Systems Architect

Systems Architect Chantilly and Tysons, VA (4 days a week on-site) NT Concepts seeks a System Architect to support a mission-focused research, development, and engineering program. This individual will shape the technical direction of an evolving capability that combines software engineering, data exploitation, and applied artificial intelligence. The System Architect will work directly with mission stakeholders, product leadership, and engineering teams to translate operational challenges into practical system capabilities. The ideal candidate understands the mission environment and can lead architecture decisions from early concept development through prototyping, integration, and operational deployment. The successful candidate must understand how software applications, data platforms, analytics, and AI-enabled services work together as an integrated mission system. Clearance: Active TS/SCI clearance. US Citizenship is required. Desired Leadership Profile The successful candidate will operate as a technical integrator and architectural leader rather than a narrowly focused specialist. This person should be equally comfortable discussing mission workflows with an operator, system interfaces with a software engineer, and data and AI/ML model performance with a data scientist. We are looking for an architect who can bring structure and technical direction to an evolving problem while preserving the flexibility required for research and rapid prototyping. The candidate must balance technical ambition with the practical demands of security, deployment, sustainment, and mission adoption, while communicating tradeoffs effectively to both technical teams and mission stakeholders. Responsibilities Own and communicate the technical vision and systems architecture for mission capabilities throughout the solution lifecycle, from concepts through deployment and sustainment. Engage mission users and stakeholders to understand operational needs, workflows, constraints, and desired outcomes. Translate mission needs into system concepts, architecture decisions, and technical requirements. Define, document and maintain system architecture across applications, data services, integration components, and AI/ML enabled capabilities. Guide the evolution of prototypes into secure, scalable, and supportable operational solutions. Establish architectural patterns that enable modular development, rapid integration, and future capability growth. Evaluate technical alternatives and communicate tradeoffs involving mission value, performance, security, cost, schedule and maintainability. Partner with software engineers to define application boundaries, service interactions, APIs, and deployment patterns. Define and develop approaches for ingesting, organizing, enriching, exploiting structured and unstructured data. Collaborate with data scientists and AI/ML engineers to incorporate models into mission workflows. Define technical approaches for model integration, evaluation, monitoring, and human oversight. Guide the development of data pipelines that support analytics, machine learning, and operational decision-making. Lead architecture reviews and contribute to technical planning across multidisciplinary engineering teams. Identify architectural, technical and integration risks early and develop practical mitigation strategies. Maintain architecture artifacts, interface definitions, decision records, requirements traceability and technical roadmaps. Support demonstrations, technical exchanges, and design review and architectural discussions with Government stakeholders. Mentor engineers and promote sound architecture, software, data, security and systems engineering practices across the programs. Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in computer science, systems engineering, data science, or a related technical field. At least 10 years of experience in systems architecture, software engineering, or complex technology delivery. Demonstrated experience designing and evolving software-intensive systems that support operational or mission users. Experience translating ambiguous mission or business problems into executable technical approaches, systems concepts and engineering requirements. Experience communicating technical concepts in demonstrations, design reviews, and customer facing technical exchanges. Demonstrated knowledge of modern software architecture, including APIs, distributed services, data platforms, cloud-native technologies, and deployment patterns. Experience supporting the full engineering lifecycle from concept development and prototyping through integration, deployment, and sustainment. Working knowledge of data engineering, analytics, AI/ML, and generative AI concepts. Experience integrating AI/ML or data science capabilities into user-facing applications and operational workflows. Ability to evaluate system-level tradeoffs and explain technical decisions to technical and nontechnical stakeholders. Experience working with Agile software teams in a research, prototyping, or rapid-delivery environments. Ability to collaborate effectively across software, data, systems engineering, security and mission teams. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Preferred Skills/Experience Advanced degree in systems engineering, computer science, data science, or a related field. Experience supporting Department of Defense mission environments. Experience with command and control, intelligence, operational planning, or decision-support capabilities. Knowledge of digital engineering, model-based systems engineering, or architecture frameworks. Experience with multimodal data, knowledge graphs, semantic search, or retrieval-augmented generation. Experience evaluating AI/ML performance, including accuracy, reliability, traceability, and operational usefulness. Familiarity with DevSecOps pipelines, containerized platforms, and automated testing. Understanding of cybersecurity engineering and Risk Management Framework requirements. Experience designing solutions for disconnected, degraded, or bandwidth-constrained environments. Experience leading technical demonstrations or operational experimentation. Physical Requirements: Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer Must be able to lift up to 10-15 pounds at time The pay range listed for this position reflects the wage or salary range NT Concepts expects to pay for this role at the time of posting. The compensation offered to a successful candidate within this range will be based on legitimate, job-related factors, including (but not limited to) the candidate's work location, education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements. Virginia Pay Range $131,376 - $243,984 USD About NT Concepts Founded in 1998 and headquartered in the Washington DC Metro area, NT Concepts is a private, mid-tier company with clients spanning the Intelligence and Defense communities. We deliver end-to-end data and technology solutions that advance the modernization, transformation, and automation of the national security mission—solutions with real impact developed in a strong engineering culture that encourages technical growth, leadership, and creative "big idea" problem-solving. Employees are the core of NT Concepts. We understand that world-changing concepts happen in collaborative environments. We are a company where talented teams work together using innovation and expertise to solve our clients' most critical challenges. Here, you'll gain competitive benefits, opportunities to bolster your skills and develop new abilities, and a company culture dedicated to support and service. In addition to our benefits program, we encourage our employees to take part in #NTC_GivesBack, which paves the way for positive social change. If joining a stable company with strong professional growth opportunities resonates with you, and you seek vital, mission-driven projects (for some pretty cool clients) that use your specific talents, we'd love to have you move forward with us. NT Concepts