Technical Lead

Position Description:CGI is seeking a hands-on, forward-thinking Technical Lead and engineering culture champion to drive architecture, operational stabilization, mature SDLC practices, and cloud modernization for the mission-critical portfolio at a major federal agency. Our engineering team is executing a multi-year modernization of the enterprise backbone that governs and automates federal procurement contracts—transitioning legacy client-server desktop tools and nightly data synchronization feeds into a modern, cloud-native AWS ecosystem.You will serve as the technical anchor and quality standard-bearer for an Agile engineering team navigating a complex multi-tier system evolution spanning Java backend microservices, enterprise JBoss EAP middleware, automated Spring Batch ETL feeds, Amazon Aurora MySQL database clusters, and desktop client-server integrations. In this role, you will institute disciplined engineering best practices, establish automated testing and schema migration frameworks from the ground up, diagnose and resolve database and messaging bottlenecks, guide the modernization of core procurement systems, and elevate collective team craftsmanship across all tiers.***This position is located in our Fairfax, VA office; however, a hybrid working model is acceptable***Your future duties and responsibilities:• Architectural Leadership & SDLC Governance: Provide technical vision, hands-on architectural leadership, and engineering oversight across the 7 interconnected systems of the portfolio. Institute and champion modern SDLC best practices across the team, establishing disciplined development workflows, structured design reviews, and high engineering standards.• Code Quality, Review Culture & Software Craftsmanship: Establish and enforce rigorous peer code review processes, static code analysis quality gates (e.g., SonarQube), and automated linting. Coach and hold the engineering team accountable to clean, maintainable, self-documenting code, actively retiring technical debt and legacy anti-patterns.• Automated Testing Strategy & Coverage Culture: Champion a comprehensive automated testing culture from the ground up; establish test coverage baselines and build robust, CI-integrated test suites (unit, integration, regression, and end-to-end with JUnit, Mockito, Testcontainers) to create a reliable safety net for rapid, confident deployments.• Database Tuning & Schema Migration Pipelines: Lead the root-cause diagnosis and remediation of database bottlenecks in Amazon Aurora MySQL. Implement automated, version-controlled database schema migration tooling (e.g., Flyway, Liquibase) to replace manual database interventions with repeatable, automated CI/CD deployments.• Asynchronous Messaging & SQS Migration: Architect and drive the modernization of embedded messaging subsystems to cloud-native queues and worker services.• Client/Server Modernization Oversight: Direct the technical stabilization of the operational desktop procurement client, guiding the modernization roadmap toward future modular web frontends.• Batch Ingestion & Integration Pipelines: Oversee the architecture and operational health of high-volume nightly data ingestion and synchronization pipelines built on Spring Batch, integrating external federal endpoints.• Cloud Infrastructure & GitOps Deployments: Deploy, manage, and monitor containerized microservices on AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) within managed cloud environments, utilizing GitOps pipelines (Flux CD, Helm releases).• On Premise Decommissioning: Lead architectural analysis and engineering efforts to decouple remaining on-premise dependencies to modern cloud-native REST and event-driven patterns.• Identity & Access Control Architecture: Maintain and enforce authentication and authorization standards across disparate web portals and desktop clients, integrating SAML 2.0 / Okta SSO.• Mentorship, Continuous Learning & Stakeholder Partnership: Lead by example to foster a team culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous learning. Mentor mid-level and junior developers through hands-on pairing and constructive architectural critique, while partnering closely with application users, product owners, and solution architects to define technical roadmaps and deliver accurate estimates.Required qualifications to be successful in this role:• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other technical discipline.• Minimum 7+ years of hands-on enterprise Java engineering experience (Java 17, Spring Boot, Spring Batch, JBoss EAP / WildFly, RESTful APIs, SOAP web services).• Relational database experience with MySQL or Amazon Aurora MySQL (or similar RDBMS), including schema design, query optimization, and migration tooling (Flyway).• Proven track record as a technical leader who has successfully established or matured SDLC best practices—including instituting formal code review standards, disciplined branching workflows, and elevated code quality baselines within existing teams or brownfield projects.• Demonstrated commitment to software quality and test automation, with hands-on experience establishing automated test suites (unit, integration, regression with JUnit, Mockito, Testcontainers) and driving meaningful test coverage improvements in complex codebases.• Hands-on experience implementing automated, version-controlled database schema migration tooling (e.g., Flyway, Liquibase) integrated into automated CI/CD release pipelines.• Experience integrating and enforcing automated code quality, security, and static analysis tooling (e.g., SonarQube, Checkstyle, OWASP dependency checks) within build pipelines.• Proven experience designing and managing enterprise asynchronous messaging architectures and migrating workloads to cloud messaging services (Amazon SQS, FIFO queues, Dead Letter Queues).• Proven experience deploying, troubleshooting, and operating containerized microservices on AWS (Amazon EKS, ECS, Docker, RDS Proxy, AWS Secrets Manager, S3).• Experience with GitOps methodologies and automated CI/CD tooling (Flux CD, Helm, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).• Hands-on proficiency with database persistence frameworks and SQL mapping tools (MyBatis, raw JDBC).• Familiarity with enterprise client-server desktop software architecture (e.g., PowerBuilder, C/ODBC database drivers, Windows VDI/Citrix environments) and strategies for modernizing legacy clients into service-oriented web applications.• Experience with API security, federated authentication, and authorization best practices (OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, Okta, TLS/PKI, JWT, RBAC).• Strong diagnostic and root-cause problem-solving mindset with a passion for eliminating technical debt, refactoring legacy anti-patterns, and coaching engineers to high standards.• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to convey complex technical trade-offs and quality standards to both engineers and government stakeholders.Desired qualifications/non essential skills required:• Specific experience supporting or modernizing desktop applications, ex PowerBuilder• Experience building and maintaining modern frontend applications using TypeScript, HTML5, CSS/SCSS, and Angular (v14+).• Experience with AWS managed integration and data services (AWS Transfer Family / SFTP, AWS DMS, AWS Lambda, EventBridge, OpenSearch).• Experience with legacy data migration.• Experience with document generation libraries (e.g., iText PDF engine).• Familiarity with federal acquisition operations or federal data systems (SAM.gov, FPDS-NG).• Experience with automated testing and performance profiling tools (Cypress, Selenium, JMeter, Gatling).• Project management and collaboration tools – JIRA, ConfluenceCGI is required by law in some jurisdictions to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. The determination of this range includes various factors not limited to skill set, level, experience, relevant training, and licensure and certifications. To support the ability to reward for merit based performance, CGI typically does not hire individuals at or near the top of the range for their role. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range for this role in the U.S. is $89,600.00 $194,000.00.CGI Federal's benefits are offered to eligible professionals on their first day of employment to include: . Competitive compensation . Comprehensive insurance options . Matching contributions through the 401(k) plan and the share purchase plan . Paid time off for vacation, holidays, and sick time . Paid parental leave . Learning opportunities and tuition assistance . Wellness and Well being programs#CGIFederalJobSkills:DevOpsFull Stack DevelopmentFull Stack DevelopmentService DesignSystems ArchitectureWhat you can expect from us:Together, as owners, let’s turn meaningful insights into action.Life at CGI is rooted in ownership, teamwork, respect and belonging. Here, you’ll reach your full potential because…You are invited to be an owner from day 1 as we work together to bring our Dream to life. That’s why we call ourselves CGI Partners rather than employees. We benefit from our collective success and actively shape our company’s strategy and direction.Your work creates value. You’ll develop innovative solutions and build relationships with teammates and clients while accessing global capabilities to scale your ideas, embrace new opportunities, and benefit from expansive industry and technology expertise.You’ll shape your career by joining a company built to grow and last. You’ll be supported by leaders who care about your health and well-being and provide you with opportunities to deepen your skills and broaden your horizons. Come join our team—one of the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world.Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, sex, religion, creed, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, pregnancy, medical condition, military and veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and gender expression, familial status or responsibilities, reproductive health decisions, political affiliation, genetic information, height, weight, or any other legally protected status or characteristics to the extent required by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws where we do business.CGI provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. If you need an accommodation to apply for a job in the U.S., please email the CGI U.S. Employment Compliance mailbox at View email address on click.appcast.io. You will need to reference the Position ID of the position in which you are interested. Your message will be routed to the appropriate recruiter who will assist you. Please note, this email address is only to be used for those individuals who need an accommodation to apply for a job. Emails for any other reason or those that do not include a Position ID will not be returned.We make it easy to translate military experience and skills! Click here to be directed to our site that is dedicated to veterans and transitioning service members.All CGI offers of employment in the U.S. are contingent upon the ability to successfully complete a background investigation. Background investigation components can vary dependent upon specific assignment and/or level of US government security clearance held. Dependent upon role and/or federal government security clearance requirements, and in accordance with applicable laws, some background investigations may include a credit check. CGI will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrests and conviction records in accordance with all local regulations and ordinances.CGI will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with CGI’s legal duty to furnish information.