Technical Lead Chief Security Architect / Engineer

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Technical Lead Chief Security Architect / Engineer based in United States.** This senior technical leadership role will shape cybersecurity architecture and engineering across a large-scale federal healthcare environment. You will serve as a principal authority on enterprise security architecture, translating mission, business, and regulatory requirements into secure technical solutions. The position combines hands-on architecture expertise with technical leadership, guiding multidisciplinary teams through complex modernization initiatives. You will influence security strategy across cloud, AI, APIs, mobile, IoT, cryptography, Zero Trust, and other emerging technologies. The role also involves assessing risks, leading architecture reviews, strengthening security controls, and supporting authorization and compliance activities. You’ll work closely with government leaders, architects, engineers, program teams, and technical stakeholders in a highly mission-focused environment. This is an opportunity to influence the security posture of critical health IT systems while helping modernize enterprise technology at significant scale. ### Accountabilities - Provide senior technical leadership and architectural direction for enterprise cybersecurity architecture and engineering activities across the federal healthcare environment. - Act as a principal subject matter expert, advising government leadership, program managers, architects, engineers, and technical teams on complex cybersecurity and technology decisions. - Translate mission, customer, business, cybersecurity, regulatory, and compliance requirements into security architectures, engineering requirements, technical strategies, and implementation guidance. - Lead multidisciplinary architecture and engineering teams, ensuring requirements are understood, assigned, implemented, and validated effectively. - Conduct and oversee enterprise- and system-level security architecture reviews for new, existing, and modernized systems, identifying threats, vulnerabilities, control gaps, and architectural risks. - Develop actionable risk mitigation strategies and architectural recommendations aligned with enterprise risk tolerance and federal security requirements. - Apply Zero Trust, defense-in-depth, least privilege, secure-by-design, and other modern security principles across enterprise and solution architectures. - Lead or oversee threat modeling activities, including analysis of threat actors, attack vectors, attack paths, misuse cases, residual risks, and security control gaps. - Develop and maintain Security Reference Architectures, Solution Architectures, security patterns, diagrams, technical standards, and other enterprise architecture artifacts. - Provide architectural leadership for modernization initiatives spanning legacy and emerging health IT technologies, including cloud, mobile, IoT, APIs, VR/XR, 5G, DLP, cryptography, post-quantum cryptography, quantum computing, and AI. - Evaluate emerging technologies for security, architectural, operational, integration, compliance, and enterprise-risk implications and provide defensible recommendations. - Perform complex technical research, trade-off analyses, and problem solving across cost, schedule, performance, security, implementation complexity, and enterprise risk considerations. - Provide security architecture oversight throughout the technology lifecycle, from conceptual design and implementation through operations, authorization, modernization, and retirement. - Establish security requirements baselines and traceability from foundational controls and architectural requirements through implementation and Authority to Operate (ATO). - Review application, cloud, network, data, identity, platform, and system designs for security risks and recommend compensating controls or mitigation strategies where necessary. - Support cybersecurity risk management in alignment with NIST SP 800-53, OMB requirements, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, FISMA, FedRAMP, CIS Controls, HIPAA, and other applicable federal standards. - Provide technical input to assessment and authorization, accreditation, ATO, continuous monitoring, and broader risk-management activities. - Participate in governance boards, technical review committees, architecture forums, engineering working groups, and modernization initiatives. - Develop executive briefings, technical presentations, white papers, policies, guidelines, and recommendations that communicate complex security topics clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. - Provide quality assurance and technical oversight for architecture and engineering deliverables, ensuring they are accurate, complete, actionable, and standards-aligned. - Mentor security architects, cloud engineers, DevSecOps engineers, AI engineers, cryptography specialists, risk analysts, and other technical professionals while promoting collaboration across engineering, security, operations, development, cloud, data, identity, and program functions. - Support pilots, prototypes, proofs of concept, and enterprise transformation initiatives while ensuring modernization efforts preserve confidentiality, integrity, availability, compliance, and mission effectiveness. ## Requirements - Minimum of **15 years of enterprise security architecture or information security experience** within a large organization or government agency of comparable scale and complexity. - An advanced IT-related degree, such as a master's or PhD, may substitute for up to five years of the required professional experience. - Extensive expertise in security architecture, security engineering, enterprise architecture, project management, and translating customer requirements into actionable technical direction. - Demonstrated ability to advance legacy and modern health IT architectures involving cloud, mobile, IoT, APIs, VR/XR, 5G, post-quantum cryptography, DLP, cryptography, quantum computing, and AI. - Strong expertise in cybersecurity risk management and the assessment of complex technical, architectural, operational, and compliance risks. - Experience using Enterprise Architecture tools and guiding architecture-tool processes and products, such as SABSA or comparable frameworks. - Proven ability to research and analyze complex cybersecurity, architecture, engineering, and technology challenges and develop defensible recommendations. - Experience coordinating with program and project leaders during conceptual design, architecture reviews, technical design reviews, implementation planning, and modernization activities. - Strong analytical and decision-making skills, including the ability to conduct detailed trade-off analyses involving requirements, cost, schedule, performance, security, and enterprise risk. - Ability to create clear technical diagrams and documentation representing IT systems, network topology, system components, interfaces, dependencies, and data flows. - Deep knowledge of federal cybersecurity frameworks, policies, processes, and standards, including NIST, FISMA, FedRAMP, CIS Controls, and HIPAA. - Strong leadership, communication, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to influence technical teams and senior government stakeholders. - A master's degree in cybersecurity, computer science, engineering, information technology, information systems architecture, telecommunications, security engineering, network systems, or a related discipline is preferred. - Relevant professional certifications such as **CISSP, CISSP-ISSAP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISM, CISA, CASP+/SecurityX, CCISO, GCED, GCIH, GSLC, or CCNP Security** are preferred. - Ability to meet applicable security investigation and access eligibility requirements for the position. - Ability to work remotely and travel for up to two onsite visits as required. ## Benefits - Fully remote position based in the United States. - Base salary range of **$103,060.84–$172,201.90 USD**, with final compensation determined by factors including responsibilities, education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, market data, internal equity, and applicable requirements. - Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage. - Voluntary life insurance and basic accidental death and dismemberment (A&D) coverage. - 401(k) retirement plan. - Short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) coverage. - Paid time off (PTO) and paid holidays. - Telehealth services. - Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) options. - Employee Assistance Program (EAP). - Travel assistance resources. - Opportunities for professional development, skill building, and leadership growth. - Mission-driven work supporting the modernization and cybersecurity of critical federal healthcare systems.