We have an outstanding Contract position for a Cloud Architect to join a leading Company located in the Mechanicsburg, PA surrounding area.
**US Citizenship is required.**
**Candidate must possess an active Secret Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI Security Clearance.**
The Technical Lead will serve as the principal technical authority, guiding the architecture, deployment, and sustainment of a mission-critical DoD enterprise environment. This role requires a forward-looking leader who can bridge strategy with execution while driving innovation across diverse infrastructure domains. The successful candidate will oversee modernization initiatives that leverage IBM Z mainframes, Linux operating systems, ServiceNow integration, and enterprise-class automation frameworks to deliver secure and efficient IT services.
In addition, the Technical Lead will provide oversight of enterprise networking (routing, switching, and SD-WAN technologies), ensuring resilient connectivity and mission assurance across geographically dispersed environments. A core focus of this role is advancing automation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to streamline operations, enforce compliance, and improve scalability.
This position demands not only deep technical expertise but also the ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence stakeholders, and ensure alignment with DoD cybersecurity mandates, STIG compliance, and RMF accreditation standards. The Technical Lead will directly contribute to the DoD's digital transformation, ensuring readiness, resilience, and superiority in cyber operations.
Job Responsibilities:
- Lead architecture and operations for hybrid infrastructure environments spanning IBM z systems, ICIC integrations, KVM virtualization, enterprise networking, and cloud platforms.
- Provide technical leadership to cross-functional engineering teams, ensuring best practices in systems design, deployment, automation, and ongoing operations.
- Oversee account administration across cloud, virtualization, and on-prem systems, ensuring proper role-based access control (RBAC), identity management, and compliance with security policies.
- Ability to manage cloud administration for ServiceNow, and KVM including provisioning, cost optimization, monitoring, and compliance with government frameworks.
- Develop and maintain backup and disaster recovery strategies, ensuring mission-critical systems are resilient, compliant, and recoverable in alignment with DoD/government standards.
- Administer Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions to standardize deployments, increase repeatability, and reduce configuration drift across environments.
- Collaborate to automate provisioning, monitoring, patching, and access controls using industry-standard tools to drive efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
- Maintain and manage Git-based repositories for version-controlled infrastructure, code artifacts, and automation scripts, enabling collaboration and traceability.
- Optimize cloud and virtualization performance through monitoring, troubleshooting, and capacity planning, ensuring SLA compliance and cost efficiency.
- Provide Tier III/IV escalation support and mentorship for engineers, guiding resolution of complex technical issues and ensuring knowledge transfer across the team.
- Enforce security compliance through application of STIGs, IAVMs, RBAC policies, and automated hardening practices to meet stringent DoD security requirements.
- Collaborate with stakeholders and mission partners to translate business and operational requirements into actionable technical roadmaps and execution plans.
- Deliver clear documentation and SOPs, establishing standards for account management, cloud administration, infrastructure, automation, and operational practices.
- Champion Agile practices by leading technical planning, sprint execution, and continuous improvement initiatives across the engineering team.
Basic Hiring Criteria:
- Active DoD Secret Clearance and/or TS/SCI preferred.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field.
- 7+ years of experience in IT infrastructure engineering, with at least 3 years in a technical lead role.
- Strong expertise with IBM Z mainframe administration and integration.
- 5+ years of Linux OS administration and hardening.
- Experience with ServiceNow cloud integration and workflows.
- 7-10 years proven expertise in backup and recovery solutions.
- Strong knowledge of Identity and Access Management (IdAM) and Zero Trust principles.
- Demonstrated expertise in SD-WAN and enterprise network engineering.
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for deployment and configuration management.
- Familiarity with DoD cybersecurity policies, including STIGs, IAVAs, and RMF compliance.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and mentoring skills.
- Must be able and willing to travel 25%–50% to customer sites as needed.
- Ability to lift 50 lbs.