Principal Software Architect Remote Jobs in Virginia

Reston, VA (CONUS / OCONUS Support)| Hybrid / Remote Eligible Based on Mission Requirements TS/SCI Required

Position Summary

GC2IT is seeking a Software Architect to lead the architecture, technical evolution, and operational design of a large-scale, globally distributed mission platform deployed across multiple countries and managed remotely from the United States. The role serves as the overall software architecture authority for a modern Linux-based microservices platform supporting real-time processing, distributed data, external integrations, device orchestration, observability, and administration.

Key Responsibilities

· Own the overall software architecture for a distributed microservices platform operating across global environments.

· Maintain and evolve an ecosystem of approximately 25 core Java-based microservices plus supporting and integration services.

· Define and govern architecture across service boundaries/contracts, data flows/event patterns, control-plane/backplane behavior, node roles/deployment topologies, observability, fault tolerance, and service recovery.

· Lead architecture for a platform using RHEL/Rocky Linux, Java (JDK 21+), Vue.js 3, MongoDB, Elasticsearch/Logstash, RabbitMQ, Consul, Nomad, and Vault.

· Architect deployment patterns for server, data, arbiter, and workstation/user-facing nodes.

· Guide technical design of transactional processing, rules/screening/correlation, authorization/access control, reference/master data, internationalization, health/status, and biometric/matching services.

· Oversee architecture for peripheral/device services and external standards-based or partner-system interfaces.

· Ensure the platform remains remotely observable, supportable, and maintainable across all deployments.

· Partner with cloud, network, security, data, field engineering, and operations teams to align architecture with deployment realities.

· Review and guide software design decisions, technical-debt reduction, modernization priorities, roadmap sequencing, design/readiness reviews, problem resolution, and major incident analysis.

Required Qualifications

· Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field; four additional years of experience may substitute for a degree.

· Twelve or more years of software engineering experience, including significant software architecture experience with distributed or mission-critical systems.

· Five or more years architecting microservices-based platforms in production.

· Demonstrated ability to serve as technical authority over a multi-service software ecosystem.

· Experience guiding multiple development teams and reviewing architecture across service boundaries.

· Strong written and verbal communication skills, including development of design artifacts and presentation of architecture decisions.

· Experience balancing long-term architecture quality with delivery constraints and operational realities.

· Deep hands-on expertise with modern Java, Linux-based production environments, and distributed service design/operations.

· Strong experience with MongoDB, Elasticsearch/Logstash, RabbitMQ or equivalent messaging, and service discovery/orchestration/secrets technologies such as Consul, Nomad, Vault, Kubernetes, or similar.

· Experience designing systems that operate across constrained edge environments, centralized/cloud-heavy environments, and globally distributed deployments with intermittent or variable connectivity.

· Proven ability to architect for resilience/graceful degradation, observability/diagnosability, secure service-to-service communication, multi-role user administration/authorization, and remote support/lifecycle management.

· Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

· Master's degree in Data Engineering, Computer Science, Analytics, or a related field.

· Experience with Vue.js 3 and modern frontend architecture patterns for administrative or operational interfaces.

· Experience with hybrid cloud/cloud-heavy deployments where backend services are centralized and edge nodes are thin.

· Experience integrating with standards-based government, identity, travel, or partner ecosystems and with peripheral devices such as scanners, readers, imaging devices, or kiosks.

· Production experience with Nomad, Consul, and Vault.

· Experience architecting zero/low-downtime upgrade paths, advanced search use cases on Elasticsearch, event replay/reconciliation/offline-sync patterns, and large-scale modernization of legacy monoliths.

· Experience working with field engineering or remote deployment teams, open-source biometric/matching/search/image-processing components, multilingual/internationalized systems, operational analytics/reporting services, and CI/CD pipelines for multi-service distributed systems.

Travel Requirements

· Domestic and/or international project travel may be required.

Security Clearance Requirement

Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to climb, bend, stretch, walk, sit use hands to handle or feel; frequently use fingers to type; talk and hear; occasionally stand, kneel, stoop, crouch, bend, twist or reach out; may require lifting or moving 10 lbs; frequently required to reach with hands and arms. Vision requirements for this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work environment will have moderate noise when working in an office environment.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Equal Opportunity Employer - The Company does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

All applicants must be able to perform the essential functions of the position, including corresponding core job requirements, with or without reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities (and others in accordance with applicable law) to perform the essential functions of the job, consistent with applicable laws and Company policy.

Job Type: Full-time

Please email inquires to: jobs@gc2it.com