Vermont Staffing
Platform Architect SME
The Platform Architect SME will provide expert-level technical leadership and architectural oversight for enterprise platforms used across USCIS. The role focuses on designing, integrating, securing, optimizing, and evolving platforms that support applications, infrastructure, identity, operations, and cloud and hybrid deployments. The SME ensures platform solutions align with enterprise goals, regulatory compliance, performance, cost, security, and scalability requirements. Responsibilities include leading the architectural design, evaluation, and implementation of enterprise platform services including compute, storage, virtualization, containerization, serverless, orchestration, and middleware. Design and guide platform strategy across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments for USCIS. Define platform reference architectures, blueprints, standards, patterns, and best practices; ensure consistency and compliance across the enterprise. Integrate platform components with identity and access services, directory services, authentication, authorization, and security controls. Collaborate with application developers, infrastructure, network, security, and operations teams to ensure platform architectures meet performance, availability, reliability, and security SLAs. Lead efforts on cloud migration, modernization, scalability (autoscaling, load balancing), disaster recovery, high availability, redundancy. Perform capacity planning, resource provisioning strategy, monitoring, and tuning of platform performance. Ensure cost optimization: monitor usage, make architectural trade-offs, implement cost controls, manage spend across cloud and on-premise infrastructure. Incorporate security and compliance into platform design: ensure platforms adhere to applicable federal standards (e.g. NIST, FedRAMP, FISMA, DHS policy), enforce secure baselines, hardening, logging/audit, patching, vulnerability management. Oversee and/or contribute to platform operations, including release and deployment pipelines, automation, CI/CD, configuration management, infrastructure as code (IaC). Mentor and guide other architects, engineers, and operations staff; facilitate knowledge transfer. Maintain architecture documentation: system diagrams, interface definitions, data flows, platform lifecycle plans, disaster recovery / failover plans. Review vendor products / third-party tools / COTS solutions with respect to platform fit, cost, maintenance, security, and roadmap alignment. Communicate architectural options, trade-offs, risk assessments to USCIS leadership and stakeholders. Qualifications include U.S. citizenship and ability to meet USCIS / DHS clearance/suitability requirements. A bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a closely related field is required. Advanced degree preferred. Typically, 10+ years of experience in platform architecture or similar roles in large-scale enterprise environments. Deep experience with multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises platform deployments (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP). Strong experience with core platform technologies: virtualization (VMware, Hyper-V, etc.), container orchestration (Kubernetes, OpenShift, etc.), serverless, microservices, middleware, networking for platforms. Proficiency in automation, IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation, Azure ARM, etc.), configuration management, CI/CD pipelines. Strong security background: secure architecture, compliance frameworks, identity management, zero trust, auditing / logging. Solid skills in performance tuning, capacity planning, scalability, reliability engineering. Excellent communication skills: able to work with technical and non-technical stakeholders, present architecture decisions, write technical documentation. Desired skills include certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect, Google Cloud Professional Architect, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), etc. Prior experience working on federal or DHS / USCIS contracts, or in regulated environments. Familiarity with Zero Trust architectures and strategy. Experience with platform monitoring, telemetry, observability tools. Experience with modern DevOps / DevSecOps practices. Experience with emerging tech relevant to USCIS modernization: AI/ML platform integration, edge computing, etc. Level and other considerations include senior / SME level; likely expected to lead or have oversight over other architects/engineers. May be responsible for both strategic and hands-on technical work. Ability to travel or work with geographically dispersed teams if required. Compliance with all USCIS / DHS policies, guidelines, and security training.
The Platform Architect SME will provide expert-level technical leadership and architectural oversight for enterprise platforms used across USCIS. The role focuses on designing, integrating, securing, optimizing, and evolving platforms that support applications, infrastructure, identity, operations, and cloud and hybrid deployments. The SME ensures platform solutions align with enterprise goals, regulatory compliance, performance, cost, security, and scalability requirements. Responsibilities include leading the architectural design, evaluation, and implementation of enterprise platform services including compute, storage, virtualization, containerization, serverless, orchestration, and middleware. Design and guide platform strategy across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments for USCIS. Define platform reference architectures, blueprints, standards, patterns, and best practices; ensure consistency and compliance across the enterprise. Integrate platform components with identity and access services, directory services, authentication, authorization, and security controls. Collaborate with application developers, infrastructure, network, security, and operations teams to ensure platform architectures meet performance, availability, reliability, and security SLAs. Lead efforts on cloud migration, modernization, scalability (autoscaling, load balancing), disaster recovery, high availability, redundancy. Perform capacity planning, resource provisioning strategy, monitoring, and tuning of platform performance. Ensure cost optimization: monitor usage, make architectural trade-offs, implement cost controls, manage spend across cloud and on-premise infrastructure. Incorporate security and compliance into platform design: ensure platforms adhere to applicable federal standards (e.g. NIST, FedRAMP, FISMA, DHS policy), enforce secure baselines, hardening, logging/audit, patching, vulnerability management. Oversee and/or contribute to platform operations, including release and deployment pipelines, automation, CI/CD, configuration management, infrastructure as code (IaC). Mentor and guide other architects, engineers, and operations staff; facilitate knowledge transfer. Maintain architecture documentation: system diagrams, interface definitions, data flows, platform lifecycle plans, disaster recovery / failover plans. Review vendor products / third-party tools / COTS solutions with respect to platform fit, cost, maintenance, security, and roadmap alignment. Communicate architectural options, trade-offs, risk assessments to USCIS leadership and stakeholders. Qualifications include U.S. citizenship and ability to meet USCIS / DHS clearance/suitability requirements. A bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a closely related field is required. Advanced degree preferred. Typically, 10+ years of experience in platform architecture or similar roles in large-scale enterprise environments. Deep experience with multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises platform deployments (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP). Strong experience with core platform technologies: virtualization (VMware, Hyper-V, etc.), container orchestration (Kubernetes, OpenShift, etc.), serverless, microservices, middleware, networking for platforms. Proficiency in automation, IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation, Azure ARM, etc.), configuration management, CI/CD pipelines. Strong security background: secure architecture, compliance frameworks, identity management, zero trust, auditing / logging. Solid skills in performance tuning, capacity planning, scalability, reliability engineering. Excellent communication skills: able to work with technical and non-technical stakeholders, present architecture decisions, write technical documentation. Desired skills include certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect, Google Cloud Professional Architect, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), etc. Prior experience working on federal or DHS / USCIS contracts, or in regulated environments. Familiarity with Zero Trust architectures and strategy. Experience with platform monitoring, telemetry, observability tools. Experience with modern DevOps / DevSecOps practices. Experience with emerging tech relevant to USCIS modernization: AI/ML platform integration, edge computing, etc. Level and other considerations include senior / SME level; likely expected to lead or have oversight over other architects/engineers. May be responsible for both strategic and hands-on technical work. Ability to travel or work with geographically dispersed teams if required. Compliance with all USCIS / DHS policies, guidelines, and security training.