Engineering Lead & Principal Architect (.NET

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Full Time Arlington, VA, US

POSITION

DESCRIPTION:

Pioneering Evolution is seeking an Engineering Lead / Principal Architect to provide combined technical leadership and senior architectural direction for a mission-critical modular enterprise platform and related modernization initiatives. This role will shape the evolution of a secure, scalable web-based system designed to support complex workflows through a reusable core platform and configurable functional modules.

This role owns engineering delivery for the SyncPoint platform, including day-to-day technical leadership of an approximately ten-person engineering team comprised of software developers, a Dev Sec Ops  engineer, and a QA engineer. The Engineering Lead / Principal Architect will lead sprint execution, unblock the team, drive technical decisions to closure, and be accountable for delivery outcomes alongside the Project Manager. In parallel, this role defines architectural standards, guides platform evolution, evaluates implementation approaches, and supports the successful delivery of new and modernized capabilities.

This is a senior leadership role in a lean engineering environment. It requires a leader who balances strategic architectural direction with regular hands‑on technical contribution, and who is energized by owning delivery outcomes rather than operating in an advisory capacity.

Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Team Scope & Reporting:

Within the SyncPoint project team, software developers, the Dev Sec Ops  engineer, and the QA engineer operate under the direct authority of this role for daily assignments, technical direction, and engineering execution. The Engineering Lead / Principal Architect serves as the primary technical point of contact for the Project Manager, Product Owner, and program leadership on delivery status, risk, and tradeoffs.

Key Responsibilities:

Engineering Delivery Leadership

• Lead day-to-day engineering execution, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, estimation, and delivery commitments in partnership with the Project Manager.
• Direct the technical assignment of work across developers, the Dev Sec Ops  engineer, and the QA engineer; identify and resolve blockers in real time.
• Own engineering quality gates, including code review standards, branching strategy, definition of done, and release readiness.
• Conduct technical one‑on‑ones with engineers on the team and provide technical performance input to the formal management chain.
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for the Project Manager, Product Owner, and program leadership on delivery status, risk, and tradeoffs.

Architecture and Technical Direction:

• Provide senior architectural guidance for a modular enterprise application platform and related solution components.
• Define and promote architecture principles, design patterns, and engineering standards that support scalability, maintainability, security, and reuse.
• Establish clear boundaries between shared platform capabilities and module‑specific business functionality.
• Evaluate current‑state application architecture, implementation patterns, and technical risks, and recommend improvements aligned with platform goals.
• Guide architectural decisions for application structure, integrations, data flows, extensibility, and performance.
• Partner with Dev Sec Ops  and infrastructure stakeholders to ensure application architecture aligns with hosting, deployment, observability, identity, and security requirements.
• Support phased modernization efforts by helping the team incrementally improve architecture and implementation without disrupting delivery commitments.
• Participate in design reviews, technical planning, and solution assessments for both current and upcoming capabilities.
• Help develop reference implementations, reusable patterns, and technical guardrails that improve consistency across the platform.

Hands‑On Technical Contribution:

• Contribute…