API / Data Architect

Role Description

DecisionPoint seeks an API / Data Architect to lead enterprise-wide API integration architecture, microservices design, data contract development, and secure interoperability supporting a large federal and DoD-aligned mission environment. This senior role defines the architectural blueprint for APIs, establishes integration patterns, and ensures compliance with REST, GraphQL, Zero Trust, and DoD cybersecurity requirements.

The API / Data Architect provides technical leadership on data models, microservices boundaries, secure access patterns, event-driven integrations, and system interface governance. This position coordinates closely with developers, product teams, cybersecurity personnel, cloud engineers, and mission stakeholders to ensure secure, scalable, and maintainable API ecosystems. This position is fully remote.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Design enterprise API architecture including service boundaries, integration patterns, and interoperability standards.
• Define RESTful and GraphQL API schemas, data contracts, and payload structures.
• Establish microservices boundaries, domain models, and service decomposition strategies.
• Ensure API and data architecture aligns with DoD Zero Trust policies, identity requirements, and data protection rules.
• Develop and enforce API governance, naming conventions, versioning strategies, and lifecycle standards.
• Create interface architecture diagrams, data flow maps, and system integration documentation.
• Collaborate with development teams to implement scalable, secure, and maintainable APIs.
• Conduct architectural reviews, evaluate technical debt, and guide modernization strategies.
• Support API performance tuning, security hardening, and integration reliability improvements.
• Partner with cybersecurity teams to implement secure authentication, authorization, and data protection controls.
• Define logging, monitoring, and observability requirements for service and API health.
• Advise product teams on API strategy, integration feasibility, and data model impacts.

Qualifications

• Must hold an active Top Secret clearance, supported by a Tier 5 background investigation.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Data Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in architecture, API engineering, integration design, or enterprise systems engineering.
• Experience leading architectural design for REST/GraphQL APIs, microservices, and system integrations.
• Experience developing data models, data contracts, and integration schemas.
• Experience working within secure federal, DoD, or enterprise environments.
• Deep expertise in REST, GraphQL, JSON, and API schema design.
• Strong understanding of microservices, service meshes, and event-driven architectures.
• Knowledge of DoD security and Zero Trust architecture principles.
• Familiarity with API gateways, developer portals, and integration tooling.
• Understanding of secure authentication and authorization protocols (OAuth2, SAML, JWT).
• Experience with performance tuning, fault-tolerant service design, and API observability.

Technical Knowledge (Preferred)

• Experience with AWS GovCloud API services and cloud-native patterns.
• Familiarity with message brokers, event streaming, or asynchronous integration frameworks.
• Knowledge of DevSecOps integration with API development.

Certifications

• Required: CompTIA Security+
• Preferred: AWS Architect or Developer certification
• ITIL v4 Foundation
• API or integration architecture certifications

Skills

• Strong architectural decision-making and technical leadership abilities.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to translate mission and business needs into scalable technical architectures.
• High attention to detail with strong documentation and governance discipline.
• Ability to drive consistency across distributed development teams and complex integrations.