Solutions Architect

AvantGarde, LLC (AG) seeks to engage a Solutions Architect to serve as a strategic technical advisor, guiding the evaluation, selection, and adoption of enterprise platforms to ensure mission and business needs are met with the most effective, secure, and sustainable solutions. This individual will support AG's Client, the United States Capitol Police (Legislative Branch) Office of Information Systems (OIS). This role ensures that platform decisions are made through a structured, repeatable, and transparent process, balancing functionality, cost, security, integration complexity, and future scalability. The role provides both strategic guidance and high-level design support to ensure selected solutions are feasible, compliant, and positioned for successful implementation. The Solutions Architect supports enterprise technology planning and solution alignment activities by helping translate mission and operational needs into practical, sustainable technology approaches aligned with established enterprise standards and governance processes. The role works closely with business, technical, cybersecurity, and delivery stakeholders to support solution planning, implementation coordination, and architecture documentation activities across enterprise initiatives.

Remote work options (2 days per week) are available after a brief acclimation period.

The WORK

• Facilitate collaboration among business, technical, cybersecurity, and operational stakeholders throughout solution planning and implementation activities.
• Assist in evaluating emerging technologies and platform capabilities to support evolving mission and operational needs.
• Develop recommendation materials, tradeoff analyses, and supporting documentation for stakeholder review and decision-making.
• Maintain documentation of systems, integrations, and platform relationships to support operational visibility and solution planning.
• Evaluate proposed solutions for operational fit, maintainability, scalability, and alignment with approved enterprise platforms and standards.
• Identify and communicate implementation considerations, dependencies, and operational impacts to project stakeholders.
• Coordinate with project, governance, and technical teams to support alignment with established delivery and review processes.
• Support development of solution documentation, implementation guidance, and reusable technical reference materials.
• Participate in architecture review and standards alignment activities to support consistent, secure, and sustainable solution implementation.
• Present findings and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences, enabling informed decision-making across leadership and delivery teams.
• Ensure platform decisions are aligned with enterprise strategy, security requirements, and long-term sustainability.
• Deliver well-reasoned, evidence-based platform recommendations that reduce rework, minimize risk, and accelerate delivery.
• Collaborate with platform owners, developers, cybersecurity, and governance teams to ensure selected solutions can be delivered effectively and securely.
• Create high-level solution designs that outline major components, integrations, data flows, and compliance considerations.
• Produce clear, defensible recommendations that articulate tradeoffs, rationale, and alignment with enterprise standards.
• Assess platform options (ServiceNow, M365, or other approved tools) for capability fit, integration patterns, security posture, licensing implications, and long-term sustainability.
• Develop and maintain a repeatable decision framework for evaluating enterprise platforms, ensuring consistency, traceability, and alignment with established architecture standards.
• Lead and analyze requirements discovery with business, mission, and IT stakeholders to understand functional needs, constraints, and desired outcomes.

Skills & Requirements
The REQUIREMENTS

• 6-8+ years of experience in solution architecture, enterprise platform selection, or enterprise IT advisory roles, including leading stakeholder discovery, translating needs into architecture recommendations, and supporting solution and architecture deliverables through stakeholder review and implementation planning activities.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating and shaping enterprise platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, Microsoft 365, or comparable enterprise tools), including understanding configuration boundaries, integration options, licensing impacts, and sustainment considerations.
• Ability to produce "architecture evidence" and decision artifacts, such as alternatives analyses/trade studies, Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) or equivalent, high-level designs, and clear documentation of tradeoffs and rationale.
• Working knowledge of enterprise architecture concepts and artifacts (current state to target state thinking, reference architectures, integration patterns, and data flows), with the ability to create and communicate diagrams and narratives appropriate for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience operating within governance processes (architecture review, standards/patterns, exception handling/waivers, and decision traceability) and integrating architecture checkpoints into investment and delivery lifecycles (e.g., CPIC/IRB inputs, PMO stage gates, change control).
• Experience establishing or improving enterprise visibility (application/system inventory, service catalog and CMDB concepts, lifecycle metadata, ownership/stewardship, and dependency mapping), with emphasis on governance and data quality (not just tooling).
• Knowledge of security-by-design concepts applicable to enterprise platforms (identity and access management, least privilege, audit logging, data protection, and secure integration), and demonstrated ability to partner with cybersecurity stakeholders to document and address risk.
• Familiarity with enterprise governance concepts such as CPIC, IT investment review, lifecycle governance, and architecture review processes.
• Experience supporting enterprise modernization initiatives in complex, multi-stakeholder, or regulated environments.
• Ability to balance mission, operational, security, governance, and technical considerations when evaluating enterprise solutions.
• Strong writing, communication, facilitation, and organization skills, including leading workshops with senior stakeholders, handling competing priorities, and presenting recommendations to leadership with minimal oversight.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365 productivity and collaboration tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint/OneDrive) to support repository practices, deliverable quality, and stakeholder engagement.
• Preferred certifications (one or more): TOGAF (or comparable EA credential), ServiceNow, Microsoft (Azure/M365/Power Platform), ITIL, Security+ or comparable security credential.
• Must be a U.S. citizen.

Qualifications