Senior Solutions Architect

Job Title

Solutions Architect

About Defense Unicorns

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery for U.S. Government customers. They specialize in creating and delivering secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery, consolidating best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation. Their agnostic approach promotes a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions.

Role Description

As a Solutions Architect, you will provide exceptional guidance, support, and enablement for Unicorn Delivery Service projects and capabilities. You will collaborate closely with technical groups to maximize mission impact, offering technical expertise, proactive assistance, and strategic insights. This role is key to ensuring a seamless customer experience from initial engagement through long-term execution.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact and trusted advisor for customers' technical needs, challenges, and goals.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth.
• Understand and articulate the technical competency and impact of engineers on the team.
• Master Defense Unicorns' products and philosophy.
• Assist teams in discovery and framing efforts across the industry.
• Identify and implement process improvements to enhance team efficiency and effectiveness.
• Support demonstration and content creation for products.
• Manage "proof of concept" work.
• Build and maintain continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
• Build, deploy, test, and troubleshoot UDS Bundles, Zarf packages, and UDS packages.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams for brainstorming, research, and innovative growth strategies.
• Conduct market research and competitor analysis to identify growth opportunities.
• Stay current with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies in growth hacking and user acquisition.
• Experiment with new tools and techniques to improve growth outcomes.
• Additional responsibilities may be assigned based on evolving organizational needs.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

• Proven experience in growth engineering, digital marketing, or related roles within a tech startup environment.
• Extensive knowledge in containerization and container orchestration, specifically Kubernetes.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate, persuade, and negotiate.
• 7+ years of experience in software engineering, with 1+ years in a management role.
• Proven track record of leading and developing high-performing engineering teams.
• Preferred knowledge in the CNCF ecosystem and tooling.
• Knowledge of system architecture (cloud and on-premises).
• Ability to architect solutions based on customer requirements and articulate them effectively.
• Strong analytical skills for data interpretation and decision-making.
• Proficiency in programming languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript) and familiarity with web technologies.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work independently.
• Experience with training and mentoring.
• Experience with full-stack development.
• Understanding of continuous delivery and agile principles.
• 4+ years of experience with full-stack development teams.
• 5+ years of experience with Defense-based customer-facing interactions and engagements.
• Proven experience synthesizing technical solutions.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Helm, and Containers.

What We Work On

• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open-source products/packages
• Helm/Kustomize
• Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud-native applications

Benefits

Health: Medical/Dental/Vision (100% Company Paid Premiums), Health Savings Account, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance.
Financial: 401k Retirement Plan, Company Stock Options, Home Office Budget.
Leave: Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas and New Year's, Paid Parental Leave.
Learning: Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions, Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees).

Note: U.S. Citizenship is required for this position as the employer is a contractor for the U.S. Government. Defense Unicorns is committed to diversity and encourages candidates who do not meet every qualification to apply.

Compensation

$148,750—$201,250 USD