Principal Architect

Sr. Delivery Head -Recruitment & Delivery - SLED-(VMS | MSP | Direct Clients | Government Agencies - State, County)At Cogent Infotech, we believe in creating opportunities that empower individuals and transform organizations. With over 21 years of excellence in consulting and talent solutions, we pride ourselves on building inclusive workplaces and driving innovation in everything we do. Our diverse teams bring unique perspectives to help deliver cutting-edge solutions to global clients across both public and private sectors.Job Title: Principal ArchitectWashington DC-Baltimore Area/Remotestem-of-systems integrations across dispatch, passenger, yard, crew, maintenance.IT and Railway Technical & Domain Expertise (Must Have)Strong understanding of rail operations systems: dispatching, crew, yard, fleet/EAM, RTTP feeds, PIS, GTFS-RT, service disruption workflows.Deep knowledge of real-time event architectures (Kafka/MSK, streaming APIs, telemetry ingestion).Familiarity with lakehouse platforms (Databricks) and semantic modeling for operational data.Experience designing Ops Command UI / single pane of glass solutions across multiple domainsKnowledge of IT, OT, domain and business architectureExperience in railroad or broader transportation logistics, including operational workflows for dispatch, scheduling, movement planning, capacity management, and asset management.Ability to architect system-of-systems integrations across dispatch, PIS, yard, crew, maintenance.Skilled in designing canonical real-time data models (train state, consist state, crew state, fleet readiness).Hands-on capability for API design, interface mapping, and message normalization.Experience implementing digital twin, predictive models, or operational decision support is a strong plus.Understands safety, reliability, and regulatory constraints around rail mission-critical systems.ResponsibilitiesDesign, govern, and oversee the implementation of robust, scalable, and efficient architectural solutions for cross domain business problems.Translate complex technical ideas into digestible concepts for both technical teams and non-technical stakeholders. Act as a liaison between engineering and business teams to ensure alignment and understanding.Ensure products are scalable, secure, performant, and maintainable within their domainEnsure the reference architectures, standards, and guidelines of the organization's technology is safe, secure, stable and compliant with industry standards.Industry knowledge of services/transport/rail sector.Deep understanding of railroad or broader transportation logistics, including operational workflows for dispatch, scheduling, movement planning, capacity management, and asset management.Expertise in cloud (AWS, Azure) and hybrid stack, data-driven solutions, devops and continuous delivery.Network, Cloud Computing expertise.Work closely with Solution Architects and engineering leads to translating requirements into robust technical designsAssist in the architectural design and implementation of software components, modules, or features for specific projects, ensuring adherence to established architectural principles.Ensure products are scalable, secure, performant, and maintainable within their domainCogent Infotech is a leading tech consulting firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, offering cutting-edge digital transformation solutions in Cloud, Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and AI. ISO-certified and CMMI Level 3 appraised, we proudly partner with 70+ Fortune 500 companies and 150+ government agencies. Cogent is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on any protected status under applicable law.Seniority levelMid-Senior levelEmployment typeContractJob functionInformation TechnologyIndustries: Rail TransportationJ-18808-Ljbffr