Principal Technical Architect

Job description

About Niyam IT (Niyam) Niyam was founded in 2007 by a group of consultants who shared a unique vision: a technology company steeped in orderly process yet driven by passion and innovation. For nearly two decades, we have served the U.S. Federal government delivering mission-critical IT solutions across Emergency Preparedness and Response, Civilian Agency Services, and Law Enforcement and Public Safety. Niyam is CMMI DEV Level 3 accredited and ISO certified (ISO 9001:2015, ISO/IEC 20000-1, ISO/IEC 27001), and holds an active CMMC Level 2 certification. We are proud to be recognized as a Best Places to Work by The Washington Post (2025) and USA Today (2026). What We Offer: Flexible Work Hours : Life doesn’t always fit into a 9-to-5 schedule. We offer flexibility to help you manage your work-life balance effectively. Remote Work : Niyam understands the value of flexibility. We offer remote work. Career Growth : Niyam is not just a job; it’s a career journey. We provide a supportive environment for your professional development and offer fully paid opportunities for training and advancement within the company. Great People : Our people are the blueprint of who Niyam is to the industry and community. Great Environment : Niyam fosters a great environment where innovation, collaboration, and personal growth thrive. Diversity & Inclusion : We believe in the strength of diverse perspectives. Your unique ideas are welcomed and celebrated every day at Niyam. Join us in creating a workplace where innovation, diversity, and well-being thrive. Your journey at Niyam awaits. Apply today! Niyam IT is seeking a Principal Technical Architect to join our corporate engineering team. This is not a single-contract role. You will provide technical leadership and architectural direction across Niyam's federal programs, with your initial and primary assignment supporting on of our federal clients. As Niyam's portfolio grows, you will be positioned to shape technical strategy, mentor engineering talent, and contribute to solutions across multiple programs and clients, not just the contract you start on. This role sits at the intersection of full stack engineering and applied AI. You will guide the integration of AI and machine learning capabilities into mobile and web applications, including virtual assistants and chatbots, AI-powered search and recommendation features, AI-powered accessibility, and AI-assisted developer tooling for test generation, debugging, and code refactoring. You will lead delivery of features from design through unit testing, integration testing, and production deployment via a cloud CI/CD DevSecOps pipeline, while also serving as a technical mentor and architectural voice within Niyam's broader engineering organization. This is a hybrid position, and will require onsite to the client location in Northern VA up to 3-4 days/week. Roles and Responsibilities Lead the end-to-end architecture, design, and delivery of scalable, secure, and high-performing software solutions aligned with business and mission objectives. Define and uphold architecture standards, design patterns, engineering best practices, and technical governance across development teams. Design and implement modern web, mobile, cloud, API, and AI-enabled solutions, including system integrations and shared services. Provide hands-on technical leadership throughout the software development lifecycle, including solution design, code reviews, mentoring, and resolving complex technical challenges. Drive the adoption of AI and machine learning capabilities, modern development tools, DevSecOps, CI/CD, automation, and infrastructure-as-code practices. Collaborate with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, developers, architects, security, platform, and operations teams to deliver high-quality solutions using Agile methodologies. Ensure solutions meet security, scalability, reliability, performance, accessibility, and operational readiness requirements while proactively managing technical debt and architectural risk. Create and maintain technical documentation, architecture decisions, and solution roadmaps while clearly communicating technical direction, risks, and trade-offs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Champion continuous improvement through innovation, proof-of-concepts, emerging technologies, and coaching team members on architecture, design, and software engineering best practices. Required Qualifications Must be a U.S. citizen with ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret (TS) Clearance. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field (equivalent experience considered in lieu of degree). Must be available to work onsite in Northern VA. 10+ years of professional full stack software development experience, including recent, hands-on work across frontend, backend, and API layers. Demonstrated experience with two or more of the following: Flutter, Angular (2+), Spring Boot, Java, Python (Django), JavaScript/TypeScript, Dart, native iOS (Swift), or native Android. Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into production applications (for example, chatbots or virtual assistants, recommendation or search features, computer vision or NLP-based accessibility tooling, or AI-assisted development pipelines). Working knowledge of relational databases such as PostgreSQL or Oracle SQL, and RESTful and/or SOAP API integration in a multi-system environment. Experience with Agile/Scrum software delivery, CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployment (Kubernetes), and automated testing frameworks (for example, Selenium). Familiarity with federal software delivery standards, including Section 508 accessibility, DevSecOps practices, and IT security fundamentals (encryption, PII handling, vulnerability remediation). Preferred Skills One or more current AI/ML certifications, such as AWS Certified Machine Learning, Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate, Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer, or a recognized generative AI/LLM engineering certification. Prior experience supporting federal agencies. Experience with chatbot or conversational AI frameworks (Python backend, React frontend, Angular-based training dashboard). SAFe Practitioner, Certified Scrum Developer, or equivalent Agile certification. Experience with Firebase, Gradle, or mobile app store deployment pipelines (Apple Enterprise/Developer, Google Play). Why Join Niyam Award-Winning Culture: Proudly recognized by The Washington Post as a Top Workplace for two consecutive years and named to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies for four consecutive years, reflecting our commitment to employee engagement, growth, and excellence. Meaningful Mission Impact: Join an SBA-certified HUBZone small business trusted by federal agencies including FEMA, CBP, NOAA, DOJ, TSA, and others to deliver innovative solutions that support critical national missions. Drive Innovation: Play a key role in shaping the future of Niyam’s proprietary technology accelerators, including GeoCube®, SPHERE®, and RisQ®, which are used to solve complex challenges across the federal government. Accelerate Your Career: Benefit from a transparent career framework designed to support continuous learning, professional development, and advancement opportunities, including progression to Distinguished Engineer and other technical leadership roles. Collaborative, People-First Environment: Work alongside talented professionals who are passionate about innovation, teamwork, and delivering exceptional results while supporting one another's success. Join Niyam and help us win the work that matters. Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants. Niyam IT, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity (“EEO”) Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, marital status, partnership status, age, citizenship status, veteran or military status, medical condition, genetic information, national origin, disability, unemployment status or any other characteristic prohibited by federal, state and/or local laws.