Technical Lead Chief Security Architect / Engineer

9th Way Insignia is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business bringing transformative technology to our government customers so they can achieve their missions. Our specialties include cybersecurity, cloud modernization, software development, data analytics, enterprise architecture, enterprise IT, analytics, process automation, and artificial intelligence. Learn more about 9th Way Insignia at https://9thwayinsignia.com/.

Application password: Niner

Team (Project) Introduction

We are recruiting for a range of cybersecurity opportunities supporting federal customers , focused on strengthening enterprise security architecture, systems engineering, and the secure implementation of technologies across the environment.

The work involves applying established cybersecurity standards, guidelines, and frameworks to help translate organizational and business requirements into secure, scalable technical solutions. Team members may contribute to security architecture and engineering efforts, implementation guidance, technical analysis, and the development of repeatable approaches that support the consistent deployment and operation of secure technologies across complex enterprise environments.

Systems security engineering is an important component of this work, with an emphasis on incorporating security and stakeholder protection requirements throughout the system development life cycle, from concept and design through development, production, sustainment, and decommissioning. The team will apply established systems engineering and cybersecurity principles to help protect systems, applications, data, and supporting technologies.

Ultimately, this work supports the broader mission to strengthen its cybersecurity posture, reduce organizational risk, and protect critical systems and information from evolving cyber threats, including external adversaries and insider threats.

9 th Way Insignia is looking for a Hybrid Manager/Technical Lead (Technical Skills), Technical Lead Chief Security Architect / Engineer to join this team.

• Professional Level Information:
• A Hybrid Manager at 9th Way Insignia accomplishes department objectives by managing staff and processes and evaluating department activities. Focuses on leading a team and working hands-on with projects involving technology. Hybrid Managers require skills and qualifications such as exceptional leadership, communication and interpersonal skills.

• Functional Job (LCAT) Information:
• The Technical Lead Chief Security Architect / Engineer will serve as the senior technical authority for cybersecurity architecture and engineering activities supporting the VA program. The individual will lead the development, assessment, modernization, and governance of enterprise security architectures and guide multidisciplinary engineering teams in translating mission, cybersecurity, and business requirements into secure, scalable, standards-aligned technical solutions.

Responsibilities:

Provide senior-level technical leadership and architectural direction for enterprise cybersecurity architecture and engineering activities across the VA environment.

Serve as a principal security architecture and engineering subject matter expert, advising Government leadership, program managers, architects, engineers, and technical teams on complex cybersecurity and technology decisions.

Translate customer, mission, business, cybersecurity, and regulatory requirements into enterprise security architectures, engineering requirements, technical strategies, and implementation guidance.

Lead and coordinate architecture and engineering teams to ensure technical requirements are clearly understood, assigned, implemented, and validated.

Conduct and oversee enterprise and system-level security architecture reviews for new, existing, and modernized systems.

Assess whether proposed architectures adequately address threats, vulnerabilities, regulatory requirements, security controls, and enterprise risk tolerance.

Perform and oversee architecture risk and gap analyses to evaluate compliance with VA and Federal policies, standards, frameworks, and strategic objectives.

Develop technically sound and actionable risk-mitigation strategies and architectural recommendations for identified security weaknesses.

Apply Zero Trust, defense-in-depth, least privilege, and secure-by-design principles to enterprise and solution architectures.

Lead or provide oversight for security threat modeling, including identification of attack vectors, threat actors, misuse cases, attack paths, control gaps, architectural weaknesses, residual risks, and mitigations.

Guide the development and maintenance of Security Reference Architectures, Solution Architectures, Security Patterns, and supporting enterprise architecture artifacts.

Ensure architectures include appropriate logical, physical, conceptual, network, and data-flow views and accurately represent system components, interfaces, dependencies, and security controls.

Ensure security architectures remain aligned with enterprise goals, cybersecurity strategies, modernization initiatives, and technology roadmaps.

Provide technical leadership for modernization of both legacy and emerging health IT architectures.

Evaluate and guide adoption or integration of emerging technologies identified in the PWS, including cloud computing, mobile technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs, VR/XR, 5G, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), cryptography, Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), quantum computing, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Analyze emerging technologies to determine potential security, architectural, operational, integration, compliance, and enterprise-risk implications.

Lead or support specialized security-posture reviews for evolving technology areas and develop associated risk findings and recommendations.

Perform research and analysis of complex cybersecurity, architecture, engineering, and technology problems and develop defensible technical recommendations.

Conduct detailed trade-off analyses of technical requirements against cost, schedule, performance, security, implementation complexity, and enterprise risk.

Develop strategies for resolving complex technical requirements, architectural conflicts, risks, dependencies, and implementation issues.

Coordinate with program and project leaders to analyze architectures during conceptual design, technical design reviews, implementation planning, and modernization activities.

Provide architectural oversight throughout the technology lifecycle to ensure security requirements remain incorporated from concept through implementation, operations, authorization, modernization, and retirement.

Lead or support development of security requirements baselines and traceability from foundational controls and architectural requirements through implementation and final Authority to Operate (ATO).

Review system, application, cloud, network, data, identity, and platform designs for security risks and control gaps before implementation.

Develop or recommend compensating controls and mitigation approaches when technical constraints prevent straightforward implementation of security requirements.

Provide technical leadership for enterprise configuration and security baseline strategies across traditional and emerging technologies.

Evaluate enterprise security-engineering processes and recommend integrated workflows that improve configuration management, architectural alignment, traceability, and lifecycle security consistency.

Support the assessment, management, and tracking of cybersecurity risks in alignment with NIST SP 800-53, OMB mandates, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

Guide technical teams in interpreting and applying relevant Federal security policies, standards, and compliance frameworks, including NIST, FISMA, FedRAMP, CIS Controls, and HIPAA as applicable.

Provide technical input supporting F