interface documentation, standards, and executive-ready status reporting.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience. 7+ years delivering and supporting resilient, well-tested production web applications, including 3+ years working with C#, .NET or .NET Core, ASP.NET MVC or Web API, and SQL Server.
• 5+ years designing and delivering APIs or distributed application services using .NET or another modern language and framework.
• 3+ years leading engineering teams, technical leads, or multiple engineering workstreams, including Agile delivery, estimation, dependency management, and technical risk management.
• 3+ years making and documenting architecture decisions across applications, data, integrations, cloud infrastructure, security, and operations, and communicating tradeoffs to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• 3+ years establishing or improving engineering practices for automated testing, code quality, source control, CI/CD, release management, and production support.
• 3+ years guiding the design or implementation of authentication, authorization, role-based access, privacy protections, and secure handling of sensitive data.
• Authorization to work in the United States, ability to perform all work within the United States, and ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust determination and complete required background screening.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading incremental modernization of a large legacy .NET platform, including sequencing technical debt reduction while maintaining reliable production service.
• Experience guiding AWS or AWS GovCloud architecture and operations, including cost optimization, capacity planning, observability, and service reliability.
• Experience establishing deployment and security automation using CI/CD platforms, containers, infrastructure as code, and repeatable environment configuration.
• Experience supporting federal authorization efforts, including NIST Moderate controls, FedRAMP, ATO processes, and preparation of technical evidence.
• Experience overseeing architecture for high-volume data collection, batch ingestion, ETL, data quality, reporting, or business intelligence integrations.
• Experience guiding federated identity architecture, including single sign-on, multifactor authentication, and fine-grained access controls.
• Experience leading complex production incident response, root-cause analysis, and improvements that prevent recurring issues.
• Experience providing technical leadership for federal government, public health, grants management, behavioral health, or performance measurement programs.

Pay Range

Pay Range - There are multiple factors that are considered in determining final pay for a position, including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications and competencies that align to the specified role, geographic location, education and certifications as well as contract provisions regarding labor categories that are specific to the position. The pay range for this position based on full-time employment is: $158,819.00 - $269,993.00 Nationwide Remote Office (US99).

Working at ICF

ICF is a global consulting and technology services company with approximately 9,000 employees, but we are not your typical consultants. At ICF, business analysts and policy specialists work together with digital strategists, data scientists and creatives. We combine unmatched industry expertise with cutting-edge engagement capabilities to help organizations solve their most complex challenges. Since 1969, public and private sector clients have worked with ICF to navigate change and shape the future. Learn more at icf.com.

We are an equal opportunity employer. Together, our employees are empowered to share their expertise and collaborate with others to achieve personal and professional goals. For more information, please read our EEO policy.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Reasonable Accommodations are available, including, but not limited to, for disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs, in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation, please email [e-mail] and we will be happy to assist.

Read more about workplace discrimination rights or our benefit offerings which are included in the Transparency in (Benefits) Coverage Act.

Candidate AI Usage Policy At ICF, we are committed to ensuring a fair interview process for all candidates based on their own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate or assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is not permitted. This policy is in place to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the interview process. However, we understand that some candidates may require accommodation that involves the use of AI. If such an accommodation is needed, candidates are instructed to contact us in advance at [e-mail]. We are dedicated to providing the necessary support to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to succeed.