Senior Enterprise IT Security Architect

Job description

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation. At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD. We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived. ***We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.*** The Senior Enterprise IT Security Architect is a hands-on technical consultant responsible for leading the design and implementation of Isolated Recovery Environments (IREs / cyber clean rooms) for enterprise clients in both on-premises and cloud environments. This role focuses on building truly isolated recovery capabilities that enable organizations to recover critical systems and identity infrastructure after ransomware or other destructive cyber events without risk of recontamination. You will own end-to-end IRE architecture and deployment leadership, from initial design through implementation and validation, while directing project teams ranging from 3 to 15 people depending on engagement size. The work is deeply technical and client-facing. ### Key Responsibilities - Lead the architecture, design, and hands-on deployment of Isolated Recovery Environments for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. - Design and implement strong isolation controls, including network segmentation, air-gapping (physical or logical), one-way replication paths, and firewall/VLAN strategies (e.g., yellow/green models). - Architect independent platform services within the IRE (compute, storage, networking, DNS, DHCP, monitoring, and virtualization) with no shared trust or dependencies on production. - Design and guide Active Directory forest recovery processes executed inside the isolated environment, including separate identity planes, no trust relationships to production AD, independent time sources, and controlled validation/promotion paths. - Define secure administration models, including Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs), restricted access methods (console/iLO preferred; no direct RDP/SSH from untrusted zones), just-in-time access, and integration considerations for PAM solutions. - Ensure immutable storage and backup ingestion designs, and incorporate architectural knowledge of platforms such as Rubrik and Cohesity for clean data transfer into the IRE (hands-on experience with these tools is not required). - Develop recovery runbooks, validation procedures, and testing approaches so clients can safely restore, scan, and promote workloads. - Lead and mentor delivery teams (typically 3–15 consultants/engineers) across design and deployment phases; provide technical direction and quality oversight. - Engage directly with client stakeholders to translate cyber resilience requirements into practical, implementable IRE designs. - Document architectures, standards, and recommendations for client environments. ### Required Qualifications - Minimum 10 years of relevant enterprise IT security architecture, infrastructure, or cyber recovery experience. - Proven hands-on experience designing and deploying isolated, air-gapped, or highly segmented recovery environments. - Strong practical knowledge of network segmentation, firewalling, VLANs, routing controls, and isolation techniques in both on-premises and cloud platforms. - Deep understanding of Active Directory, including forest recovery procedures performed in isolation, DNS/time dependencies, and identity separation principles. - Experience with platform services (virtualization platforms such as VMware or Hyper-V, cloud infrastructure on AWS/Azure/GCP, storage, and core networking services). - Architectural knowledge of modern backup and cyber recovery platforms (e.g., Rubrik, Cohesity) sufficient to design integration and data-flow patterns; hands-on operational experience with these tools is not required. - Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams of varying sizes on complex infrastructure and security projects. - Strong consulting and client communication skills. - U.S. Citizenship required. ### Preferred Qualifications - Experience with Privileged Access Management (e.g., CyberArk), phishing-resistant MFA, and Privileged Access Workstation design. - Hands-on work with immutable storage, object lock, or equivalent write-once protections. - Prior involvement in ransomware recovery, clean-room recovery, or large-scale cyber resilience engagements. - Relevant certifications (CISSP, CISM, or platform-specific credentials in VMware, Microsoft, or major cloud providers). - Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code or automation approaches for repeatable IRE builds. - Knowledge of related frameworks or controls (NIST, CIS, or similar) applied to recovery architectures.