Chief Architect (REMOTE)

KITS

Job ID 2440025

Koniag IT Systems, LLC, a Koniag Government Services company, is seeking a Chief Architect to support KITS and our government customer. This is a Remote Opportunity. This position requires the candidate to be able to obtain a Public Trust.

We offer competitive compensation and an extraordinary benefits package including health, dental and vision insurance, 401K with company matching, flexible spending accounts, paid holidays, three weeks paid time off, and more.

Koniag Government Services is seeking a highly skilled AWS Architect to support the Global Public Affairs Office of the US Department of State. The duties of this project team include the Architecture, Engineering, Operations, Development, UI/UX, User Training and Project Management of their web assets hosted on Cloud Architecture running a Content Management System (WordPress).

Essential Functions, Responsibilities & Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Serve on a focused team to support WordPress currently on Amazon web services and implement a full migration to a PAAS (WordPress VIP) in the future.
• Create and support a production cloud environment and Dev SecOps environment utilizing Kubernetes that will support a high volume of traffic and perform well under traffic spikes.
• Create, maintain, support, and troubleshoot all other environments, including developer environments, testing environments, and pre-production environments.
• Be on-call outside 9-5 hours to solve any escalated high-level problems, in the instance of a production issue beyond what the tier 1 support can accomplish. Architect the any Cloud solution and perform DevSecOps on rare occasion.
• Set up and support an efficient CI/CD process currently on BitBucket and Kubernetes but migrating to UI implementations of WordPress VIP.
• Perform capacity analysis to right size CPU, database, memory, and price network bandwidth and work with vendors to acquire resources.
• Establish clearly documented operating and support procedures for the cloud engineering team as part of design to include disaster recovery, environment builds and business continuity.
• Support the security engineer in getting an Authorization to Operate (ATO) on the new infrastructure.
• Set up monitors that will capture up-time rates and detect production outages and/or Denial-Of-Service attacks with clear resolution procedures.
• Mentor junior engineering staff and provide guidance in building out designs.
• Be an expert in selecting the correct cloud services to support operations such as Cloudfront, Docker/Kubernetes, Elasticsearch etc and document the architecture in written documentation
• Become familiar enough with WordPress and WordPress VIP architecture to understand any nuances in hosting the site to include the knowledge library, CDN, DNS and WAF rules.
• Serve as the technical SME relating to architecture, strategy, design, and support.
• Be responsible for security driven cloud enterprise architectures, enterprise systems, service-oriented architectures, and interoperability
• Provide expertise in architecture and design of services and systems in the support of the state.gov website, embassy websites and all of its embedded applications, to include security, and the knowledge library. This will include service specifications to architect high-performing enterprises, integration specifications, and its associated DevSecOps models.
• Participate in daily scrum calls, periodic sprint reviews, and [JK4] planning sessions such as sprint planning or breaking work out into work breakdown structures as part of project planning. Report on percentage complete of tasks assigned to you in clear and accurate terms.
• Document all architecture, CI/CD processes and Devops clearly and concisely in documentation such as Confluence, Visio and continuously maintain this documentation as changes are made.
• Participate in all quality planning and continuous improvement activities to include establishing quality metrics for reporting.
• Maintain strong emotional intelligence to create a positive work environment and professionalism in a fast-paced environment.
• Expert knowledge in use and operation of how a modern open-source digital platform and CMS functions.
• Expert knowledge in WordPress content management system in large-scale environments.
• Expert knowledge of open-source web server software Apache, with NGINX.
• Experience in and knowledge of each of the following services:
• All hosting related services and activities.
• Amazon Web Services and other cloud service providers.
• Database development and administration with MySQL and other leading database engines.
• Unix/Linux system administration.
• Development languages and frameworks (e.g., PHP, Perl, JSON).
• Standard markup languages (e.g., HTML5, CSS3).
• Log processing for data analytics and security forensics.
• Search integration and support.
• Testing & quality assurance in an agile environment.
• All networking, firewall, load balancing, and connectivity related activities
• Experience working with each of the following software.
• Other open-source content management systems.
• Industry-leading content delivery networks (CDN).
• Other web server software systems; and
• Middleware/Frameworks (PHP, Rails, JSON, etc.).
  
  

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with enterprise level architecture in the cloud, working in agile and DevSecOps methodologies, within infrastructure as code development environments is required.
• Demonstrated direct hands-on experience in architecting and growing flexible, scalable, and highly available systems.
• At least 10 years of experience providing technical/management leadership on major tasks or technology assignments involving DevSecOps and technical architectures.
• At least 5 years of experience in AWS, for enterprise architecture and design.
• At least 5 years of experience developing non-containerized DevSecOps solutions, involving Infrastructure as code, CI/CD Pipelines, and Powershell scripting.
• Experience with developing containerized DevSecOps solutions utilizing Kubernetes.
• Passionate about identifying constraints / bottlenecks in engineering lifecycles and implementing automation.
• Experience with LEMP & LAMP stacks (Linux, Nginx, Apache, MySQL, PHP), WordPressdevelopment and customization, WordPress plugin development, MySQL performance and scaling, Javascript (especially frontend), React, experience with various WordPress plugins, Elasticpress, Elasticsearch and the ELK stack, Akamai, Git, Bitbucket.
• Focused on building a culture of collaboration, transparency, and automation. Accomplished with multiple toolsets, building fully automated CI/CD pipelines with a focus on infrastructure as code deployments, in non-containerized environments.
• From a tooling perspective, accomplished with leveraging Infrastructure as Code tool Hashicorp such as Terraform or Kubernetes, CI/CD tool GitHub or comparable YAML based CI/CD pipeline tools, and Powershell. Experience with AWS Cloud Native and Hybrid Cloud architectures.
• Ability to design system and component architectures that can be presented in simple language to executive leadership and stakeholders.
• Experience with Agile methodologies, specifically TDD, Scrum, and Kanban.
• Preferred experience in hosting a Content Management System on the cloud, especially WordPress VIP.
• Preferred experience in security reviews to include Authorization-To-Operate (ATO) reviews.
• Expert knowledge in use and operation of how a modern open-source digital platform and CMS functions.
• Expert knowledge in WordPress content management system in large-scale environments.
• Expert knowledge of open-source web server software Apache and ideally also NGINX.
• Expert knowledge of usability and Section 508 compliance on user experience
• Experience with Certification and Accreditation (C&A) of Federal Government systems for FISMA compliance with NIST 800-37.
• Security Test and Evaluation (ST&E) of Federal Government systems.
• Federal IT Security Professional (FITSP) Certification or equivalent.
• Knowledge of Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), OMB Circular A-130, and the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
• Knowledge of Salesforce for trouble tickets and issue resolution.
• Human Centered Design or User Experience Background
• Ability to obtain a Public Trust.
  
  

Working Environment & Conditions

This job operates in a professional office environment and has a noise level of mostly low to moderate. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

This position is primarily indoors, consistent with a standard office position and has a noise level of mostly low to moderate. The incumbent is required to stand, walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; talk and hear. The workload may require the incumbent to sit for extended periods of time. The incumbent must be able to read, do simple math calculations and withstand moderate amounts of stress.

The incumbent must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 lbs. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Our Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

The company is an equal opportunity employer. The company shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity (except where gender is a bona fide occupational qualification), national origin, age, disability, military/veteran status, marital status, genetic information, or any other factor protected by law. We are committed to equal employment opportunity in all decisions related to employment, promotion, wages, benefits and all other privileges, terms, and conditions of employment.

The company is dedicated to seeking all qualified applicants. If you require accommodation to navigate or to apply for a position on our website, please contact Heaven Wood via e-mail at accommodations@koniag-gs.com or by calling 703-488-9377 to request accommodation.

Koniag Government Services (KGS) is an Alaska Native Owned corporation supporting the values and traditions of our native communities through an agile employee and corporate culture that delivers Enterprise Solutions, Professional Services and Operational Management to Federal Government Agencies. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Koniag, we apply our proven commercial solutions to a deep knowledge of Defense and Civilian missions to provide forward leaning technical, professional, and operational solutions. KGS enables successful mission outcomes for our customers through solution-oriented business partnerships and a commitment to exceptional service delivery. We ensure long-term success with a continuous improvement approach while balancing the collective interests of our customers, employees, and native communities. For more information, please visit www.koniag-gs.com.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled. Shareholder Preference in accordance with Public Law 88-352

Medical Insurance Vision Insurance Dental Insurance 401k Disability Maternity Tuition Assistance