Solution Architect

Overview

REI Systems' mission is to deliver reliable and innovative technology solutions that empower federal, state, local, and nonprofit organizations to achieve their missions. For over 35 years, we've helped our customers solve complex challenges, make data-driven decisions, streamline processes, and improve citizen services. As a 100% employee-owned company, we are all directly invested in delivering excellence. With a fierce commitment to mission impact, we ensure measurable outcomes that align with our customers' strategic goals.

REI is also leading the industry in the integration of Artificial Intelligence across federal capture, delivery, and customer engagement. We leverage AI-driven research, opportunity intelligence, competitive assessments, and customer insight tools to elevate our win strategies and accelerate decision-making. This role will work in an environment where AI is embedded into the capture lifecycle—and will be expected to use AI tools to enhance capture quality, speed, and precision.

The ideal candidate is equally comfortable engaging executives, leading product demos, understanding customer workflows, and translating business needs into compelling solution narratives.

We offer the same commitment to our employees by providing professional development, meaningful projects, and flexibility to spend time with family and friends. We believe employees are at their best when fulfilled in both their professional careers and their personal lives. Learn more at

Employees voted REI Systems a Washington Post Top Workplace in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025!

Responsibilities

Position Overview

REI Systems is seeking a highly experienced and delivery-focused Lead Solution Architect to provide end-to-end architectural leadership for large-scale enterprise modernization initiatives supporting mission-critical business, regulatory, and operational systems.

The successful candidate will serve as the principal technical authority across application architecture, cloud transformation, AI enablement, security, DevSecOps, and solution delivery. This role requires a strategic thinker who can define future-state architectures, drive modernization roadmaps, influence stakeholders, and lead cross-functional teams in delivering secure, scalable, and innovative solutions.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring deep technical expertise, strong consulting and communication skills, and a proven ability to deliver enterprise solutions from concept through production deployment.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture Leadership

• Own end-to-end solution architecture for enterprise applications and modernization programs.
• Define target-state architectures, technology strategies, and transformation roadmaps.
• Establish architecture standards, governance processes, design patterns, and technical guardrails.
• Ensure alignment across business, application, data, integration, security, infrastructure, and operational domains.
• Lead architecture reviews, design workshops, and technical decision-making forums.

Cloud Modernization & Digital Transformation

• Lead migration and modernization efforts from legacy and on-premises platforms to AWS cloud-native architectures.
• Define cloud adoption strategies including microservices, APIs, event-driven architectures, containerization, and serverless solutions.
• Develop hybrid architecture approaches supporting coexistence of cloud and on-premises environments.
• Drive application modernization, technical debt reduction, and platform transformation initiatives.

AI & Innovation Leadership

• Identify and implement opportunities to leverage Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), intelligent automation, and emerging technologies.
• Define enterprise AI adoption strategies, governance frameworks, and responsible AI practices.
• Guide integration of AI-enabled capabilities that improve productivity, user experience, operational efficiency, and decision-making.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and recommend innovation opportunities aligned with business objectives.

Delivery Leadership

• Partner with Program Managers, Product Owners, Engineering Leads, and Executive Stakeholders to ensure successful project delivery.
• Drive accountability across development, testing, DevSecOps, security, and operations teams.
• Identify technical risks and develop mitigation strategies.
• Ensure architecture decisions support schedule, budget, performance, security, and operational objectives.
• Provide technical leadership throughout design, development, testing, deployment, and production support.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as a trusted advisor to business and technical stakeholders.
• Communicate complex technical concepts to executive leadership and customer organizations.
• Lead architecture briefings, solution workshops, and executive presentations.
• Influence strategic decisions through data-driven recommendations and sound technical judgment.
• Support solutioning, proposal development, and technical strategy initiatives as needed.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor architects, engineers, and technical leads.
• Promote engineering excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration, and customer success.
• Support development of high-performing technical teams.

Qualifications

Experience

• 15+ years of experience designing and delivering enterprise-scale software solutions.
• 10+ years of architecture experience in complex enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on technical expertise with the ability to actively contribute where needed. The individual should be capable of independently analyzing the existing codebase, identifying architectural and design challenges, proposing effective solutions, and, when necessary, directly contributing to development efforts to ensure project deliverables are met on time and with quality.
• Demonstrated success leading cloud transformation and modernization initiatives.
• Proven experience delivering mission-critical systems with high availability, security, scalability, and performance requirements.
• Experience leading geographically distributed teams and cross-functional organizations.
• Strong client-facing consulting and stakeholder management experience.

Technical Expertise

Application & Integration Architecture

Experience designing enterprise solutions using:

• Java/Spring ecosystem
• RESTful APIs and API-first architectures
• Microservices and event-driven architectures
• Modern web application frameworks
• Enterprise integration patterns and distributed systems

Cloud & Platform Architecture

Strong expertise in:

• AWS cloud-native services and architecture patterns
• Containerization and orchestration technologies
• Serverless architectures
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or equivalent)
• Hybrid cloud and modernization strategies

Data Architecture

Experience with:

• Relational and NoSQL database technologies
• Data migration and modernization initiatives
• Enterprise data integration architectures
• Data performance optimization and scalability
• Data governance and security principles

Security Architecture

Experience implementing:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Secure API and application architectures
• Zero Trust principles
• Security and compliance frameworks

DevSecOps & Engineering Excellence

Experience establishing:

• CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation
• Infrastructure as Code practices
• Automated quality and security controls
• Cloud-native DevSecOps practices
• Software delivery and operational excellence frameworks

AI & Emerging Technologies

Experience evaluating and implementing:

• Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs)
• AI-assisted business workflows and automation
• AI governance and responsible AI practices
• Enterprise AI integration patterns
• Emerging technology adoption strategies

Preferred Technology Stack

Experience with the following technologies is highly desirable:

• Java 17, Spring Boot 3, Angular
• AWS ECS, Fargate, Lambda, API Gateway, RDS, DynamoDB
• Oracle Database
• Terraform, Docker
• Jenkins, Git, SonarQube, Nexus
• PingFederate, Oracle Access Manager (OAM), Oracle Internet Directory (OID)
• AWS CloudWatch, CloudTrail, X-Ray

Leadership Competencies

Executive Presence

• Strong executive communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence stakeholders across business and technical organizations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Strategic Thinking

• Ability to align architecture decisions with business goals and mission outcomes.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to balance long-term strategy with near-term delivery objectives.

Ownership & Accountability

• Takes ownership of outcomes and delivery success.
• Drives decisions and resolves ambiguity.
• Builds accountability while fostering collaboration.

Innovation & Design Thinking

• Forward-thinking approach to technology and architecture.
• Passion for modernization, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to evaluate emerging technologies and identify business value.

Team Leadership

• Proven ability to mentor and develop technical talent.
• Experience building collaborative, high-performing teams.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Solutions Architect – Professional Certification
• TOGAF Certification
• SAFe Architect or SAFe Program Consultant (SPC)
• Experience supporting Federal Government or highly regulated environments
• Experience with FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST, and Zero Trust initiatives
• Experience implementing AI/ML, Generative AI, RAG, or Agentic AI solutions
• Experience supporting healthcare, regulatory, or compliance-focused systems
• Experience with enterprise content management, document management, or reporting platforms

Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, data analytics, business intelligence, economics, statistics, or mathematics

Clearance: Ability to obtain and maintain a clearance is preferred.

Location: Hybrid (2 days per week or as needed in the REI Sterling Office).

EEO Statement: REI Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In our workplace, we seek, we welcome, and respect diversity in all of its forms.

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