Lead Technical Architect – Cloud Modernization; AWS

Empower, Innovate, Impact! At Team A-TEK, we EMPOWER people to drive INNOVATION that IMPACTS mission!

A-TEK operates at the intersection of mission and innovation by applying our deep domain expertise across the federal markets. Embracing our digital-first strategy, A-TEK provides enhanced capabilities in application development, digital transformation, enterprise IT, and scientific services. Our solutions are designed to modernize, automate, secure, protect, and enhance the operations of our federal clients, ensuring they stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Our work is fueled by a passion to serve our clients’ needs and to protect the safety and welfare of Americans. That passion shapes how we nurture our most valuable asset – Our Employees. A-TEK actively cultivates the talent that drives our success and fosters a creative, challenging, and mission-driven work environment for current and future employees.

A-TEK is seeking a Lead Technical Architect to provide technical leadership for a major modernization initiative supporting the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The successful candidate will guide the transformation of a legacy enterprise platform into a cloud native architecture leveraging AWS, PostgreSQL, GraphQL Federation, React, Kubernetes, and modern Dev Sec Ops  practices. This individual will serve as the senior technical authority for modernization activities while remaining hands‑on in architecture, design reviews, engineering leadership, and implementation support.

This role requires an experienced architect who can balance strategic planning with practical execution while mentoring development teams and collaborating closely with Government stakeholders.
This is a hybrid position, requiring 3 days per week onsite in Rockville, MD. The ability to obtain and retain a public trust level clearance is required for consideration. A-TEK is not currently sponsoring for this role.

• Lead the modernization of legacy applications and data platforms into a cloud native AWS environment.
• Define and maintain target‑state architecture, technology standards, and modernization roadmaps.
• Architect and oversee migration from an on‑premises Oracle environment to multiple PostgreSQL databases hosted in AWS.
• Design scalable microservices and API architecture utilizing GraphQL Federation and RESTful services.
• Lead application modernization efforts involving React front end applications and containerized services.
• Design and implement AWS‑based solutions using services such as EKS, RDS PostgreSQL, IAM, Route 53, Cloud Watch, Secrets Manager, and related platform services.
• Guide the adoption of modern Dev Sec Ops  practices including CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code, automated testing, security scanning, and deployment automation.
• Collaborate with database administrators, developers, business analysts, and Government stakeholders to align technical solutions with mission objectives.
• Conduct architecture reviews, code reviews, and technical design sessions.
• Mentor engineering staff and establish engineering best practices.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend modernization approaches that improve scalability, security, maintainability, and operational efficiency.
• Support system security requirements, compliance activities, and Authority to Operate (ATO) processes.
• Contribute to strategic planning for future enhancements, analytics platforms, AI/ML capabilities, and enterprise architecture initiatives.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience designing and delivering enterprise software solutions.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience architecting cloud solutions on AWS.
• Experience leading large scale application modernization initiatives.
• Experience migrating Oracle databases to PostgreSQL or other modern cloud native database platforms.
• Experience designing microservices architectures and API ecosystems.
• Experience with GraphQL and API gateway technologies.
• Experience with containerization…