AWS Architect

AWS SME ---159641

Location : Jackson, MS

Rate: $open

Client : State of Mississippi - Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS)

No max bill rate. Hybrid - must be onsite at least one week per month. Do NOT submit remote candidates. Start off with one year duration but likely to extend. See attached.

Position Description and Job Skill Set

Description of the job functions the contractor will be expected to perform.

The Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) is the central IT organization for the state of

Mississippi, and acts as a service provider and/or service broker for agencies. Over the last two years, ITS has

implemented an AWS Organization with Control Tower, and is working to build cloud expertise internally to support this

environment and future agency AWS projects. ITS is seeking a highly skilled and well rounded AWS expert to assist in

maintaining this environment, working with agencies on troubleshooting, and helping to mentor staff. This position will

be crucial to the long term success of this project for ITS as we work to build our Cloud Center of Excellence. Job

functions overview:

AWS Environment Management - Oversee and maintain the existing AWS Organization while ensuring adherence to

industry best practices.

Cloud Architecture - For both ITS and agencies, design, review, and implement AWS solutions that meet

performance, security, and scalability requirements.

Troubleshooting and Support - Serve as a senior point of contact for complex AWS-related issues including network

connectivity. This will require coordination with internal teams and agencies to determine root cause and remediation

strategies.

Vendor Relationships - Work with AWS and other third-party vendors to integrate various products into the overall

AWS ecosystem.

Mentorship and Training - Provide knowledge transfer, training, and coaching staff members to build internal cloud

expertise. Help with creation and maintenance of technical documentation, standards, and playbooks.

Governance and Security - Work with ITS and agency security teams to ensure industry best practices and various

compliance requirements are me

Required Skills/Experience

Provide the minimum required skills and/or experience the contractor must possess to qualify for this position. These

requirements will be transferred to the Score Sheet and candidates without these requirements reflected on their resume will

NOT be presented to the manager for consideration.

 Deep knowledge of key AWS services (EC2, S3, RDS, VPC, IAM, Lambda, CloudFormation, etc.)

 Experience leading cloud migrations or implementations in a complex multi-account environment

 Strong network troubleshooting abilities to help resolve connectivity issues both inside the AWS cloud

environment and ingressing/egressing to the State's on premises environment.

 Familiarity with AWS Landing Zone implementations and management using AWS Landing Zone Accelerator

 Proficiency with infrastructure as code (CloudFormation, Terraform, AWS CDK) and CI/CD pipelines.

 Experience implementing security best practices (e.g., IAM policies, encryption, network segmentation, and

SCPs).

 Familiarity with DevOps principles, containerization (Docker, ECS, EKS), and serverless architectures.

 Strong troubleshooting abilities across networking, storage, and compute layers in AWS.

 Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts to both technical

and non-technical stakeholders.

 Proven experience mentoring staff and fostering a collaborative, learning-focused environment.

 Effective problem-solving skills and the ability to remain calm and focused under pressure.

 Strong organizational skills, capable of managing multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.

 Ability to lead architectural reviews and navigate ambiguity in designing solutions to complex business Problems

Preferred/Not Required

Provide any skills/experience that would be helpful for the candidate to possess but not required. Examples: Previous supervisory

experience, WebLogic experience helpful, etc.

 AWS Professional-level certification (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, AWS Certified

DevOps Engineer – Professional).

 Experience in a government or highly regulated environment (e.g., HIPAA, CJIS, IRS 1075 compliance).

 Knowledge of ITIL, project management methodologies (e.g., PMP, Agile), and enterprise IT governance

frameworks.

 Familiarity with other public cloud providers and hybrid-cloud environments.

 Working knowledge of common scripting/programming languages (Python, Bash, PowerShell).