Sr Solution Architect-CTJ-Top Secret/SCI

We are looking for a Sr Solution Architect to join Microsoft Federal.

The Microsoft Federal organization was established to address the unique mission, legal/regulatory requirements, and procurement rules and processes of the United States Government (USG). Microsoft Federal is committed to ensuring its resources - including appropriately qualified, experienced, and certified personnel (with necessary security clearances or otherwise) are available as needed to meet USG evolving needs.

To that end, Microsoft embraces, as a mission-critical philosophy, flexibility in the recruiting, hiring, and workforce assignment of Microsoft Federal personnel. Microsoft Federal personnel can expect to serve in various roles in the Microsoft Federal organization during the course of their career to meet evolving USG needs, regardless of segment - Civilian, Defense, or intelligence community.

The Microsoft Federal team is looking for people with a passion for delivering customer success.

As a Solution Architect, you will provide technical leadership across multi-hybrid cloud environments with a strong focus on DevSecOps, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), secure networking, and automation. You will work closely with government and internal stakeholders to design, deploy, integrate, and validate mission-critical capabilities while ensuring security, compliance, and operational excellence. You will own, troubleshoot and solve customer technical issues. This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth, hone your problem-solving, collaboration and research skills, and develop your technical proficiency.

Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. Growth mindset encourages each of us to lean in and learn what matters most to our customers, to create the foundational knowledge that enables us to make customer-first decisions in everything we do. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission.

Responsibilities

Architecture Design and Deployment

• Collaborates with the Account Team and/or Bid Team to understand the business solution/problem.
• Drives agreement, based on the customer’s priorities, requirements/constraints, approach, principles, concepts, and expectations.
• Builds and documents a realistically costed Solution Approach with traceability of requirements, constraints, decisions, and tradeoffs that balances risk, technical credibility, and technical innovation to meet customer need, predominantly based on existing solution offerings and/or reference architecture. •Creates clarity around responsibility and accountability for the cybersecurity of the solution. Follows SFI principles.
• Jointly leads the implementation in close partnership with the Project Manager, working with IDCL. Exercises oversight and governance and establishes quality practices and standards to realize the business solution.
• Collaborates with the Project Manager to jointly drive project/technical governance of the design, build, and deployment into use of proof of concepts (POCs) and pilots. Works with customers to understand and demonstrate business value (e.g., release of revenue, cost savings) that the business solution realizes.
• Works in close collaboration with the Project Manager and Account Team to identify, categorize, and communicate business and technical risks (including security). Defines risk contingency plans for invocation should the risk occur. When appropriate, oversees a broad portfolio of accounts. Manages and ensures the all-up delivery of consulting engagements, as necessary. Maintains the risk log.
• Defines and documents the SFI architecture through an architecture description document, an architecture decisions log, and a requirements/risk/constraints traceability matrix to communicate the value proposition of the business solution along with the project approach. Leads cost-based and technology-based discussions to explain the architecture in terms of its build, deployment, and ongoing operational use to determine customer appetite for the business solution.

Trusted Advisor

• Uses evidence-based arguments that articulate complex concepts in a simple manner to respectfully challenge Microsoft and customers/partners when a decision or course of action will not produce optimal results. Serves as the "technical conscience" to challenge the status quo and unrealistic expectations. Proactively resolves conflicts and seeks resolution to balance the overall outcome. Drives consensus where possible and leads decisions to resolve conflict when needed.
• Develops a network of internal/external relationships to build influence in addressing problems/ blockers and facilitating additional views on the matter of interest. Stays up to date on Microsoft’s technologies, products, and services in order to communicate Microsoft's mission, strategy, and capabilities.
• Understands competitor solutions and identifies how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft's offerings. Steers the customer/partner conversations to the benefits of the solution rather than the features and functionalities.

Practice Development

• Understands competitor solutions and identifies how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft's offerings. Steers the customer/partner conversations to the benefits of the solution rather than the features and functionalities. Understands how Microsoft supports similar customers through automation/AI.

Understanding Customer/Partner Technical Environment

• Uses evidence-based approach to function as customer advocate and shares insights with Product Engineering teams and the business with a view to improving Microsoft technologies, products, services, and offerings such that they can better meet customer/partner needs.
• Works with customer/partner stakeholders (e.g., Enterprise Architects, Security Team, Development Team, Operations Team) and business sponsor to socialize both the business solution and the project approach to determine if changes are needed to the business solution. Where the cost of change is accepted by the customer, shares this feedback with the project team and the broader account team to make the necessary adjustments using mechanisms such as updating the solution approach and projected costs in presales and change requests in delivery.

Engages in risk discussions bringing in Security SMEs to create clarity around who is responsible for cyber security around proposed solutioning.

• Gathers and propagates customer/partner insights from a broad range of stakeholders as well as the main business sponsor that will help shape and form both the definition and ongoing execution of the project. Learns to Identify and evaluate industry trends (customer industry verticals, information technology [IT] industry). Recognizes and considers Microsoft's frameworks (e.g., Secure Architecture Framework) and customer risk appetites.

Additional Job Responsibilities

• Develop and implement promotion patterns for configuration and deployment changes, including deployment plans and schedules.

• Create, operate, and sustain development, test, and integration environments to reduce mission risk and deployment errors.
• Establish delivery timelines, completion metrics, and technical execution plans for managed services and automation.
• Validate capability deployments and integrations through testing, demonstrations, and documented results including connectivity, ATO status, and workload validation.
• Expand and refine DevSecOps capabilities to enhance security posture, operational maturity, and developer experience.
• Review hybrid architectures across all sites, including transport, identity, security services, access patterns, and edge infrastructure placement.
• Define use cases and success criteria for independent, integrated, functional, performance, and security testing.
• Deliver architecture artifacts enabling non-program user access to program-accredited networks.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years experience in technology solutions, practice development, architecture, consulting, and/or technology domain (e.g., Security) OR equivalent experience.

OR

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years experience in technology solutions, practice development, architecture, consulting, and/or technology domain (e.g., Security) OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements

Security Clearance Requirements:

Candidates must be able to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

The successful candidate must have an active U.S. Government TOP SECRET/SCI Security Clearance.

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role.

Failure to maintain or obtain the appropriate clearance and/or customer screening requirements may result in employment action up to and including termination.

Clearance Verification

This position requires successful verification of the stated security clearance to meet federal government customer requirements. You will be asked to provide clearance verification information prior to an offer of employment.

Microsoft Cloud Background Check

This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Citizenship & Citizenship Verification

This position requires verification of U.S. citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions.

Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local United States government agency customer and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law.

To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport, or other approved documents, or verified US government Clearance

Preferred/Additional Qualifications

8570 certified ie Security +, CCNP, CISSP, CCNA

Solution Architecture IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $101,800 - $193,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $126,100 - $207,600 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.