[Hiring] Solution Architect V @Kentro

Role Description

Kentro is hiring a Solution Architect V to serve as principal architect on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) program — one of the largest civilian IT modernization efforts in the federal government. ATLAS covers a mission-support portfolio of more than 200 applications and roughly 3,000 databases, moving the agency off legacy sustainment and onto cloud-native architectures, automated workflows, DevSecOps delivery, and integrated AI capability.

• Develop and maintain target-state solution architecture for assigned portfolio segments, including transition roadmaps from current state, in alignment with the Chief Architect’s enterprise architecture strategy.
• Evaluate and recommend technology adoption for assigned portfolio domains — platforms, services, and patterns — and implement approved standards through solution architecture governance.
• Lead portfolio-wide rationalization: assess applications and databases against business value, technical health, and cost, and drive disposition decisions to 6R framework.
• Develop portfolio reference architectures, solution principles, design patterns, and integration/API standards for approval through program architecture governance; define the solution review gates that enforce approved enterprise direction.
• Lead or participate in architecture review boards and design authority forums as delegated by the Chief Architect; adjudicate solution-level decisions within assigned authority and document them as durable decision records.
• Serve as senior technical advisor to program leadership, capture teams, and FAA stakeholders, translating technical strategy into cost, schedule, risk, and mission impact.
• Ensure solution architectures conform to the enterprise data architecture and partner with the data architecture lead on data governance, master data, interoperability, and the path to enterprise data excellence and intelligent automation.
• Translate cybersecurity and compliance requirements into solution architecture patterns in partnership with cybersecurity leadership, ensuring alignment to FISMA, NIST SP 800-53, Zero Trust direction, and FAA and DOT policy.
• Understanding compliance and limitations for creating systems within FedRAMP High/Class D environments like AWS GovCloud, Azure GCCH, and GCP Assured workloads.
• Drive architectural innovation: identify emerging technologies — cloud-native services, AI/ML, automated code transformation, intelligent automation — assess fit, and lead pilot efforts.
• Establish the architecture assets that make a modernization factory model work at scale: reference implementations, solution blueprints, accelerators, and reusable patterns.
• Lead and mentor a community of solution architects and senior engineers across delivery teams; raise architectural maturity across the program.
• Define architecture measures — technical debt, availability, delivery velocity, operating cost, standards adoption — and report portfolio health against them.
• Guide service transition architecture, ensuring modernized systems move into sustained high-availability operations without disruption.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering and architecture, including significant time in a principal or enterprise architect capacity.
• Demonstrated ownership of enterprise architecture and target-state strategy for a large, complex application portfolio.
• Expert knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks and methods and practical experience applying them.
• Proven track record leading large-scale digital transformation or legacy modernization, including portfolio rationalization and application disposition decisions.
• Deep expertise in cloud architecture across a major provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including cloud-native, containerized, microservices, and event-driven designs.
• Strong data architecture background covering data modeling, migration, integration, and governance at enterprise scale.
• Working command of DevSecOps and modern delivery architecture: CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing, and security engineered into the pipeline.
• Experience defining and enforcing architecture standards and governance across multiple delivery teams.
• Exceptional communication and executive presence; able to advise senior government and corporate stakeholders and to defend architectural decisions under scrutiny.

Requirements

• US Citizen.
• Existing FAA suitability determination or transferable federal background investigation strongly preferred.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package including paid time off, healthcare benefits, supplemental benefits, 401k including an employer match, discount perks, rewards, and more.
• Education reimbursement for certifications, degrees, or professional development.
• Flexible opportunities for professional growth and networking.
• Funds for activities – virtual and in-person – e.g., happy hours, holiday events, fitness & wellness events, and annual celebrations.
• Commitment to supporting community engagement through charity events.